Cala Figuera

Cala Figuera occupies a narrow, deep inlet on Mallorca's southeast coast, between the Punta des Moro lighthouse and the cliffs of Cala Santanyí, within the municipality of Santanyí. Unlike the island's typical sandy coves, Cala Figuera is a working fishing port where llaüt boats moor inside a natural fjord barely 50 metres wide, sheltered from waves by two arms of limestone that almost close off the entrance. Boathouses — low marés-stone structures where fishermen store nets and tackle — line both sides of the water, whitewashed with green doors, their outlines mirrored in the still surface at dawn.

The village sits on the ridges bordering the cove, its houses stepping down between fig trees and bougainvillea to the waterline. There is no beach as such: the appeal lies in the port's structure itself, in the stone jetties where fishermen mend nets each morning and in the waterfront restaurants serving the day's catch — scorpionfish, amberjack — landed just hours earlier a few miles offshore. The 800-metre perimeter path connects both arms of the cove and lets you watch the fishing activity from different angles, with the contrast of pale rock, turquoise water and coloured boats.

The immediate surroundings offer additional options. Cala Santanyí, 2 kilometres north, has a fine-sand beach sheltered by cliffs; Caló des Moro, 1.5 km south, is a tiny cove wedged between 15-metre vertical walls, accessed by a steep trail and naturally limited in capacity by its size. The Es Pontàs rock arch, visible from the coastal path out of Cala Santanyí, is an eroded formation rising above the sea that climbers use for deep-water soloing. The Mondragó Natural Park, 5 kilometres west, extends the options with white-sand beaches and trails through pine and garrigue.

Santanyí, the municipal seat 5 kilometres inland, holds a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays on the main square, selling local products: sobrasada, Mahón cheese, almonds, Mallorcan herbal liqueur and handmade ceramics. The marés stone — the golden sandstone used to build the area's houses — gives the southeast Mallorcan villages a warm tone that shifts in intensity with each hour's light. From Palma, Cala Figuera is reached in 55 minutes via the Ma-19 towards Llucmajor and the Ma-6100 to Santanyí, an inland road crossing almond groves and dry-stone walls.

Life in Cala Figuera follows the sea's rhythm. Boats head out before dawn and return mid-morning with their catch, unloaded on the jetties of the western arm. The harbour cats, a constant presence on the warm rocks, wait for their share. In the afternoons, the promenade fills with visitors who come down to dine facing the water as the evening light turns the cliffs orange and the cove's surface darkens gradually from turquoise to deep blue.