Iberostar Waves Ciudad Blanca — Alcudia made easy

A week of warm beach days, gentle October seas and a family-friendly hotel that sits right on the Alcudia promenade.

We arrived in Majorca in the last week of October hoping for a final blast of sun, and Alcudia delivered. The resort is quieter than high summer, but the beaches are still warm, the restaurants are open, and the pace is slower without ever feeling closed down.

Iberostar Waves Ciudad Blanca sits right on the long sweep of Alcudia Bay, with the promenade running directly past the front gate. That location is the main reason to choose it. Walk left and you are on a huge white-sand beach in under two minutes; walk right and you can follow the marina all the way into the old town for dinner. The rooms are clean, modern and modest, with decent balconies and surprisingly good blackout curtains. The sea-view upgrade is worth the small premium.

The bay itself is the star. It stretches for miles, the sand is fine and pale, and the water shelves so gently you can walk out a hundred metres and still be at chest height. Late October meant we mostly had it to ourselves in the mornings, with just a few walkers and the odd paddleboarder. We took cheap plastic snorkels down to the rockier ends and spotted small fish and the odd octopus. The water was still around 22°C — warmer than the North Sea in August.

The hotel itself is family-geared, so there is a kids' pool and animation team, but the adults-only rooftop terrace with its small pool and bar is a peaceful escape. Breakfast is a solid buffet, if a bit chaotic at peak times. Dinner is a decent rotation, though we preferred to walk out to the port restaurants for seafood paella. By the end of the week we had settled into a lazy rhythm: beach in the morning, old town for a late lunch, and drinks on the rooftop as the sun went down.

Alcudia's old town is a twenty-minute walk or a short bus ride from the hotel, and it's more atmospheric than we expected. The medieval walls are still largely intact, and the narrow lanes inside are full of small tapas bars, artisan shops and quiet courtyards. Tuesday and Sunday mornings bring a big open-air market that spreads out through the square — great for olives, cheese and cured meats to picnic with on the beach.

We took one day trip out to Cap de Formentor, driving the winding cliff road at sunrise to beat the coaches. The viewpoint is genuinely dizzying, and the small beach at Cala Figuera on the way back was worth the walk down. The only real downside of Alcudia's location is that Palma is a slog by public transport — a long bus ride, or an expensive taxi — so if you want a proper day in the capital, hiring a car for 24 hours is the smarter move.