Colònia de Sant Jordi: The corner of Mallorca where time has stood still

Traditions of fishermen persist in a landscape of salt flats, white sand beaches, and turquoise waters, featuring secluded coves and lighthouses waiting to be discovered.

On the southeastern tip of Mallorca, an old fishing village has undergone a radical change in recent decades due to tourism. However, the rapid urban expansion has not wiped out the way of life for many fishermen, who continue to catch giant tuna just like previous generations, nor has it erased the ancient history that emanates from the area’s salt flats.

In Colònia de Sant Jordi, you can see this union between past and present, with blocks built for tourism sitting alongside old stone houses, in a village where most of the gastronomic and commercial activity is concentrated on the small promenade that houses the marina.

However, if you are looking for corners where time has stood still, you can visit the nearby villages of Les Salines (with its beautiful square surrounded by white houses) and Santanyí, where its weekly market allows you to catch a more traditional, small-town spirit.

Les Salines and Santanyí are villages that, along with Colònia de Sant Jordi, present a different picture of the south of Mallorca.

You can also find this in the fishing village of Cala Figuera, hidden among rocky cliffs draped with pine and fig trees.

The white houses with their green windows and doors give it a chromatic touch to remember, and thanks to its lack of beaches, it has been saved from the urban bulldozer.

The Cabrera Islands

This area of Mallorca is for those who want to connect with nature. For example, excursions to the Cabrera archipelago depart from the moorings of Sant Jordi. It is a group of 19 islets of striking beauty, a garden of biodiversity, and home to a large number of small reptiles, seabirds, and mammals.

However, the great wealth lies beneath its turquoise waters, with 500 species of marine fauna, such as sea bream, sea bass, grouper, octopus, sea urchins, turtles, and cuttlefish.

The beaches of Colònia de Sant Jordi

The beauty of Cabrera competes with the natural attractions near the colony, such as Es Trenc beach, with its white sands and clear waters that seem as if they were transported from the Caribbean.

At 2.5 km long, it is the longest in Mallorca, which guarantees solitude just a short distance from the town.

On either side of the small urban center, a string of more beaches and coves unfolds, some of which can only be reached by boat, such as those included in the excursions offered by the company Náutica Colonia.

Among them are the beautiful and secluded Cala Marmols, which is quite difficult to access if one decides to arrive on foot; Es Caragol and its abundant underwater fauna thanks to the large presence of Posidonia seagrass; Tugores, which allows for snorkeling in shallow waters; and Es Carbó, with some of the most transparent water in the area.

Lighthouses and rocks

With the swaying of the boat, you can see the Ses Salines Lighthouse, a silent guardian of these rugged coasts that was inaugurated in 1863 at the southernmost point of the island, and which can also be reached after an intense five-hour hike along the cliffs from Cap de Ses Salines.

You can also reach the curious natural formation of Es Pontàs by boat—a rock arch that emerges from the clear waters—which is one of the most sought-after spots by sunset hunters to post on Instagram.

This geological whim of nature can also be seen from the coast, sitting on the benches at the Es Pontàs viewpoint.

The Salt Flats (Las Salinas)

But without a doubt, one of the most surreal landscapes is Las Salinas d’Es Trenc. It is an area declared a Natural Area of Special Interest, which has been producing salt through the evaporation of seawater since Neolithic times.

The extraction of sea salt dates back to the Neolithic period and had already been recognized by the combination of sun, wind, low humidity, and traditional techniques allows for the production of different types of sea salt, such as the 10,000 tons produced annually by the company Salinas de Levante.

It is artisanal work carried out during the summer months, when workers rake the surface layer and pour the product into baskets to remove the water so it can finish drying under the blistering sun.

It is hard work that is performed before dusk to prevent the humidity in the air from dissolving the salt crystals.

Tuna carving (El ronqueo)

Another activity that remains unchanged with the passage of time is the ronqueo of the tuna, the process of cutting and dismantling these gigantic fish.

It is a technique that is performed, above all, between April and May when the wild tuna migrates to warmer waters to spawn, and throughout June when it returns to the Atlantic Ocean.

From each piece, about 25 edible parts can be extracted, which are prepared in traditional dishes and in more sophisticated ones, such as those offered at the Salicornia restaurant, located on the seafront as part of the Honucai hotel.

There, chef Pablo Tomás (who has worked at Drolma and El Bulli) offers an interesting reinterpretation of traditional Mallorcan dishes, served in a space decorated as an extension of the sea.

It shares the same aesthetic as the Honucai, a 78-room boutique hotel that is one of the few that, in addition to services such as its solarium, meeting rooms, and its sophisticated terrace “The Top,” has everything prepared to welcome cyclists, offering everything from a repair workshop to washing areas.

And if you feel like going out for a ride but don’t have a bike, it doesn’t matter: you can rent them here and set off to discover new landscapes in the south of Mallorca.