Hold the fort in Mallorca
The town of Alcúdia was a Roman stronghold in Mallorca – and after they left, Vandals, Moors and Aragonese invaders successively set up shop within its palm-shaded battlements. These days the town still gets invaded on an annual basis by summer tourists – however, if you head there now you stand a good chance of beating the peak-season crowds. A fine place to lodge is the newly opened Hotel Can Mostatxins – taking its name from the Mallorcan word for moustache. So christened because a previous owner had a particularly impressive set of whiskers, the hotel occupies a 15th-century manor house set among the alleyways of the Old Town, with smart, minimalist rooms – some of which have views out to the Bay of Pollença. Get an even better view of this bay with a stroll along the nearby Cap des Pinar – a peninsula of Aleppo pines and secluded bays with surprisingly few crowds (its native population of wild goats excluded).