The Student Backpacker

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Prior to travelling, I had only seen Magaluf and Alcudia in different media, representing two distinct sides to the island; the Brit-ridden party capitol, and the older Brit-ridden retirement home composed of purely resorts. While I can’t fully speak for the two stereotypes, I have some context of the island now, and if you wanted to go here but never have due to these stereotypes, I’d re-think your assumptions of the island. I saw a side of Palma that I’ve never seen resembled in media before. Culture, history, winding old streets, good food, a great budget hostel scene, serene beaches with bars right by the city center, and yes, partying.

This was the last part of a tour I did around Europe back in October, travelling across the continent to 7 countries total, writing blogs in retrospect. The full list of said blogs in chronological order being:  Venice, The £20 Upper Adriatic Pass, Zagreb, 3 countries, 3 meals, 1 day, and this Palma blog. I spent a night there, and although I had spent the day travelling a lot, and barely even spent a full 24 hours on the island, the memories from that leg of the trip are unforgettable, and it was potentially the best place I visited all trip.

Day 1: hostels, food and drinks

My plane landed late, and I headed out the airport around 9PM. Now I need to get better at airport to city transfers, my last trip I ended up taking the €15 shuttle rather than the cheap local buses, and I did the same here. There is a €5 local bus, line 1, which takes you straight into the city, and the port. It’s every 15 minutes, the stops are seemingly right outside arrivals/departures, and are half the price of the €10 shuttle I ended up getting.

I got to the hostel, and as I was still in the midst of my challenge (but very tired), I was determined to have a good meal. Especially because, spoilers ahead, I completely failed the challenge, and I knew it. So, I got to the hostel, checked in, got to my dorm and immediately made friends with people there. This 3was by far the nicest hostel I’ve stayed in yet. The location was solid, the showers were very nice & big, the reception had things to do, the staff accommodated our shenanigans later on, each bed was in its own cubby with a curtain at the end, making it more like a pod-style hotel than a hostel, and it had a roof pool, which feels crazy to me for a hostel. All of that, for a measly £18 a night. I found it on Hostelworld, but I’d recommend checking out Trivago too, as each site offers a different array of Hostels and prices, so shop around!

BOC Palma City Hostel, the reception and inner courtyard

Despite prefacing that I’m doing a vlog/blog, I did a terrible job at recording the night, so I’ll write a summary. After meeting some people in my dorm, we exchanged socials, and planned a meet-up. They had been staying in the hostel for weeks to months some of them, and they had a pretty good lay of the land after I explained my challenge and needs for a good dinner to top my lunch. We tried a place called ‘Indian Wok’, however, it was closed, and ended up at a Chinese restaurant called Palacio Chino, owned by a Chinese couple who had been living in Palma for over two decades, and were incredibly generous to us.

One of the people from the hostel knew the owners, and they welcomed our group with open arms, stayed open late for us, and kept giving us different liquors to try at the end of the meal. We ordered a large amount of dishes to share; crispy duck & pancakes, egg fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, noodles, some form of crispy beef, prawn crackers & sharing bits, chow mein and drinks. We drank for a while, took a group photo, talked about our travel experiences and planned our next steps.

We left that place slightly later (and tipsier) than imagined, so options for shops for drinks were limited to late-night off-licenses, which operate far different to the ones in the UK. Firstly, they limited our group to two people out of our five person group, so we had to jot down what we wanted and pay for it after. Secondly, they seemingly only let girls in, I’m assuming as drunk men can be rowdy so they put in limitations to prevent hooliganism? I still don’t fully know, so if anyone does, please leave a comment letting me know why!

We got some drinks, snacks and headed back to the hostel for a late-night social. The lobby was pretty lively all things considered, and we brought our drinks over to one of the ping pong tables and played some ping pong & drinking games. Halfway through beer pong, two Mancs passed through towards the lifts. One had to go up, but another joined us and explained what they were up to. They booked £30 return flights for the weekend, booked the hostel, and went out. As the bus to the airport is so cheap, and so are drinks & club entries, the night out was actually cheaper there than in Manchester. It kind of boggles my mind, but that’s something I’d love to check for myself when I’m back in Manchester. A night out in the Med, clubbing, hostel shenanigans and the day after to relax by the beach, all for the price of a Northern Quarter crawl, it just seems too good to be true!

The rooms in the hostel were basically a capsule hotel (I tried, but I couldn’t find a group photo. If I ever get it, I’ll update this bit!)

day 2: palma & the beach

Considering I went to sleep at 4AM local time that morning, probably fairly drunk, I managed to get myself up and out of bed by 9AM, ready for the 10AM kick-out. With the group from last night, along with another group I talked to on Hostelworld in the BOC city chat, I had a couple leads for a beach day, and I needed food and beach stuff.

Walking towards the windy streets of the old town, I picked up a quick snack from a grocery store to line my stomach, and wandered round as I waited for updates on plans. There’s eateries, cafe’s, shops, bakeries, bars, ice cream parlors, name brand clothes shops, churches, plazas – it’s such a dense and lively old town, I could spend a week wandering round here alone, trying new places, and still have new things to do.

It took a while of wandering, but I found a shop that sold some flip flops, and over an hour later, one that did swim trunks. I think because it was out of season being mid October, with Christmas lights up, most shops weren’t selling beach gear. Along the way, I managed to find a souvenir shop for trinkets for family & a magnet for myself, an ice cream shop because it was 28°C and maybe the hottest day for me that year, and a bunch of churches that I poked my head and cooled off in, like the Església Santa Eulàlia (maybe).

