Poblat Talaiòtic de Trepucó

The talayot is the first thing you see: a huge cone of tightly wedged stones rising out of the grass, built by hand some three thousand years ago. Inside a horseshoe-shaped enclosure nearby stands the taula, one flat slab balanced across another in a T, among the largest and best preserved on Menorca. Taula is Catalan for table, and up close the name makes sense.

Nothing here is polished. The settlement spreads across open grassy ground inside dry-stone walls, a dirt path links the remains, and plaques in English, Spanish and Catalan explain what archaeologists think each structure was used for. You walk it at your own pace, and small details turn up among the stones for anyone who looks closely.

• No toilets, café, shop or drinking water at the site, and no toilets or water nearby. Bring your own.
• The fields are open with almost no shade; on a summer afternoon a hat matters.
• Paths are packed dirt and uneven, rocky grass: fine in trainers, hard going with a wheelchair or pushchair.
• Most visits take 30 to 45 minutes.

By car you pull into a gravel car park beside the site and walk straight in; there is street parking as well.

On foot, the settlement is one and a half to two kilometres from the centre of Maó. The walk runs out through countryside and passes an old cemetery with a mausoleum on the way. A taxi from the centre is the other easy option. The nearest bus stop, Instituts - Bintalfa, is about 590 m away in a straight line.

Best: morning or late afternoon, especially in summer.

Avoid: the middle of a summer day.

The settlement lies on open fields with almost no shade and no water on site, so the summer sun beats straight down at midday, while the lower light of morning and evening brings out the texture of the stones.

Trepucó is a protected archaeological site and part of Menorca's Talayotic sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The talayot may not be climbed, for safety reasons. Keep to the paths, leave the stones where they lie and stay off the walls and the taula.