The resort of Arenal, which you may also see written as El Arenal or S'Arenal, is situated along the central south coast of Majorca, at the eastern end of a 6km stretch of beach known as Playa de Palma, approximately 10km east of the capital Palma, and at its nearest point, some 5km from the runway of the Son Sant Joan International airport.

On more than one occasion, even Travel Agents have been known to confuse the resort of Arenal Mallorca with the similar sounding resort of Arenal d'en Castell on the neighbouring island of Menorca. However, this is a mistake that you would only make once as the contrast between the two resorts is striking to say the least.

Whilst Arenel is the German equivalent of Palma Nova or Magaluf, attracting young 18-30's Germans looking for a lively holiday, Arenal d'en Castell in Menorca, is a quiet, and very relaxed beach resort, which is especially popular with British families.

The close proximity of Arenal to the airport does have the benefit of a very short transfer time, usually around 15 to 20 minutes, it does however also mean that some visitors may experience some degree of aircraft noise during their stay here, and it will certainly be worthwhile checking the comments of previous visitors to the resort before making your final choice of accommodation.

In all fairness to the authorities who run the airport, in order to minimise the disturbance, whenever possible aircraft do tend to approach from over the sea, and as a consequence landings are somewhat quieter than takeoffs.

For those visitors who wish to make the resort transfer by hire car, although the overall distance between the two points is very short, it is nevertheless surprisingly easy to completely miss the Arenal junction altogether and find yourself heading towards the east coast of the island.

In an attempt to avoid this, as with the other resorts on the island, we have put together the basic route for this journey, complete with links to maps where appropriate, and this is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

If for whatever reason you prefer not to drive, and don't have the benefit of a tour operators coach transfer, there are always plenty of taxis available from the ranks outside of the arrivals hall, although on occasions you should be prepared to queue.

In theory at least, these taxis should all operate on a fixed price basis, typically charging around 20€ for the short journey into Arenal, however experience has shown that this "fixed price" may vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried.

Also an important consideration for families with small children, is that these taxis do not as a rule carry child seats, therefore children may have to sit on their parent's knee for the journey.

If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey.

Once you are in the resort, and have settled in to your accommodation, the journey back into Palma for shopping or sightseeing, is then surprisingly easy by public transport. Throughout the year the Empresa Municipal de Transports de Palma de Mallorca, runs a regular bus service along this part of the south coast.

On a number of occasions visitors to Mallorca have asked us for details of the bus timetables, however bitter experience has shown us that the term "timetable" is sometimes too generous a term to best describe the time the buses actually run.

These timetables are however published each year on the bus stops throughout the town, and also in pdf format on the E.M.T. web site, although, clearly no responsibility can be accepted as to either the content or accuracy of information provided by these external sources.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this guide, the resort lies at the eastern end of a 6km stretch of beach running from C'an Pastilla, through Playa de Palma, and finally on to Arenal in the east.

For most, if not all visitors to the area, it is now impossible to determine where one resort ends and the other begins, and if we are honest I seriously doubt if anyone other than some bureaucrat in the Palma City Council actually cares.

The three resorts are joined by a wide pedestrian promenade which is completely flat and ideal for people with walking difficulties, or families with young children in prams or wheelchairs.

Alternatively, if you don't fancy the walk between the resorts, a popular Mini Train runs along the promenade which is also a convenient way to get around.

During the summer months, Arenal and parts of Playa de Palma, are very popular with young German 18 to 30's who are looking for all night clubs and bars, and is certainly not suitable for a family holiday or anyone wishing to get some sleep before dawn.

I have to say at this point that Arenal is possibly my least favourite of all the resorts on Majorca, and the town itself has a very strong German influence, with many of the numerous bars and restaurants only targeting the German tourist.

Whilst the British Euro spending visitor is never turned away, you may however, feel somewhat "uncomfortable" in such a German dominated environment.

Arenal has over the years continued to expand its influence over this part of the island, and we wonder how much longer Playa de Palma and C'an Pastilla will be able to resist this German invasion.

On a more positive note the beach here is very popular and shelves gently into the sea, although regrettably in recent years, despite having the internationally recognised blue flag for its facilities, cleanliness, and water quality, it has unfortunately also had a bit of a problem both from litter and "Lookie Lookie Men" selling "genuine" designer watches which are almost certainly fake, and may not even be working at all, however, in its defence the local council have now recognised these problems, and will hopefully now address them.

Finally, one feature of this stretch of coastline which you cannot fail to miss, is the 15 or so "Balnearios" which run the full length of the resort. These Balnearios are small beach huts which usually have toilets, showers and a kiosk selling cold drinks and snacks.

During your stay here, they will undoubtedly prove to be a useful aid to navigation around the resort and by the end of your holiday, you'll inevitably be telling others "have you been to the bar in front of Balneario 3", or "the best place to catch the bus is at Balneario 2" etc.

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This website was launched on 1 May 2002

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