Latest news with #Mallorcans
Metro
11 hours ago
- Metro
This mythical destination is a perfect Mallorca alternative — without the crowds
Every summer, millions of UK travellers descend on the sun-drenched shores of Mallorca to lay their towels on the sands of popular hotspots like Palma and Alcudia. But overtourism in the Balearics has sparked fierce backlash. Locals and environmental groups have called for a reduction in visitor numbers, and Palma city council recently slapped curbs on tour group sizes. In one protest, Mallorcans occupied the Calo des Moro beach; on the streets, activists have chanted 'tourists go home' and 'foreigners out'. Earlier this week, hundreds of holidaymakers were stranded at Palma airport after flights were cancelled due to air traffic restrictions. It's not exactly giving 'rest and relaxation', and the chaotic situation in Spain's top tourist destinations has led many to look elsewhere. Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here. And, according to experts, Lassithi, a mythical region on Crete's eastern coast, is the perfect switch for anyone who loves Mallorca. This Greek island is, of course, iconic. But this part is unlikely to be be on your radar just yet. Laura Evans-Fisk, head of digital and engagement at eurochange, says your money will go further here, too. 'If you're looking to escape the crowds this summer, Lassithi is a fantastic holiday spot,' she tells Metro. ' It's a peaceful, authentic Greek experience, with very reasonable prices. Laura says Lassithi's coastline is less developed and more secluded than Mallorca, so you won't need to scramble for a sunbed or fight your way to the bar. 'This region is a must visit for foodies; some of the best Greek produce is made here including olive oil and honey,' she adds. Sound tempting? Here's everything you need to know. Stretching along Crete's eastern shore, Lassithi – or Lasithi, in Greek – is steeped in history and natural beauty. Home to the only palm tree forest in Europe, the region boasts spectacular white sand beaches and an attractive climate, with temperatures reaching 23.5°C right through to October. Perched 800m above sea level, the Lassithi Plateau has 18 villages embroidered across verdant hills. Folklore museums devoted to Greek myths can be found here, as well as a cave said to be the birthplace of Zeus himself. A day trip to Lassithi offers not only jaw-dropping landscapes, but a rare peek into rural Cretan life. The capital, Agios Nikolaos, and areas such as Elounda, Chrissi, and Myrtos serve as the main bases for tourists. Some five million tourists landed on Crete in 2024, but typically, only a fraction go as far as Lassithi. Lassithi is home to Minoan ruins, from the ancient city of Lato to the Palace of Zakros. Both are worth a visit, as is the former Venetian fortress and leper colony of Spinalonga, which was catapulted into popular culture by Victoria Hislop's 2005 bestselling novel, The Island. Take a boat trip from the nightlife hub of Lerapetra to the idyllic island of Chrissi, or spend the day exploring the charming Kato Zakros village. See how settlers in 1,000 BC lived with a tour of Praisos, or go to one of Lassithi's many olive oil farms to really immerse yourself in some authentic Greek culture. In terms of nature, the Dikti Mountain Range is popular with hikers, while there are a range of caves around the coast to explore. Just make sure to ask a local guide before you go to ensure you stay safe. As of 2024, the average price of a pint is €3, or £2.33. This is around €1.50 less than you'd pay in Palma (according to Numbeo), and a whopping three times cheaper than in London. For a meal out, you're looking at €21 (£16.32). And, depending on when you travel, three-star hotels can be booked for as little as £43 a night. Metro found Airbnbs available in July, starting from £74 per night. However plummet if you push your visit back to shoulder season, from the end of September on. On Tripadvisor, reviewer Erez called the Glika Nera Beach,' a paradise for peace and quiet,' while Soner203 said of Lake Voulismeni in Agios Nikolaos: 'Lovely setting, natural beauty, serene and peaceful yet full of life.' Another, Dave S, described Lassithi's Vai Beach as 'gorgeous,' adding: 'What a place this is. Well worth the visit.' Greeka reviewer agelikoni echoed his sentiments, writing: 'Vai beach is exactly how I was told. So beautiful and so exotic! For the time being there, you almost forget you are in Greece, seems more like a beach in the Caribbean, I guess. Must see!' More Trending On the same site, georgia22 commented: 'Lassithi is the most quiet and relaxing area of Crete. While the rest of the