Palma, verdict by verdict

Palma is Mallorca's real city, not just its airport: La Seu, the Gothic cathedral looming over the seafront with its rose-window light show, an old town of courtyards and lanes, a circular castle on the hill with a 360-degree sweep, the 1912 wooden train to Soller through the Tramuntana, and a Santa Catalina food scene that has grown up fast. Most visitors who give it a day wish they had given it two.

The caveats: July and August bring cruise crowds and serious heat, the cathedral ticket queue runs forty minutes on cruise mornings, the city's own beaches are fine rather than great so the famous coves need a bus, bike or car, siesta empties the lanes 14:00 to 17:00, the Soller train costs several times the bus for the same valley, and the centre's lanes stay noisy on weekends. Beach-first or quiet-village travelers should base elsewhere and day-trip in.

Two to three days covers it: the cathedral and old town, Bellver Castle's views, the wooden train to Soller, and evenings eating in Santa Catalina or on a food tour. April to June and September to October are the window; Valldemossa is the pretty-and-small half-day. Sleep in the old town for the lanes, accepting the weekend hum.