After a large amount of wandering, I made it to the Catedral de Mallorca, one of the only places I earmarked to visit. Despite only loosely knowing one landmark, I still spent hours wandering the streets. The city is surprisingly really great at being a place to spend time, visit and meander. You don’t think of Palma as being a place you would take a traditional city break in, but I truly think it’s capable of being such a destination. The airport is close, but planes don’t fly low over, the streets have history and character, the old town is fairly large, and there’s just so many small businesses and multi-use streets, you’ll never run out of that classic European city vibe.

I didn’t go inside the cathedral, but the view outside of it was equally impressive. I was there so long observing, in the meantime, a plan to meet up with someone from last night at a local beach had been made. I took the no. 4 local bus to Platja d’Illetes, which is a €2 flat fare on all routes bar the Airport one, taking cash payments only on most buses when I went, but card payments are becoming the norm in the coming months.

When I got there, I had some time to kill, and having not been on a beach holiday in years, a corona at the beach bar was an opportunity was something I couldn’t resist. I vegged out on this busier beach for a while, dipped in the sea and sunbathed for a while before realising I had went to the wrong beach. I also failed to realise the quieter beach was connected to the one I was on via paths, so when I scrambled round along the rocky headland, I was just wasting more time I didn’t need to. It all worked out well though, climbing round that detour was a nice little adventure with a bunch of rock pools and secluded chill out spots.

The actual beach we spent time at was the one right next to it, Playa de Illetes. It’s smaller but much quieter thanks to the lack of beach club. For a more laid-back beach experience, this was the better of the two, and like the other, is less than a hour from the old town by bus. The bus stop outside the two beaches is the final stop of the line, so connecting services are easy to use and frequent, I had no issues or worries trying to get back to the city that evening. The beaches even have some small islands you can swim out to, if you fancy exploring!

I made my way back to my hostel, where I had left my luggage for free, and managed to get my way up to the roof pool, which I desperately wanted to try out since getting there and learning about it. I had a quick dip, watched the rest of the sunset, and dried off until it closed. After that, I felt like I stank of both salt and chlorine and desperately needed a shower, so I quickly dove into the hostel’s shower blocks and got ready to go home

Sadly, the end of the week of travel was a bit anticlimactic. I thought I had less time than I did, got muddled up with the daft airport transfer, getting it mixed up with local buses, and I didn’t end up having the local Spanish tapas-y meal I envisioned having on the last day. In hindsight, I had LOADS of time, and I ended up getting maccies in the airport, accidentally going through the terminal exit airlock doors rather than the gates, redoing security, and even after all of that, I STILL had over an hour of spare time to kill before boarding. Lessons have been learnt, and I am honestly tempted to spontaneously fly out to Palma if I see good weather align with cheap fares next autumn and try to avenge this trip’s failures (starting with bringing swim shorts & flip flops).

I landed in Manchester early in the morning of the 23rd, caught a bus and slept past my stop (oops), and eventually crashed out on my bed at 4AM. Before waking up at 8 for my first lecture back. That first lecture back was very interesting, and I can’t say I absorbed much of the information, but oh well, it was all worth it!

conclusion & spending

So, to wrap it up, I think this was the most diverse offering of any of the destinations I went to. It had proper beaches, a solid old town experience, rich history, vibrant culture, enough to do everywhere and a great hostel scene. I know Venice has the appeal, and I had been to Spain before, even if it was a decade prior and a different area, and yes, Palma has the reputation, but all prior judgement aside, and it’s not easy to say, but I think I enjoyed this place the most out the lot that week. I got very lucky with the weather; just a week before my grandparents went to Alicante and had 20°C and below, heavy rain and wind most the week, I had 28°C, sunny and no wind both days, the weather this time of the year is not a guarantee at all. If the weather was worse and I couldn’t swim, maybe I would have had a different takeaway.

Now, lets talk money. How much did this weekend trip cost? Well first there were the flights. My flight out there was £13 from Baden-Baden/Karlsruhe airport, and the return to Manchester was £15. Very often, you can find return Palma flights from the UK for well under £30 – in fact, the Mancs from earlier spent a total of £31 on their return flights the same days I was there, and they got on the same flight as me back. If you want to find 1-night flights, I’d use Trip.com, as it lets you go through each 1 night period and scour for the best flights. Just remember, 1-3 months before leaving is the best price window!

Airport transfers were £3.50 for the train to the airport on the Monday, and a £2 bus back to the city center after I landed. The hostel was £18 for the night, my cut of the meal ended up being £25.50 although I obviously could’ve ate somewhere cheaper if needed, and the ice cream and magnet for myself from memory were 3 & 2 euros each. The beer I think was an extra 5 euros, so for that lot I’ll call it a flat £9. Rounding up for snacks and airport maccies, that leaves my total expenses at £100, but I could have easily brought that down nearly half with a bit more pre planning and cheaper eats. Maybe, next time, that could be my challenge?

Useful tips & links

• Trip.com is the best solution I can find for finding cheap 1-night flights to a specific location, especially a massive corridor like London-Palma.
• If you’re solo and want some activities or a place to pre-book coaches, check out GetYourGuide for some seriously cheap things to do. From a quick look, I’ve seen city tours for a fiver and a catamaran trip with a drink for £17!
• For finding accommodation, I used Trivago. There’s plenty of options, but it offers loads of variety and a decent array of Hostels and homestays.
• Hostelworld is another great option, especially for purely hostels.