prefectures are too crowded for me, Lassithi has exactly those features to make my holidays special.' Direct return flights to Heraklion in Crete are available from airports around the UK, starting from £232 in July. From Heraklion Airport, it's roughly a 50-minute drive to Agios Nikolaos, or just over an hour to Elounda. This article was originally published on 13 August 2024 and has been updated. Do you have a story to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@ MORE: Italy's 'village of villages' contest has revealed its 5 must-visit hidden gems MORE: Your favourite places to eat in Europe that aren't the usual tourist traps MORE: Gorgeous town in Portugal is a foodie paradise with flights from £27
DW
3 days ago
- DW
Toxic tourism — Mallorca's housing crisis – DW – 06/02/2025
Millions of tourists come to the island every year. But many Mallorcans can no longer afford the rents here. 60-year-old Begoña is a parking inspector. She and her son Hector, who works as a waiter, live in a caravan in Palma, Mallorca's capital. Their combined income of 2,500 euros isn't enough to afford an apartment. A 22-year-old medical student, Christofer lives in a stuffy basement room in Palma and pays 600 euros a month. The conditions are catastrophic: the sewage pumps are defective and it smells awful, and the power is often out. These are just 2 stories from the growing problem of Mallorca's housing shortage.
DW
6 days ago
- DW
Toxic Tourism - Mallorca's Housing Crisis – DW – 05/30/2025
The Spanish island of Mallorca is a popular holiday destination. But short term rentals and rising property prices are forcing more and more locals out of their neighborhoods. Millions of tourists come to the island every year. But many Mallorcans can no longer afford the rents here. Image: NDR 60-year-old Begoña is a parking inspector. She and her son Hector, who works as a waiter, live in a caravan in Palma, Mallorca's capital. Their combined income of 2,500 euros isn't enough to afford an apartment. Image: NDR A 22-year-old medical student, Christofer lives in a stuffy basement room in Palma and pays 600 euros a month. The conditions are catastrophic: the sewage pumps are defective and it smells awful, and the power is often out. These are just 2 stories from the growing problem of Mallorca's housing shortage. Broadcasting Hours: DW English MON 02.06.2025 – 18:30 UTC MON 02.06.2025 – 23:30 UTC TUE 03.06.2025 – 03:30 UTC TUE 03.06.2025 – 09:15 UTC TUE 03.06.2025 – 12:15 UTC TUE 03.06.2025 – 16:15 UTC TUE 03.06.2025 – 21:15 UTC WED 04.06.2025 – 07:30 UTC WED 04.06.2025 – 10:30 UTC WED 04.06.2025 – 17:30 UTC Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 Delhi UTC +5,5 | Bangkok UTC +7 | Hong Kong UTC +8 London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3 San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's time for snobs to stop whingeing about over-tourism
The packed beaches of Spain, the £30 cocktails of the Riviera, the body-surfing required to move through a central thoroughfare in Venice or Lisbon and the crush in central London when tourist season is in full swing, which feels like always, is enough to make anyone feel murderous. Does it then follow that the tsunami of tourist taxes in Europe and here in Britain, following out-and-out Continental rebellion with Catalans and Mallorcans on the streets screaming anti-tourist slogans, the introduction of draconian curbs on Britons buying Spanish second homes, and the kind of anti-Airbnb protests in Portugal that would have made Karl Marx proud, is justified? Of course not. Controlling footfall and destruction of beautiful old places is one thing – obviously landscapes and cities must be preserved for future generations to enjoy, while also preserving enough of their working identity for residents to feel like it's still home. But what seems to be taking precedence instead is an attitude that cheap travel for the masses is terrible and must be stopped because a) cheapness is horrible and b) the masses are horrible and don't deserve to visit Barcelona or Venice. This is certainly the way that Spain seems to see things. Last week, legislation for an eyewateringly mean-spirited tourist tax was signed that will hike overnight premiums by €15 (£12.30) per night for tourists visiting Catalonia – which includes Barcelona. That is enough to make visiting the area too expensive for all but a fly-by visit for those travelling on a budget. At least a quarter of the money gained from this levy will be used for 'housing policy' – namely, to patch up holes created by incompetent economic governance. Anti-tourist tax 'is the trend at the European level,' sniffed David Cid, a parliamentary