Platja de Formentor

Pine trees grow right down to the back of the sand, so the shade here comes from branches: you can spread a towel under them and still watch the water. That water is what people come back for. The bay is sheltered from the waves, and it lies clear and turquoise, warm through the summer.

The beach is long, a soft crescent below the wooded slopes of the Formentor peninsula. It fills with groups, some of them playing music. Keep walking along the shore and you find a quieter stretch.

The day has its ending built in. A bus runs from the beach out to the Formentor lighthouse, where people go to watch the sun set.

• The seabed at the waterline is stony, so getting in is awkward; water shoes help.
• Sunbeds are expensive. The pine shade at the back of the beach costs nothing.
• A beach restaurant serves food and drinks. There is no public drinking-water tap nearby, so bring your own water.
• Free public toilets stand about 260 m away.
• The car parks beside the beach charge by the day; a free public car park lies further from the sand.

The road runs right to the beach, and there is plenty of parking. Two paid car parks sit about 140 and 170 m away, so the walk from the car to the sand is a short one. A free public car park lies further out, and choosing it means a longer walk in.

Without a car, take the bus: the stop Platja de Formentor (Formentor) is about 410 m away. Buses also continue from the beach to the Formentor lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula, which makes an evening trip out to the cape easy to add.

Best: early in the day, and in the warm months either side of July and August.

Avoid: the middle of a peak-summer day.

A popular beach on a summer island fills as the day goes on, and August is the busiest month of the year; the pines keep some shade at noon, but the open sand in front of them has none. Outside the warm season the sea is cold for swimming, though the pines and the walk along the sand are there all year.