3 Nights in Mallorca, Spain — July 2024

Date: 2024-08-11

---

Booked via the Tui App — Europe's Largest Holiday Company

We took advantage of the last-minute discounts that kick in one week before departure and booked a 3-night trip to Mallorca, Spain through the Tui app.

Mallorca has blue skies around 300 days a year — paradise for those of us living in the UK.

This time we booked an all-inclusive package at a 3-star hotel: flights, transfers and all food and drink included, for just over £500 for two people (approximately ¥100,000+). We weren't sure what to expect from a 3-star, but it was an unusually cold British summer and we needed some warmth. Since it was only 3 nights, we decided to go for it. The lower price was likely due to the timing — weekdays in the week just before the school summer holidays.

Departing from Birmingham Airport

Our Uber arrived at 5:30am. As we'd already checked in via the app, we went straight to the Tui baggage drop machines, tagged and submitted our bags, then headed to security. Birmingham Airport has recently installed state-of-the-art baggage scanners — you simply load everything into a tray (shoes, laptops, liquids all together) and pass it through. No unpacking required. It was remarkably fast. We cleared everything in about 15 minutes.

We then made our way to the "No1 Lounge" (pre-booked for £5 via our Dragonpass card). Airport food and drink alone can easily cost £20, so a lounge is good value. Dragonpass is a premium airport lounge access service originally from China, now operating globally; ours is linked to our bank card for unlimited free access.

LCC gate assignments are only revealed about an hour before departure, so we kept an eye on the lounge monitor and headed to the gate when our flight appeared.

Today's Aircraft: Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The Dreamliner is my personal favourite aircraft — packed with Japanese technology. I was pleasantly surprised to find Tui operates one, as their usual Mallorca flights use smaller Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s. Unsurprisingly, the Mallorca service runs a large aircraft — and it was nearly full.

The Dreamliner's high ceilings give the cabin a wonderful feeling of space. The air is noticeably more humid than other aircraft, which makes a real difference on a long flight.

• Pushback: 9:04 / Take-off: 9:15 / Landing: 12:19 (local time, +1hr)
• Flight time: 2 hours 4 minutes

Arriving in Mallorca

Mallorca lies opposite Barcelona across the Mediterranean. Stepping off the plane, we were immediately enveloped in warmth. After an unusually cold British summer, the heat was genuinely delightful.

Mallorca is a favourite holiday destination for Europeans — 300 sunny days a year, a typical Mediterranean climate reaching around 32°C, but with dry air that means the shade feels pleasantly cool. A perfect holiday spot. The island produces wonderful olives (pickled olives and olive oil are local specialities), grapes (there are vineyards and wineries), and abundant fresh fruit and vegetables.

Palma de Mallorca Airport

Palma Airport is enormous. Planes from all over Europe arrive and depart in a constant stream. We visited in mid-July at the height of the family holiday season — the baggage claim hall had approximately 15 carousels. The sheer scale was remarkable.

As there is no rail network on the island, transport from the airport is by taxi or bus. Individual travellers typically hire a car — Spain's excellent roads make driving very comfortable. Tui had staff at the bus stops directing guests to the right coaches. We were taken to Alcúdia, a resort town on the opposite side of the island, about an hour's drive from Palma.

Our Hotel: Tui Suneo Lagomonte

Alcúdia was developed as a purpose-built resort area on what was previously a waste treatment site. It now has everything a holidaymaker needs: beach, hotels, apartment hotels, villas, shopping centres, restaurants, supermarkets and bars. A large British expat community lives nearby, and apparently their area has fish and chip shops and supermarkets stocking PG Tips and baked beans. The urge to escape Britain's cold and live somewhere sunny makes perfect sense!

In front of the hotel is a small lagoon (the hotel calls it a lake) with a tiny island in the middle — part of the hotel grounds and accessible by a bridge. The island has a pool and snack bar, and as there's no children's pool there, it was a wonderfully peaceful sunbathing spot. We loved it. The blue sky above was extraordinary.

We walked the path around the lagoon morning and evening — there were plenty of benches to rest on. Behind the hotel are mountains rather than other buildings, which made the surroundings feel open and uncrowded.

The Room

Simple but functional. Our room had twin beds, a pool-view balcony with table and chairs (ground floor, so no distant views, but the balcony was larger and patio-style). Shower only, which was perfectly adequate given we were showering multiple times a day after the pool and beach. Amenities were basic: body wash and shampoo in the shower, hand soap at the basin, and daily fresh towels.

Check-in and check-out times are aligned with the Tui coach schedules rather than fixed times. Those with late flights leave their luggage in storage after checkout and continue to enjoy the hotel until their coach departs — including food, drinks and the pool right up to the last moment.

Food and Drink

All-inclusive: unlimited food and drink throughout the stay. A 3-star hotel naturally doesn't offer gourmet cuisine, but the standard was better than expected. Spanish dishes were available alongside the British staples (chips, burgers, pizza) that the predominantly British crowd expected. The fresh-grilled meat and fish at the live cooking station changed daily — always with a queue and always delicious. Seafood paella, grilled local vegetables (aubergine, courgette, tomatoes), Spanish olives and jamón were all excellent and we helped ourselves generously.

Restaurants opened for approximately 2.5–3 hours at each mealtime; poolside snack and drinks bars operated until 5:30pm; the main bar served alcohol and cocktails from 6pm to midnight. Non-alcoholic drinks (water, coffee, tea, soft drinks) were available 24 hours from self-service stations. Locally grown mango, pineapple, melon and watermelon — fully ripe — were exceptional.

Swimming in the Mediterranean

The beach is a free 5-minute shuttle bus ride from the hotel. We didn't swim (we hadn't brought our costumes), but went to look. The white sand beach shelves very gently — shallow enough for young children, and still popular despite being busy. Many people spend an entire day there.

Local Tour: Double-Decker Bus Tour of Alcúdia Old Town

Tui offers local tours that can be booked via the app or from the desk in the hotel lobby. We joined the double-decker bus tour of the Alcúdia old town, about 10 minutes from the resort. The old town retains Roman-era walls and archaeological remains — a reminder of how ancient this part of the world is. The tour was pleasant and gave us a feel for the real town beyond the resort zone.

The Return Flight — and the Day the World's Computers Failed

We were up at 6am for an early departure. The airport coach collected us on time and we arrived at Palma Airport in about an hour — to find a scene of chaos. An impossibly long queue stretched from the Tui check-in desks. Microsoft's global security system had crashed overnight, affecting airport systems worldwide. German airports cancelled all flights; Japanese airports were also affected. The person next to us discovered their flight back to Scotland had been cancelled.

As our online check-in data was completely inaccessible, Tui staff manually reissued every ticket by hand. We waited almost 4 hours. Nobody complained — everyone understood this was not the airport's fault. Staff worked extraordinarily hard and managed to get us on a plane, departing 3 hours 30 minutes late.

• Scheduled departure: 10:40 / Actual departure: 14:21 / Landing in Birmingham: 15:24
• Arrived home approximately 3 hours 10 minutes late

A reminder of just how much the world now depends on connected computer systems.

Summary

Despite the finale, Mallorca was thoroughly enjoyable — beautiful sea, abundant sunshine, relaxed pace. The quintessential European holiday. A week here would be the perfect reset. We'll definitely be back, and next time we'll bring our swimwear.