spokesperson, defending the follows months of anti-tourism activity in a country a third of whose population – despite having record rates of unemployment, dysfunctional government and a broken, low-growth economy – think there are too many tourists splashing cash in their country. In July 2024, protesters marauded through the streets of Barcelona spraying dining tourists with water. Given that Barcelona is a rip-off-prone city best of times (it's got to be my least favourite conurbation in Europe), I don't know why anyone would go in the first place, let alone in the face of such hostility. Increasingly the UK is introducing tourist taxes – Manchester already has a City Visitor Charge and Edinburgh has introduced a 5 per cent visitor levy on overnight stays. London is considering tourist tax too, plus possible charges introduced to our world-class national museum collections. But the magic of London – alluring to people in their millions from all over the world – is the free access to the likes of the British Museum and National Gallery permanent collections. And as hospitality chiefs point out, we already have higher VAT than most other countries; why make visitors suffer further? Tourist taxes are nothing new; India has long had particularly punitive ones (some of which border on the frankly insulting). Places as far afield as Bali, Okinawa (Japan), Seoul, Penang (Malaysia) and French Polynesia have a variety of measures in place to curb numbers for the sake of sustainability. The difference between these and the European ones are that they seem don't come with all those performative lashings of anti-gentrification, anti-capitalist, anti-modernity vitriol. Indeed, European anti-tourism rhetoric seems to be mostly a race to squeeze back affordable travel so that seeing Europe once again becomes the preserve of the well-to-do only. Cheap travel for the proletariat – package holidays, cruises, packed Ryanair and EasyJet flights commuting between the continent and London, to say nothing of the American circuit round Europe – is easy to turn one's nose up at. But it is arguably one of the greatest features of the post-war era. Life was so terribly dull before for most people. It had to be eked out between the familiar buildings and frustrations of whatever the town or suburb or neighbourhood one happened to be born in. Then, suddenly, those same people could get on a plane and see the world. For some of them, it was, and is, just a matter of sunshine and sangria. But for others, it was – and remains – a crucial way of opening the mind, seeing other cultures, seeing history and art preserved in castles, palaces, temples, palazzi, villas, and the great museums of the world. Then there's the fact that accessible travel has massively boosted the coffers of poor and dysfunctional countries. The way the Spanish carry on you'd think they were hosting tourists as a charity when in fact, in 2023 alone, Spain made €184bn from tourism – a whopping 12.3 per cent of GDP. Tens of thousands would be out of a job if tourism dried up - as happened during Covid when a tourist-deprived Europe yowled in pain. Here in Blighty, in 2023, tourism generated £239bn - 7 per cent of GDP. In Japan the figure is 7.1 per cent of GDP. And so on. Tourism is really, really important for both the traveller and the destination. Affordable travel – aka mass tourism – is not without problems, but its enormous benefits outweigh the challenges. As we consider slapping more pain on visitors, we should remember that the Continent's toxic mix of snootiness and anti-capitalistic ill-will can make nobody happy – and everyone poorer, financially and otherwise. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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Telegraph
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
It's time for snobs to stop whingeing about over-tourism
The packed beaches of Spain, the £30 cocktails of the Riviera, the body-surfing required to move through a central thoroughfare in Venice or Lisbon and the crush in central London when tourist season is in full swing, which feels like always, is enough to make anyone feel murderous. Does it then follow that the tsunami of tourist taxes in Europe and here in Britain, following out-and-out Continental rebellion with Catalans and Mallorcans on the streets screaming anti-tourist slogans, the introduction of draconian curbs on Britons buying Spanish second homes, and the kind of anti-Airbnb protests in Portugal that would have made Karl Marx proud, is justified? Of course not. Controlling footfall and destruction of beautiful old places is one thing – obviously landscapes and cities must