Having just spent a lovely 2 weeks in the Mediterranean, I thought I'd better put my experience to good use in a review of Palma airport. For some, airports are just a thorn in their side, a mere obstacle in getting from A to B. They hate the thought of waiting around for their flight, or the ... Read review
incl. Breakfast - HRS Rating: 6,27/10 - The PALMA PLAYA I Hotel ( known before as Cactus ... more
Hotel ) is located in a quite area, only 4 kilometers from the airport and 200 meters from the beautiful Playa de Palma. Next to the hotel there is the bus stop and from there it will take you only 15 minutes to get in the center of Palma. This great hotel is opened all yaer long.
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Advantages: Convienient, relaxing Disadvantages: long walks, plain
...use in a review of Palma airport. For some, airports are just a thorn in their side, a mere obstacle in getting from A to B. They hate the thought of waiting around for their flight, or the queues of checking in, baggage hassles. It can be very stressful. For me however, I still get incredibly excited about the 'airport' leg of my journey, the shopping, and the excitement about getting on the plane. It's a huge part of the overall holiday experience. ... .../>
-+-+-Conclusion-+-+-
Palma airport is a huge building designed to cope with the thousands of holidaymakers who pass through every week. Even though it is faced with a torrent of British tourists every day making themselves known, like a well-oiled machine, it is clean, spacious and runs without hitch. The décor is OK, very clean and simple, and there is a light, airy feel about the building. There are satisfactory shopping and ... more
Having just spent a lovely 2 weeks in the Mediterranean, I thought I'd better put my experience to good use in a review of Palma airport. For some, airports are just a thorn in their side, a mere obstacle in getting from A to B. They hate the thought of waiting around for their flight, or the queues of checking in, baggage hassles. It can be very stressful. For me however, I still get incredibly excited about the 'airport' leg of my journey, the shopping, and the excitement about getting on the plane. It's a huge part of the overall holiday experience.
Palma is the capital of the Mallorca, situated on the West coast of the largest of the Balearic islands, one of the most popular destinations for British tourists. The airport itself consists of one terminal, which after much renovation opened in 1997 amid bad reviews. The hallways from the terminal to the plane are too long, there's not enough parking space for taxis, buses and people coming to pick up passengers as well as visitors, long waits for luggage. However, this was 9 years ago, and I decided to base my op on my own personal experience…
A R R I V A L
-+-+-Arrival-+-+- As soon as we touched down I had butterflies in my stomach. The sun was shining, and I couldn't wait to get my cossie on and jump in the pool at the hotel! Luckily, within 5 minutes of parking up, the little trucks were rushing around to offload the baggage, and the doors were open for us to get going. I was very impressed!
So off we trotted down the gateway into the main terminal. I must mention that it is around a quick paced 10-15 minute walk to baggage reclaim. For the elderly, there are the small motors that whiz around, and for those carrying a little too much duty free, there are moving walkways most of the way. The building is fully air-conditioned and there are plenty of toilets in between walkways.
Roughly half way between baggage reclaim and stepping off the plane is passport control. I really don't know why they bother to show up because as we walked thorough, the guy didn't bother to look up from reading his magazine! I guess he's just used to the British tourist overload! Of course, there was no queue, but to be honest I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing!
-+-+-Baggage reclaim-+-+- Once through passport control, you continue the 5-minute walk to the baggage hall. It is very well sign posted in French, Spanish and English. It was very efficient (probably due to the long walk!) We were the first to arrive from our flight and had already been assigned a conveyor belt. Luckily it wasn't chaotic, as no other flight had landed at the same time as ours. Bearing in mind that there are 19 luggage conveyor belts, you can imagine how busy in peak season it must be! There is no charge/deposit for trolleys and they are plentiful. They can be picked up just before the first conveyor belt so it was very easy to find a trolley while my other half picked his perfect spot for grabbing the cases!
Within 5 minutes of waiting, luggage was whizzing round, and 5 minutes on we had both pieces of our luggage and were heading for the coach, which is a 10 second walk from the baggage reclaim. As we were on a package holiday, the reps were waiting for us with their clipboards waving in the air. They were very helpful, pointing us to where the coach was parked. During the peak season, I imagine when several flights have arrived at the same time it can be extremely crowded, and so it is very important to listen to the rep carefully, as there are a number of exits, not very well signposted and so it would be very easy to get lost, as we nearly did!
