#28 mallorca on film

Mallorca is a place that rewards slowing down. Step away from the resorts and you find something more textured: quiet stone villages, winding mountain roads, and pockets of creativity that feel both timeless and entirely of the moment.

On the island’s northwest coast, Deia and Sóller sit cradled by the Tramuntana mountains. Deia is tiny but cinematic. Stone houses, citrus groves, and the kind of late afternoon light that makes you want to keep a camera around your neck. Sóller, by contrast, feels lived-in: the morning buzz around the market square, the tram rattling down to Port de Sóller, and side streets where bougainvillea spills over shuttered windows. Both feel like places to linger, not rush.

Palma is the counterpoint. At first glance it’s polished, even touristy, but lean into its side streets and you’ll find a different rhythm: coffee shops with worn wooden counters, concept stores, natural wine bars pouring by the glass. It’s less about discovery for discovery’s sake and more about how these spaces quietly weave into everyday life.

The beaches, too, tell two very different stories. In the north, places like Formentor and Cala Tuent feel elemental—pine trees meeting turquoise water, stretches of sand where the pace is unhurried and the landscape does the talking. The south, by contrast, is dominated by large resorts and a faster churn of tourism. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but for me, the northern coast offers the kind of stillness that makes you want to put the camera down and just take it in.