Platja de Palma

Municipality of Palma: Platja de Palma
	Aerial view of Platja de Palma ( Can Pastilla to S'Arenal )
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Balearic Islands
Island:	Mallorca
Comarca :	City region of Palma de Mallorca
Coordinates	39 ° 31 ' N , 2 ° 44' E Coordinates: 39 ° 31 ' N , 2 ° 44' E
Residents :	11,934 (2011) INE
Area code:	07040002000

The name Platja de Palma ( Catalan for "Beach of Palma") or Playa de Palma (Castilian) refers to

a district of the city of Palma de Mallorca
on an approx. 4.5 km long stretch of beach on the south coast of Mallorca , which extends in the bay of Palma between Can Pastilla and S'Arenal, which already belongs to Llucmajor.

Districts and neighborhoods

The city of Palma is administratively divided into five districts:

Center (city center)
Ponent (west)
North
Llevant (east)
Platja de Palma i Pla de Sant Jordi

The districts of the city are further divided into so-called barrios (districts). 13 of the total of 89 barrios in the city of Palma are in District No. 5 "Platja de Palma y Pla de Sant Jordi":

Name of the beaches

A distinction must be made between this administrative division and the names of the beaches in the city of Palma, which extend from the border with Calvià in the west to the border with the municipality of Llucmajor in the east (from west to east):

Platja de Palma

The actual beach "Platja de Palma" is about 4.5 km long and stretches from Can Pastilla in the west to S'Arenal / Llucmajor in the east, with the Torrent de Jueus marking the border between Palma and Llucmajor.

The Platja de Palma is optically divided into 15 beach sections ( balnearios ), each of which has a beach bar that bears the number of the respective beach section. The most famous balneario is the "Balneario 6", called "Ballermann 6" since the 1970s. It has enjoyed cult status since German tourists in particular turned this beach kiosk into a party center.

Ballermann

The "Ballermann 6", which at the time served as a magnet for German vacationers for surrounding hotels, was ultimately also to blame for the fact that when the Balnearios were reorganized, the numbering was no longer from west to east, but in the opposite direction. While the Balnearios used to be numbered from Can Pastilla (Balneario 1) to Ses Cadenes (Balneario 8) (Balneario No. 9 was already in S'Arenal, i.e. in the municipality of Llucmajor), today Balneario 1 is located at the Border with Llucmajor and the Balneario No. 15 at Can Pastilla.

After the city of Palma wanted to divide the beach into 15 beach sections due to the increased number of tourists, it was noticed that the cult Balneario No. 6 would have had to be moved to another location. One wanted to avoid this especially after protests of some hotels. The brilliant idea finally came from an employee of the city, who suggested the numbering in the opposite direction, so that the "Ballermann 6" was the only balneario to remain in its original position.

Colloquially, the entire area from "Bierstraße" (Balneario No. 7) via Balneario No. 6 ( Ham Street , with the Beer King ) to Balneario No. 5 ( Upper Bavaria and Mega-Park ) is called "Ballermann".

Beer tourism

Among the Spanish residents, the initial joy over the onslaught of German tourists has given way to growing criticism. Responsible for this were not only the volume levels in the area of the various discos and beer temples, but also excessive alcohol on the beach, which was accompanied by the corresponding garbage and violence.

After the city of Palma always issued stricter building requirements to the restaurants after the turn of the millennium, so-called "rules of behavior" were decreed after protests by residents, which not only regulated the nightly sale of alcohol in supermarkets, but also. a. also behavior on the beach (prohibition of the so-called "bucket-drinking, prohibition of glass bottles on the beach, limitation of the volume of music sources, closing of the beach bars at midnight etc.).

Quality offensive

As part of a so-called “quality offensive”, with which the so-called “drinking tourism” is to be countered, the beach bars have now been gradually modernized since 2015. This is accompanied by a noticeable modernization of the surrounding hotels. In the last two years alone, numerous 4-star hotels have been converted to 5-star level and several 5-star hotels have been built (three new 5-star hotels in the area of Balneario No. 5 in 2018/2019 alone).

Assignments

The hotels on the Platja de Palma alone have had a capacity of over 35,000 beds since 2016, with 35 large hotels alone representing a bed number of 13,000 (2016). New buildings added over 3,700 new beds in 2016/2017 alone. In total Mallorca counted almost 14 million tourists in 2018. The sharp rise in tourist numbers should therefore increasingly be straightened out and shifted to the off-season.

Even in the off-season from October to March, enough restaurants and hotels are still open and try to keep their occupancy with appropriate offers. Several hotels have specialized in cyclists and offer corresponding services including a workshop.

Temperatures of over 20 ° C also attract sun worshipers to the playa in the off-season. The sea water temperature is often over 24 ° C in November. Many holidaymakers also use the off-season to explore the interior of the island and the city of Palma, which has more than 700,000 inhabitants, in which the Epiphany (Jan. 5/6), Sant Antoni (Jan. 16/17), especially during the festivities. ) and especially Sant Sebastià (19/20 Jan) the whole city is on its feet. In addition to the large carnival parade in Palma, there is also a well-attended carnival parade on the Platja de Palma at Carnival.

Overall, the city administration on Platja de Palma is pursuing a strategy away from so-called "drinking tourism" towards year-round holidaymakers.

gallery

Panorama of Platja de Palma at night
Balneario beach at S'Arenal
Platja de Palma in winter, with a view of Can Pastilla
Evening mood on the Platja de Palma in winter
S'Arenal Platja de Palma
Mallorca Platja de Palma beach
Mallorca Platja de Palma aerial view

Web links

Commons : Platja de Palma District - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Platja de Palma on the website of the City of Palma (Ajuntament de Palma)
Beach description (German)
Beach description ( Castilian )