“What we experienced yesterday is a shame, and we are sure that it did not only happen that day. We have to be aware of what is happening on our islands with the excess of sightseeing and the permissiveness that is given over the residents of the islands”. These are the words of Judith, a resident who last Tuesday ventured to the Plage des Trenc and was outraged when on her way back she found a chaos of cars, the vast majority of them rented, parked on the side of a path that crosses a protected area.
It has been the usual landscape this summer at the entrances to es Trenc and to a multitude of coves and beaches on the island. The return to the old normality has been synonymous with collapse and overcrowding, with tourist numbers that have broken records that seemed difficult to beat before the pandemic and that have ended up overwhelming Mallorca and the patience of many residents.
Diario de Mallorca, a media outlet that belongs to the Prensa Ibérica group as well as EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA, visited some of the hottest enclaves for tourists on Wednesday, locations that have become mass destinations after being popularized on Instagram. A priceless promotion campaign on social networks with photos that, however, leave queues, traffic jams and crowds out of the frame.
Park in a protected area
It’s about twelve o’clock and at the entrance to the access road to the Es Trenc salt mine a sign warns that the car park is full. Does not matter. The arrival of cars is constant and in many cases they decide to park on the margins of this protected area to walk the two long kilometers that remain to the beach.
There is no one to put order in the circulatory chaos that is beginning to form, between constant honks, despite the fact that it is not yet noon. Tourists who are not waiting in a growing queue in front of the car park – it costs seven euros – park where they consider most convenient. It’s free and no one is going to fine you.
The debate about the change in model and the decrease in growth that fueled the pandemic has died down during the first summer of full normality on an island that has once again received millions of tourists. Reports and studies remain in a drawer while thousands of visitors access, mobile in hand, Cala s’Almunia and Caló des Moro, two enclaves that until a few years ago were still a good choice for residents.
“There are a lot of people, but that’s not good for us, or for the tourists,” says a disgruntled man from a house in Cala s’Almunia, nostalgic for a time when this enclave was busy in August, but not overcrowded . There is not a free meter on the rocks of this little piece of paradise.
It is not accessible by car and the car park is full by noon, so there are parked vehicles scattered everywhere. Hundreds of tourists — practically only conversations in Italian can be heard — parade along the access road to these two locations, a kilometer and a half under a blazing sun to enjoy crystal clear waters. Of course, tight and without the option of stretching the towel.
To get to the disputed Caló des Moro arena, you also have to queue. Bathers wait patiently, mobile in hand, for the moment to go down and take the same photo that they have already seen hundreds of times on Instagram. Nobody controls access and the wait can last for hours despite the high temperatures. “What a burden,” sums up a young Andalusian woman as she tries to catch her breath after climbing the last flight of stairs.
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Another beautiful postcard of Mallorca popularized on social networks is Formentor. The Consell restricted vehicle traffic in 2019 to access the viewpoint and the beach after the alarm generated by the saturation of cars on a road that crosses a protected area of great landscape value. However, the shuttle bus that picks up tourists at the foot of the mountain is practically empty while dozens of rental cars ignore the no-entry sign between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m.The fine amounts to 80 euros, but it can be avoided by paying for a drink in one of the businesses in the area. In this way, a restriction designed to guarantee the sustainability of this fragile environment can be easily deactivated by sending a photo of the ticket by email to the DGT.
The last stage of a day of crowds goes through the also much-photographed sunset in sa Foradada, a summer classic on the island that has also succumbed to overcrowding. Hundreds of people gather at one of the viewpoints in search of a spot to take the best photo. It is rush hour in an area stressed every day in a summer that neighboring Deià has also overcrowded.