The resort of Porto Colom is the principle coastal development of the municipal district of Felanitx, on the southern half of the east coast of Majorca.

Although as the crow flies the resort is only around 65km, or 40 miles east of Palma and the Son Sant Joan International airport, it has to be said that the road over to the east coast is not particularly good, and it is not unusual for the transfer to take approximately 1.1/2 to 2 hours from the time you actually leave the airport grounds.

Although most visitors to the area are undoubtedly on traditional package holidays, many of the tour operators now consider the transfer from the airport to your chosen accommodation to be an optional extra, which in turn is leading more people to make their own arrangements for the journey by either pre-booked hire car, or alternatively by one of the many taxis from the ranks outside the arrivals hall.

In theory at least, these taxi should all operate on a fixed price basis, typically charging around 65 euro to 70 euro for the journey to Porto Colom, however experience has shown that this "fixed price" may vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried.

Also an important consideration for families with small children, is that these taxis do not as a rule carry child seats, therefore children may have to sit on their parent's knee for the journey.

If this is a cause for concern, we strongly recommend that you make arrangements for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a child seat is needed for the journey.

The journey for those who have chosen to drive is fairly straightforward for the most part, although not especially scenic, and as an added complication, the local Government on the island has in recent years re-numbered most of the roads on Mallorca, so please make sure that you have an up to date map before setting out!

The route east will normally take you along the Ma-19 motorway to the town of Campos, where you need to join the Ma-5120 to Felanitx.

Once at Felanitx, the Ma-4010 will then take you the final few miles into the centre of Porto Colom. As with the other resorts on the island, a more detailed version of this route, complete with links to maps where appropriate, is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

The municipality as a whole covers an area of around 170 km2, and along with the administrative town of Felanitx encompasses a handful of picturesque inland villages, and the two other coastal resorts of Cala Ferrera and Cala Serena.

The name of "Felanitx" originates from the Latin word "fenalicius", which roughly translates into English as "a place where fenas grows", although records show that the first signs of human settlement in the area actually took place over 2000 years before the birth of Christ.

Porto Colom is the site of one of the most important, and best preserved, "Naveta" or prehistoric burial sites on Majorca, and for this reason in 1996 the Department of Prehistory of the University of the Balearic Islands established the archaeology project known as "Projecte Closos of Can Gaia", in an attempt to further understand the ancient civilisations of the island.

Porto Colom still remains a small traditional fishing village, that has so far resisted full scale tourist commercialisation. A small amount of mainly residential building work is going on, although the town will never become another Magaluf or Palma Nova.

The main feature of the town is the large natural harbour, which is the home to a number of small fishing boats and an ever increasing number of leisure craft. From the harbour looking inland on a clear day, it's also possible to see the Sanctuary of Sant Salvador in the distance.

Around the harbour area there is a fair selection of shops for the everyday holiday essentials, along with more souvenir shops behind the beach at Cala Marcal, and it is here to a large extent, that most of the tourist development has taken place.

The town has two reasonably sized supermarkets the first "Ca's Corso", is next to the Ca's Corso Apartments and the other Spar is situated by the side the harbour next to the Club Nautico offices. Both offer a good selection of fresh and cooked meats, wines and spirits, fresh fruit and vegetables, along with Mallorquin specialities and British branded products. But don't expect too much competition with their prices, as they are both owned by the same people.

The resort is very popular with British visitors who aren't looking for mass commercialisation in a resort, such as water parks and countless karaoke bars, many of which who have subsequently fallen in love with the resort and bought second homes in the area.

Holiday accommodation here mostly falls within the 3 or 4 star standard, which is then supplemented with a fair selection of good value self catering apartments to choose from.

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This website was launched on 1 May 2002

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