A portable family, with, hopefully, a portable salary, offers the chance for travel, lots of family travel. Over the two week Christmas break we took a family trip to Mallorca, the major island of the Spanish Balearic islands, a short 45 min flight off the coast of Barcelona. Joined by my mother, we drove from our house near Thuir to the Barcelona airport on December 29th to catch our lunchtime flight, returning a week later.
Here is a peek at the experience, including costs which came in at about 2200 Euros, planning, types of experiences, and where we stayed. My mother and I did the planning in October, looking online at Airbnb and Booking.com for the accommodation and simple google searches for flights. Because it was high season, the flights were 72 euros each, return from Barcelona, with Air Europa, not rock bottom but not bad either. In October most of the accommodation was already booked: we chose from what was leftover but were still happy.
We had a rental car for 120 euros for the week which upon arrival we picked up and drove to our first accommodation, a lovely 3 BR duplex with a terrace overlooking the sea just outside Palma in Cala Major. We stayed for 3 nights and loved it. We had a kitchen and very comfortable living room as well as the terrace, and found restaurants and great playgrounds nearby; overall it was a good location for exploring Palma. Once my mother had paid a portion, our family share was 110 euros per night. Accommodation over the week worked out to around 100 euros per night, a little more than our usual but Mallorca is popular at Christmas and has very low vacancy rates and higher prices to reflect this. 
Palma was a beautiful surprise; the stunning main cathedral near the water, the old city, and nearby sites like the Castell de Bellver were all charming. We generally ate two meals at our rental home and one meal out, keeping food costs below 100 euros per day. Activity costs were low, but that’s very personal: we’re happy with free sites and hikes. We spent one day visiting the really excellent Palma Aquarium: cost: 66 euros with the family pass for our family of 5, where we enjoyed the many bizarre and beautiful aquatic beasts, right up to feeding the sharks in front of our noses.
Mallorca is small: you can cross it in less than an hour and a half, even with a mountain range. Once we left Palma we headed east towards Cala Mallor, a resort area with a popular cave. We eschewed the pricy cave, having been to others, and enjoyed the beach and terrace. There was a walk out to a castle from the beachside which turned out to be a gorgeous seaside outing to one of the main defense towers on the island, free to climb up, moat included, with a restaurant serving beer and sausages on bumpy natural rock tables, which we happily partook of.
And then we crossed to the north side via the beautiful town of Arta, perhaps my favorite stop of all. We had three nights to enjoy the north side, in a traditional house in old Pollenca where we could sit out on a tiny roof top terrace overlooking the red roofs and watching the lights on the church. While we were there at a nearby square there was a big parade followed by a long line up of children going up to visit the 3 magis, who gave out suckers and accepted wish lists in advance of the big Epiphany celebration. Near our house were the Calvari steps, nearly 400 of them (depended which kid was counting) leading up to a chapel with great views, stray cats, and a guitarist with a successful location for busking.
We spent one day walking from our house up to the Sanctuary of Maria on the hill overlooking Pollenca. Good exercise, but not too much, with drinks and snacks offered at the one-time monastery at the top, it had it all: gorgeous views, a peaceful beautiful setting and well kept buildings, and fascinating sections to explore. Even our most reluctant hiker was happy she made the climb.
The other place nearby we visited was the Cap de Formentor, a scenic twisty drive out to the lighthouse at the cape. The winds were howling and the whole experience was dramatic. 
Goats greeted us on arrival -literally at the car door – and we made the hike down almost to water level. On the way back we discovered a turn off to a beach and liked it so much we returned the next day. One of us even found it worthy of a dip (let’s just say it was the biggest, hairiest one of us).
We were sorry when it was time to leave. The ride to the airport was easy, even from the other side of the island. Overall it had been a week of relaxation, gorgeous scenery, good hikes and attractive old towns, everything within easy reach. We’d been very fortunate with the weather, but even so, Mallorca is easy to recommend!
Total costs:
Flights: 72 x 5 = 360
Accom: 7 x 100: 700
Food including eating out: 7 x 100 = 700
Car (both ends one parked plus tolls getting to Barcelona): 120 rental +30 (gas) +110 (tolls, gas, and parking) = 260
Activities: 66 euros aquarium
Misc: 100
Total: 2186 euros, approximately.
All in all visiting Mallorca from our house in Thuir, thanks to the availability of low cost flights in Europe, not doing many meals out and hardly any pricey activities, made for a perfect, reasonably priced trip for our Portable Family!