D E P A R T U R E
-+-+-Check in-+-+- After a fabulous two weeks holiday it was sadly time to come home. Ocean Village took us from the port to the departure area by coach 2 hours prior to the flight. The trolleys were plentiful, and conveniently located directly opposite where the coach parked. Our rep then told us which check in gates we would be using, and helpfully pointed us in the right direction. If you didn't know which gate to use, a number of screens are located around the terminal to point you in the right direction. Again there are numerous signposts to aid this also. The check in area itself is reasonably sized. However, because it is one large open space, it can get confusing as to which line you are queuing in, especially during peak season. After waiting around 10 minutes, check in opened. As we were near the front during check in, it was very fast. The staff didn't seem to care that my hand luggage was 1kg over limit. So we had 1 hour to look around, as you have to be at the gate 1 hour prior to departure (bearing in mind it takes 15 minutes to walk there also). I felt very sorry for those at the back of the queue, as they had no time to look around!
-+-+-Shopping-+-+- Once you've checked in, it's a 10-second walk straight up the escalator to the departure lounge for the duty frees! The lounge is airy and open spaced with plenty of comfortable seats if you want to relax. The shops are positioned directly in front of you as you come up the escalator so there is no excuse to browse. (We saw the guy that's in Corrie that used to be in Boyzone, with his wife to be apparently!) Here you will find an ok selection of shops such as a newsagents (that sell English papers for 2 Euro) a toy and music shop, a shop that sold an array of Spanish novelty goods, and of course a duty free outlet. The duty free was very reasonable. It has the usual perfume makeup, wine and spirits. The new Dior addict 2 perfume was around 35 Euro. Plus it had the usual sweets, Toblerone, and even olives! I stocked up on some olives (1 Euro for a jar) and chocolate as these are my two vices in life. You need your boarding card to purchase goods (even chocolate and olives!)
-+-+-Food and Drink-+-+- Once you've checked-in and stocked up on duty free, it's time to grab a drink and a bite to eat. There's a snack place to grab a sandwich in the departure lounge, and also a coffee shop selling a range of hot drinks. The baguettes were around 3.50 Euro, and the drinks, which are quite reasonably, priced at 1.20 -3 Euro. However, I will let you in on a little secret. If you want to escape the crowds, make your way to the gate. There are two more café type places, with a gorgeous greenery type seating area, where birds fly around you. It is smaller in comparison with the main restaurant, however it's less crowded by a mile! And if you still feel the need to buy, there are some more shops, mostly just the same stuff as in the departure lounge, if you feel like you haven't got enough duty free!
-+-+-Security & Departure Gate-+-+- Once you've done your shopping, it's time to make your way to the gate. The number of your gate is printed on the boarding ticket, and there are screens around the terminal to say when the plane is boarding. It is best to leave around 15 minutes to get to the gate, as it is a very long walk (especially as we were one of the furthest away!) As I mentioned earlier, security seems to be lacking in substance. However, when going through the gate, all the necessary checks took place; bags through the machine, and then through the metal detector device. As there were only a few guards on hand, there was a small queue of around 5 minutes, which moved very quickly.
Once through security it's off to the gate. You basically walk the way you came when you arrived, meeting incoming passengers grimacing at their look of hope and excitement as they glance at your tans. Remember, although it takes a while to walk to the gate, it is very well signposted so you won't get lost.
Once at the gate there is a sufficient seating area, which was very useful as due to check-in opening late, the flight departed 30 minutes late.
-+-+-Conclusion-+-+- Palma airport is a huge building designed to cope with the thousands of holidaymakers who pass through every week. Even though it is faced with a torrent of British tourists every day making themselves known, like a well-oiled machine, it is clean, spacious and runs without hitch. The décor is OK, very clean and simple, and there is a light, airy feel about the building. There are satisfactory shopping and restaurant facilities, and plenty of toilets dotted around. However, the reason I'm only giving this 3* is that in order to keep up with the best airports in the world, it does need to improve on site facilities, such as more shops, a play area for children, more restaurants etc, just incase of any delay. Plus, the staff need to be more efficient, as opening the desk late with a queue of 100 people is just not acceptable. Although not the best airport I've ever been to, it's certainly not the worst, and I would definitely use it again.
Advantages: You may be at the beginning of your holiday Disadvantages: You may be at the end of your holiday
Palma is the gateway to Mallorca, the largest of the Ballearics and one of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean for British holidaymakers. The relatively new terminal has already been featured on TV docusoaps and became famous for the distances people have to walk. But what’s it like in practice for the average passenger? But first of all a slight digression which I hope doesn’t take us too far away from Palma.