be preserved for future generations to enjoy, while also preserving enough of their working identity for residents to feel like it's still home. But what seems to be taking precedence instead is an attitude that cheap travel for the masses is terrible and must be stopped because a) cheapness is horrible and b) the masses are horrible and don't deserve to visit Barcelona or Venice. This is certainly the way that Spain seems to see things. Last week, legislation for an eyewateringly mean-spirited tourist tax was signed that will hike overnight premiums by €15 (£12.30) per night for tourists visiting Catalonia – which includes Barcelona. That is enough to make visiting the area too expensive for all but a fly-by visit for those travelling on a budget. At least a quarter of the money gained from this levy will be used for 'housing policy' – namely, to patch up holes created by incompetent economic governance. Anti-tourist tax 'is the trend at the European level,' sniffed David Cid, a parliamentary spokesperson, defending the measures. This follows months of anti-tourism activity in a country a third of whose population – despite having record rates of unemployment, dysfunctional government and a broken, low-growth economy – think there are too many tourists splashing cash in their country. In July 2024, protesters marauded through the streets of Barcelona spraying dining tourists with water. Given that Barcelona is a rip-off-prone city best of times (it's got to be my least favourite conurbation in Europe), I don't know why anyone would go in the first place, let alone in the face of such hostility. Increasingly the UK is introducing tourist taxes – Manchester already has a City Visitor Charge and Edinburgh has introduced a 5 per cent visitor levy on overnight stays. London is considering tourist tax too, plus possible charges introduced to our world-class national museum collections. But the magic of London – alluring to people in their millions from all over the world – is the free access to the likes of the British Museum and National Gallery permanent collections. And as hospitality chiefs point out, we already have higher VAT than most other countries; why make visitors suffer further? Tourist taxes are nothing new; India has long had particularly punitive ones (some of which border on the frankly insulting). Places as far afield as Bali, Okinawa (Japan), Seoul, Penang (Malaysia) and French Polynesia have a variety of measures in place to curb numbers for the sake of sustainability. The difference between these and the European ones are that they seem don't come with all those performative lashings of anti-gentrification, anti-capitalist, anti-modernity vitriol. Indeed, European anti-tourism rhetoric seems to be mostly a race to squeeze back affordable travel so that seeing Europe once again becomes the preserve of the well-to-do only. Cheap travel for the proletariat – package holidays, cruises, packed Ryanair and EasyJet flights commuting between the continent and London, to say nothing of the American circuit round Europe – is easy to turn one's nose up at. But it is arguably one of the greatest features of the post-war era. Life was so terribly dull before for most people. It had to be eked out between the familiar buildings and frustrations of whatever the town or suburb or neighbourhood one happened to be born in. Then, suddenly, those same people could get on a plane and see the world. For some of them, it was, and is, just a matter of sunshine and sangria. But for others, it was – and remains – a crucial way of opening the mind, seeing other cultures, seeing history and art preserved in castles, palaces, temples, palazzi, villas, and the great museums of the world. Then there's the fact that accessible travel has massively boosted the coffers of poor and dysfunctional countries. The way the Spanish carry on you'd think they were hosting tourists as a charity when in fact, in 2023 alone, Spain made €184bn from tourism – a whopping 12.3 per cent of GDP. Tens of thousands would be out of a job if tourism dried up - as happened during Covid when a tourist-deprived Europe yowled in pain. Here in Blighty, in 2023, tourism generated £239bn - 7 per cent of GDP. In Japan the figure is 7.1 per cent of GDP. And so on. Tourism is really, really important for both the traveller and the destination. Affordable travel – aka mass tourism – is not without problems, but its enormous benefits outweigh the challenges. As we consider slapping more pain on visitors, we should remember that the Continent's toxic mix of snootiness and anti-capitalistic ill-will can make nobody happy – and everyone poorer, financially and otherwise.
