Guest Author: Ria
One of my last trips during exchange was to Spain. I went with the group of girls I met on exchange, who I became very close with, and this trip felt like a way to commemorate all the memories we made together. We traveled for six days in total, spending the first three days in Barcelona and the next three in Mallorca. Mallorca ended up being one of our favorite destinations of the entire exchange.
We took a flight from Barcelona to Mallorca, which was about 45 minutes. Once we arrived at the airport, we decided to rent a car. We had done some research and knew that Mallorca’s bus system wouldn’t take us everywhere we wanted to go on the island. Since we planned to explore the entire island, and Uber would have been more expensive for four people, renting a car made the most sense. After negotiating at the airport, we rented a car for three days for about $400 CAD for the entire trip ($100 per person), which was a great deal considering that an Uber to our Airbnb alone would have cost around $90 CAD.
After getting the car, we went straight to our Airbnb. Since there were four of us, staying in an Airbnb was cheaper than booking a hostel. We also wanted to stay near Palma, the main city in Mallorca. We couldn’t find an Airbnb directly in the city center that fit our budget, so we chose one about 10 minutes away. We stayed in Magaluf, and the beach was right outside our Airbnb. One thing we quickly noticed was that Mallorca attracts a lot of bachelor and bachelorette parties.
On the first day, we explored some of the smaller villages around the island, including Valldemossa and Sóller. There were a few others as well, but after a while, we were a bit tired of walking through small towns since many of them looked similar and none of us were particularly interested in shopping. Over the next two days, we focused on beach hopping around the island. We visited Cala d’Or, Alcudia, Cala Pi, and Cala Santanyí. All of these beaches were free, not too crowded, and had fairly easy parking. Cala d’Or was more rocky and had cliff-jumping spots, while the others were more sandy.
For food, we didn’t have any specific restaurants planned and just stopped wherever we felt hungry. We made sure to try both paella and tapas during the trip.
At night, we spent most of our time at the beach, sitting together and talking for hours. We also spent a few hours exploring Palma and ended up getting Oakberry, which was easily the best açai place we found.
Overall, Mallorca was an unforgettable experience and the perfect way to end our time on exchange together. Between exploring the island, spending long days at the beach, and sharing meaningful moments with friends, it felt like the ideal balance of adventure and reflection. It’s a destination I would absolutely recommend to anyone on exchange, not just for its beauty, but for the memories and connections it allows you to create.