Cala Taialer - Minorque

Menorca Travel Guide: things to see and do on this Balearic island

Welcome to our page dedicated to the beautiful little island of Menorca in the Balearic Islands. We spent 5 weeks on this beautiful island and we share with you here all our advice to visit the island and enjoy the most beautiful beaches.

This page summarizes all the practical information you need to prepare your trip. At the end of the page you will also find all our blog articles, which are more visits-oriented. Feel free to share our information with others, and if you are leaving soon for Menorca, all we have to do is wish you a wonderful holiday!

Table of Contents
  1. Menorca Map: all our posts on a map
  2. Menorca: the small pearl of the Balearics
  3. Menorca climate - the best season to go there
  4. Rent a car in Menorca - all the information you need to know
  5. Where to stay in Menorca - our advice
  6. Coming to Menorca - cheap flights
  7. Travel budget to Menorca
  8. Useful resources to prepare your trip to Menorca
  9. All our blog posts about Menorca

Menorca Map: all our posts on a map

At the end of the page you will find all our articles written about Menorca in "chronological" order. If you prefer to see all our items on a map then you can open the map below and select the item of your choice according to your destination.

Menorca: the small pearl of the Balearics

Before I talk to you about the practical aspects, I would like to give you a short presentation of Menorca and especially the reasons why we decided to move there for 5 weeks.

Cala Macarella - Minorque

Menorca (also called Minorca) is a small island in the Balearic Islands that is barely 700 km2. Much less known and popular than its neighbours Mallorca and Ibiza, this island has, over the years, become a favourite destination for lovers of nature and beautiful landscapes. Tourism has grown rapidly in the Balearic Islands since the 1960s, but from the beginning Menorca has always been very careful to preserve its landscapes by not allowing the construction of major roads along the coast.

Then I wouldn't hide from you that for us the choice of Minorca was made a bit "by accident".... At the beginning we wanted to go to Tenerife (edit: we will finally have gone there at the end of 2018 - see our articles). The problem is that at the time of our research the flights were very expensive. In short, it was while browsing on Skyscanner that we found a good offer for a flight.

Menorca we didn't know much about it. We knew where it was, we knew that Mallorca and Ibiza were too touristic for our taste but nothing more... A couple of Google Image searches later, we we were already booking our flights!

côte nord minorque

There are 4 blog articles about Menorca:

Menorca climate - the best season to go there

Minorca has so to say 3 main seasons:

  • The low season which extends from November to March: prices are the lowest at this time of the year but on the other hand it should be known that the island is running a little slowly. Less public transport, fewer restaurants/bars open (there are still some) and a cooler climate (12°C to 15°C during the day). In short, it is a very beautiful season for hiking but not so much for swimming.
  • The high season which goes from June to August: the summer holiday period! Not surprisingly, it is the period with the most activities and atmosphere on the island. The sun is almost always shining, the beaches are stormed (even if it is still reasonable compared to the neighbouring islands) and of course this is the period when prices take the elevator for accommodation or car rentals.
  • Between seasons: from April to June and from early September to late October. In our opinion these are the best seasons! The temperatures are mild (20° to 25°), the prices are reasonable and above all there are not too many people. If you come for a swim, aim for September or October because in spring the water is still a little cool!

coucher de soleil minorque

Rent a car in Menorca - all the information you need to know

Car rental is probably the easiest and most comfortable way to visit Menorca. And the good news in this regard is that the price of rentals is quite reasonable.

To rent a car we advise you to test Rentalcars.com.

Rentalcars is not a rental agency strictly speaking but a comparator! This means that you have a good chance of finding the best prices online (that's how we found our car) Tip: Always try to vary the departure/return times a little. If an agency closes its doors at say 8pm and you want to return at 8.30pm then the latter does not even appear.... However, by talking to the agency it is often possible to make arrangements!

location de voiture minorque

In Menorca itself, and especially in tourist areas, you will also find many agencies directly on the streets and you can easily rent a car on the spot. In our case, we never did so because the prices found online were systematically lower than those observed on spot. When we rent a car we generally prefer to ignore additional insurance (which is often more expensive than the rental itself) and prefer to pay a deposit. We knock on wood, but for the moment we have never had a problem during a rental.

See on Rentalcars

Rent a van

menorca vanlifeWe didn't do it, but since we bought our van we can't help but think about the destinations we've visited and wonder if they would be good to visit in a van. Menorca is clearly one of those places where we think it must be really nice! :) To find a van you can go and see on the website Yescapa. They offer vans for rent between private individuals (with all the insurances).  Van are available from 50€ per day. See the vans available in Menorca

Where to stay in Menorca

Find all our recommandations on hotels in Menorca in our detailed budget blog post.
But if you want to save yourself a bit of reading, we suggest you take a look at the hotels in Menorca at Booking (with a small preference for the city of Ciutadella) or just have a look at the map below.

See hotels in Menorca on Booking

Alternatively, you can also take a look at the map below to find your perfect accomodation based on location. Add your dates and use the filters such as price to narrow down your search results.

Coming to Menorca - cheap flights

avion lever de soleilThere is only one airport in Menorca and it is located on the Port Mahon side of the island in the south-eastern part of the island. After that we are reassured, because no matter where you plan to stay it will be less than an hour's drive from the airport anyway... ehhhh yes Minorca it's really not very big! ;) For example, the small town of Ciutadella, which is more or less opposite the island, is accessible in less than 45 minutes!

Regarding flights you have several options. In high season many companies offer direct flights from many cities in France or from Geneva. During the off-season the cheapest option is often to fly with a stopover in Barcelona. To find a cheap flight to Menorca the easiest way is still to compare fares on Skyscanner.

Enter your favorite departure airport and compare!

Notes:

  • As there are no direct flights or low-cost connections every day it is worth comparing prices over 2-3 days... sometimes adding a holiday can save you some money ;)
  • The offers vary a lot depending on your departure airport and the companies that serve it... so always remember to compare prices with those of local airports. For example, there are often significant differences between Lyon and Geneva (one way or the other) and between the two cities there is just over 2 hours by train and tickets are available from 16€...

Find a flight on Skyscanner

Travel budget to Menorca

Each budget is of course different, but here is what we spent during our 5 weeks in Menorca 2017. The budgets below are per day and for 2 people, so if you prefer this corresponds to a global budget of 22€ per day and per person.

Expense Daily budget
Accomodation 23€
Transport 3,8€
Restaurants 6,7€
Groceries /Supermarkets 17€
Visits/extras 1€

Notes:

  • The budget is for 2 people who have "lived" in Menorca for 5 weeks, out of the main season. (we were there between October and November). The figures are averages over our entire stay.
  • This does not include flights. For your information we found a round trip for 130€ on skyscanner from Geneva (with a stopover in Barcelona)
  • The season will have a big impact on your budget! The more you travel in high season, the more expensive flights, accommodations and car rentals will be.
  • Note: we did not rent a car for the entire stay. We rented on the moment to make excursions over 2-3 days.

For more details on our budget, please refer to our special budget article.

See the article

phare de punta nati minorque

Useful resources to prepare your trip to Menorca

Note: This page contains affiliate links to partner sites. By using our links to make a reservation you don't pay anything more but on the other hand we get a small commission that helps us to make this site live and keep it advertising free.

Menorca: all our blog posts