I better admit straight ... ...The Airport terminal at Palma is huge for a holiday destination. The physical size allows all arriving and departing aircraft to use a dedicated walkway protruding out of the building (I think its called an airbridge)– nice idea for passengers especially if its raining but then many of the newer and the budget airlines use steps that are folded inside the aircraft instead. So for many its down the steps, into the terminal and then up the stairs. ...
confusion 16.10.2003 (17.10.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Palma (Mallorca)
Advantages: Lots to see, interesting sites mixed in with shopping, so you get both Disadvantages: Easy to get lost in Arab Quarter
Palma on the Island of Majorca is a great place for shopping and doing a bit of sight seeing.
We were staying in Palma Nova and being past the age when drinking all day in pubs and clubs, then flaking out on the beach seems a good way to spend a holiday, decided to find some 'civilized' life for a change.
There are buses from all round the Island into Palma. The City itself is big. Everything is so spread out in the modern part and we found ourselves ... ...is a fabulous experience.
Palma Cathedral is huge. It is a must see if you are in the city but I found it quite commercialised because you had to pay for just about everything and access to much of it was closed off. A trip on an open topped bus was the easiest way to see the sites and the array of liners and very expensive yachts in the harbour was something quite awesome.
Palma is also where the old 1912 Wooden Train to Soller is based. A trip ...
jan007 25.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Palma (Mallorca)
Advantages: SPACIOUS, FRIENDLY PEOPLE Disadvantages: VERY BUSY, LONG WALK
MY EXPERIENCE.
Seeing as ive just done a report on my actual holiday, and my travel insurance, i thought id finish it off with a review of out destination airport.
ARRIVING :-)
On touchdown, we saw the little trucks rushing to offload us as quickly as possible, the stair trucks were first followed swiftly by the bagguage, refuelling truck and the transfer bus.
This was a good start i thought, very efficient indeed, after a 2 hours 20 minutes ... ...plane waiting.
So down the stairs we went, and onto the transfer bus to the airport building itself, the bus wasnt anything to shout about, very little seating and as most people had to stand up we were bobbing about to and fro as we went round the bends, this only lasted 5 minutes, so we could put up with this, but i wouldnt like to have been there any longer.
As we all shuffled into the airport terminal building itself, we went through customs ...
leicesterfan 04.08.2004 (05.08.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Palma (Mallorca)
Advantages: Large, plenty of shops etc Disadvantages: Large and it can be a long walk!
...2 types of arrival/departure at Palma International Airport. (PMI) 1. Walkway off into terminal
2. Walk down steps of plane and get bus to terminal.
You don't get a choice by the way, it depends on airline as far as I can gather so best check with your airline before you fly so you can be prepared. ~EXPERIENCE 1 (WALKWAY)~
If travelling with children and you have requested that your buggy meets you at the aircraft door - this is not going to happen! ... ...you!
The walk between walkway and immigration is VERY VERY long - you'll think you'll reach the sea before you reach intended destination. There are moving walkways but these don't generally mix well with young children.
If carrying twin bubbas as well as trying to keep an eye on a 4 year old be prepared to be absolutely shattered by the time you reach immigration and baggage reclaim. ~EXPERIENCE 2 (BUS)~
If travelling with children and you have ...
twinsplusone 05.01.2005
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Advantages: shopping Disadvantages: sometimes the heat
Palma town is a beautiful city to visit, with lots of shopping, eating and entertainment going on.
Cathederal is the best place to visit when it is not so hot.
There are plenty of high street shops as well as little botique places to visit and the old town is full of knocks and crannys to explore.
Along Maritimo there are plenty of good resturants to visit as well as a few bars and clubs to enjoy the night life in after.
Plama city is only about ...
humphreycaroline 23.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Palma (Mallorca)
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Advantages: Great Location, Cheaper than hotels. Disadvantages: The steps maybe...Nothing major at all!
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We visted the Hotel Armadams for our honeymoon back in October 2006 for a short break to take in the sights and sounds of Palma.
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I am not a great Spanish speaker, infact I know only the most basic of phrases to muddle through, but the staff were very understanding and very helpful, even though we weren't checking in until really late following a delayed flight.
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I was extremely pleased with the service I received with Air Berlin I travelled from Stansted to PalmaMallorca with 3 other adults
Check In:
Took around ten minutes they had 3 desks open and the queue was always moving.
Flight took of 15 minutes later than expected but i dont see that as a problem
In Flight meals
They brought round cheese or ham rolls with a soft/hot drink of your choice (Alcohol had to be paid for obviously) they then brought round a kitkat, personally for a 2 hour flight I thought this was adequate.
Landed ok and collected baggage which came out quickly we where then on our way
We had exactly the same service on return
will definately travel with Air Berlin again, in fact already looking at next year ...
jody13 15.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Air Berlin
