Menorca is a small piece of paradise within the western Mediterranean, a pearl bathed by calm seas and sheltered by a gentle climate. An unending range of colours melt into each other: blue skies, turquoise seas, dark green woods, brown rocks, white beaches.

Along the 216 km of coastline there are over 200 beaches and coves, with fine white sand along the south and reddish tones along the wilder north. The geological variety makes it an area of undoubted beauty with stark cliffs and gently sloping beaches. Nautical traditions still provide a livelihood for many of the locals in the numerous ports and fishing villages.

The village was founded to serve a small defensive watch tower, built at the beginning of the 17th century as a defence against the Barbary pirates for whom Fornells Bay provided the perfect safe haven. In 1798 the village was a landing site during the Capture of Menorca by the British.

The name “Mercadal” derives from the Latin language mercatum, meaning “market”. In 1301, King James II of Majorca decreed the establishment of a public center of commerce in Menorca, and the bustling open-air marketplace remains a principal attraction of the island to this day. Mercadal is dominated by “Monte Toro”, the highest point on the island.

The old capital of the island. This beautiful port city’s historic quarter, called Es Born, is surrounded by medieval streets filled with palaces, churches and fortresses. Also the city’s neolithic origins have left an important archaeological heritage in the area, in the form of megaliths such as the taulas, the talaiots and the navetas.

Mahón stretches along the shore of the second largest natural port in the world. The capital of Menorca still preserves a number of churches, ancestral buildings and palaces, lining streets in the Mediterranean flavor. Legend has it that Mahón was founded by Carthaginian general Magón, brother of Hannibal.