Where to stay in Majorca: the best areas and resorts

Palma is the island's only real city, and it is a good one. The cathedral rises straight up from the seafront, the old town behind it is a tangle of shady lanes, courtyards and tapas bars, and the marina is lined with yachts that cost more than the street you live on.

The most characterful places to stay are small hotels in restored mansions near the cathedral; the grandest look over the bay from the seafront. Want sand on your doorstep? Cala Major, just west of the centre, has hotels right on the beach. The airport is about 20 minutes away.

East of Palma, a ruler-straight beach of pale sand runs for several kilometres along the bay, backed all the way by a promenade. Can Pastilla, at the city end near the Palma Aquarium, is the most relaxed; Playa de Palma is the long middle stretch; and El Arenal, at the far end, is loud, young and proud of it.

The big selling point is location: the airport is a few minutes away and Palma's old town 10 to 15 minutes by car or bus. It is also one of the best stretches on the island for adults-only hotels, plenty of them right on the front.

Magaluf knows exactly what it is. A wide sandy beach on the south-west coast, lined with bars, clubs and late-opening restaurants, and a crowd that came to have a very good time. Some hotels say, quite plainly, that they're aimed at young groups who want to party.

That's not the whole story. There are adults-only and all-inclusive hotels on the beach with proper sea views, and calmer Palmanova is just around the bay.

Palmanova shares a bay with Magaluf but is a far more family-friendly animal. Its sandy beaches sit just across the promenade from many hotels, and Katmandu Park and Western Water Park are a few kilometres down the road for days when sandcastles lose their charm.

Palma is about 15 minutes away by car and the airport 25 to 30 km, which makes for a short transfer with tired children.

Santa Ponsa curls around a deep bay west of Magaluf, with a wide sandy beach and a promenade of shops, bars and restaurants. It is a long-standing favourite with British families, and with golfers: several courses are a short drive away, and some hotels perch on the hillsides with views across the water.

Paguera is where the south-west coast exhales. It is the last big resort heading west from Palma, with several fine-sand beaches, little coves such as Cala Fornells, a pedestrianised centre for evening wandering and pine-covered hills behind.

It suits families and anyone after a properly relaxed beach holiday, and there are adults-only hotels too. The airport is about 30 km away.

Puerto Pollensa sits on a sheltered bay at the island's northern tip, with the Serra de Tramuntana rearing up behind. A long, gently sloping beach runs from the harbour around the bay, and the pine-shaded seafront walk, lined with hotels and cafés, is one of the loveliest evening strolls in Majorca.

It draws couples, walkers and cyclists rather than party crowds, and stays pleasantly low-key even in August. The dramatic Formentor peninsula, home to one of the island's most famous hotels, is just up the road. The airport is about an hour away.

Alcudia comes in two flavours. The old town hides behind medieval walls, with Roman ruins nearby and a market that fills its lanes; Puerto de Alcudia, a couple of kilometres away, is the harbour and resort on the Bay of Alcudia. The bay's beach of fine sand and clear, shallow water goes on for kilometres, which is why families keep coming back.

Stay in the port for the beach and the marina, or in the old town for character, in small hotels in restored stone houses, with the sand a short drive away.

If you're travelling with small children, this is the one. Playa de Muro is the middle of the Bay of Alcudia's great beach: soft white sand, dunes, and water so shallow and clear that toddlers can paddle a long way out. Behind it lies the S'Albufera wetland park, laced with walking and cycling paths, and most hotels are four- and five-star resorts right on the sand.

Further round the bay, Can Picafort is a small, cheerful resort town with a kilometre-long sandy beach and the same nature reserve on its doorstep. Both are about an hour from the airport.

Cala d'Or looks like it wandered over from Ibiza: low whitewashed buildings, a string of small coves with sandy beaches and pine trees running right down to the water, and a marina lined with restaurants and bars. It feels more like a village than a resort, which is precisely the point.

Hotels range from family resorts with splash pools to adults-only boutique bolt-holes with rooftop bars. The airport is about an hour away.

Cala Millor is the east coast's big beach resort: a long, wide crescent of sand with a pedestrianised seafront of shops, bars and restaurants. Its neighbour Sa Coma has a similar beach beside the wild headland of Punta de n'Amer, and little Cala Bona, with its harbour, sits at the northern end.

These are dependable family resorts, with plenty of all-inclusive hotels a few steps from the sand and a handful of adults-only options too. The airport is a little over an hour away.

Cala Ratjada, out on the north-eastern tip, manages to be lively without being loud. The resort centre has plenty of bars and restaurants, but the real draw is the beaches, Cala Agulla above all: fine sand, startlingly clear water and pine woods behind.

It suits younger couples and groups as much as families, and there are adults-only hotels by the sea. It is the furthest resort from the airport, about 80 km, so factor in the drive.

Colonia de Sant Jordi is a quiet former fishing village on the south coast, and its neighbour is the main reason to come: Es Trenc, a long, undeveloped sweep of white sand and Caribbean-blue water that regularly tops lists of the island's best beaches. Boats leave from the little port for the protected islands of Cabrera.

There's no nightlife to speak of, and that's the point. A handful of excellent hotels sit on the seafront, including an adults-only spa hotel built around natural thermal waters. The airport is about 45 minutes away.