About the Santa Ponsa Bay area...

The very popular holiday resort of Santa Ponsa, along with its more infamous neighbours Palma Nova and Magaluf, are all part of the municipal district of Calvia on the south west coast of Majorca approximately 20km, or 12 miles west of the capital Palma.

Although most visitors to Santa Ponsa are undoubtedly on a traditional package holiday, many of the tour operators now consider the actual transfer from the Son Sant Joan International airport to your chosen accommodation to be an optional extra, which in turn is leading more people to make their own arrangements for the journey by either pre-booked hire car, or alternatively by one of the many taxis from the ranks outside the arrivals hall.

The journey for those who have chosen to drive, is fairly straightforward for the most part. As you depart the airport grounds you will normally join the PM19 motorway heading west towards Palma, which then becomes the PM20 as it arcs around the northern residential and industrial suburbs of the city. You then need to continue west along the PM1 until it becomes the C-719 Carretera de Palma-Andratx, at which point then keep a sharp look out for the Santa Ponsa turning. All things considered the transfer, whichever method you choose, should usually take between 45 minutes to 1 hour, but can and often does vary, depending upon the time of day and the volume of traffic on the Palma motorways.

Once you've settled into your accommodation, making the return trip into Palma for either shopping or sightseeing is fairly easy by public transport. Every 35 minutes throughout the day, buses stop in Santa Ponsa on their journey east through the resorts of Magaluf, and Palma Nova towards the capital, also passing Marineland on the way. It works out at around 4.50€ per person each way.

The main beach is reasonably large, and in recent years it has been extended with imported sand to accommodate an increasing number of visitors to the resort. Even so, in high season it can still become very crowded due to its popularity with both tourists and locals alike. If you wish to escape from the crowds, there is a smaller secondary beach set in its own sheltered cove about 15 minutes walk away which can be reached from the Avinguda Rei Jaume I. Both beaches have the usual facilities expected of a modern resort, along with a good variety of water sports equipment available for hire. Swimming in the bay is generally quite safe with no strong currents, and fairly shallow waters, however, care must always be exerted when the flag system is in operation.

Regular boat trips along the south west coast operate from both the main beach and marina at Santa Ponsa, and at around £10 per head represent excellent value for money. The boats are all quite modern, with both a small bar and toilet facilities onboard. On most trips the captain will usually stop for about 30 minutes giving you the chance to dive or jump off the back of the boat and cool off in the sea.

Santa Ponsa has quite a wide selection of cafes, bars and restaurants and excellent facilities for visitors on self catering arrangements. Many supermarkets now also stock readily recognisable UK branded goods, although in many cases the prices charged may be considerably higher than those you would expect to pay at home. Although the underlying principle of consumer choice was once explained to me by a local shopkeeper as "if you don't like the price, you don't have to buy".

The resort really come alive in the early evening, but is never in the same league of its neighbours Palma Nova and Magaluf. Although, from the size of our Restaurants and Bars pages, you will quickly realise that Santa Ponsa has an abundance of bars, restaurants, and live music venues, catering for families with children.

The town is cheerful, easy going and is essentially a family resort.