Llubí

The almond trees bloom first, a brief white haze that appears overnight in late February. For two weeks the fields around Llubí look as though someone has shaken icing sugar across the furrows, then the petals drop and traffic returns to its normal tempo: the slow roll of a Massey Ferguson, the occasional hire car with cycle racks on the roof.

That contrast – blossom one moment, farmyard reality the next – is what sets this small Pla town apart from the coastal postcards. Llubí sits 17 km inland from the nearest stretch of sand at Can Picafort, roughly half-way between the tramuntana and the bay of Alcúdia. It has no sea view, no medieval walls, no souvenir arcades. Instead it offers a grid of quiet lanes, stone façades the colour of beach sand, and a working timetable dictated by sowing and harvest.

A 90-minute circuit that actually fits the brochure

Start at the orange-brick station – passenger trains stopped in the 1980s but the building survives, now a private workshop – and walk south along Carrer Major. Within two minutes the street widens into Plaça Espanya where the parish church of Sant Feliu keeps watch from a modest stepped platform. Push the heavy door around 11 a.m. and you’ll usually find the interior unlocked, lights off, the air cooled by metre-thick walls. There are no gold-leaf altarpieces or fresco fragments; just oil paintings of local saints and a wooden pulpit carved in 1763, still in use on feast days.

Opposite the church, the Casa de la Vila (town hall) flies the senyera flag from a wrought-iron balcony. Inside, staff will hand you a free photocopied map showing the three signposted walks that fan out across the fields. Distances are gentle: 4.5 km to the abandoned windmill of Son Cifre, 6 km to the irrigation pond at Son Fuster. Paths are dead-flat, stroller-friendly, and you’re more likely to meet a sheepdog than another walker.

The mills themselves are the town’s unofficial monuments. Fifteen stone towers still punctuate the horizon; most lost their sails decades ago, yet farmers continue to use the ground floors as tool stores. Approach quietly and you’ll hear pigeons rattling around the rafters, the metal vane creaking in the breeze. It’s a stillness that feels older than tourism, and it costs nothing.

Tuesday is market day, not Instagram day

Every Tuesday the central car park converts into a twenty-stall produce market. Traders arrive from Sa Pobla with crates of just-dug potatoes, or from Muro with grey-skinned pumpkins that will keep until Christmas. One stall sells nothing but capers – the buds pickled in brine, the stems preserved in rock salt. Ask for a sample and the vendor will hand over a toothpickful, warning you to rinse off the salt first. Prices are written in chalk: €3 for a 200 g jar, cash only. Few stallholders take cards, so bring notes; the nearest ATM hides inside the Eroski supermarket on the ring road.

By one o’clock the vans pack up, the square empties, and the only lunch option still serving is Bar Central on Carrer Joan Riutort. Order a pa amb oli – doorstep bread rubbed with tomato, topped with either Serrano ham or local goat cheese – and you’ll get change from a fiver. The cheese is mild, almost nutty; children usually approve. If you need something sweeter, the adjoining bakery sells ensaïmadas coiled like rope and dusted with icing sugar, 50 cents extra if you ask for chocolate filling.

Two wheels work better than two feet after dark

Llubí’s terrain invites cycling even if your last bike was a Raleigh Grifter. The old railway bed west to Muro has been resurfaced as a green-way: 8 km of tarmac closed to cars, shaded by reed beds and the occasional fig tree. Rent bikes in Can Picafort (€12 a day, child seats available) and a taxi-van will drop you at the trailhead for an extra €20. Pedal eastwards and you’ll roll straight back into town in time for ice-cream at Sa Fabrica on Plaça Nova; their almond flavour uses nuts grown 500 m away.

Road cyclists can loop north towards the bay: 17 km on the MA-3440, gradient so gentle you barely notice the drop to sea level. The reward is the long curve of Playa de Muro, Blue-Flag sand with lifeguards and loos, but without the high-rise backdrop of Alcúdia. Padlock bikes at the wooden racks by entrance two; showers cost €1 coin, so keep change in your saddlebag.

Fiestas, fairs and the volume button

August brings the feast of Sant Feliu: a four-night programme that mixes solemn procession with outdoor disco. The council installs a foam machine on the basketball court; teenagers love it, toddlers hate it, nearby villa guests discover that rural walls are not sound-proof. If you prefer sleep to bouncy castle reggaeton, book a house outside the marked fiesta zone – agents will know which streets to avoid.

Early October is more sedate. The Fira de Llubí turns the sports ground into a showcase of farm machinery, handicrafts and honey jars. Entry is free; parking overflows onto the verge of the main road. For British visitors the highlight is usually the olive-oil press demonstration: an 1890s stone mill clanks away while an English-speaking agronomist explains why Mallorcan arbequina tastes different from Italian varieties. You can buy a 250 ml tin for €6, wrapped in newspaper so it won’t leak in your suitcase.

Seasons, sunburn and sensible shoes

Summer heat here is sneaky. The absence of sea breeze means temperatures sit two or three degrees higher than on the coast, and shade is patchy once you leave the church square. Walk before 11 a.m. or after 5 p.m.; carry water because the fountains marked on the map often run dry in July. In winter the reverse applies: night frosts are rare but daytimes stay cool, and several cafés close completely from January to March. Spring and late autumn hit the sweet spot – almond blossom or post-harvest stubble under big skies, daytime 18-22 °C, ideal for jerseys not bikinis.

How to arrive, and why you might still drive on

Palma airport is 38 km away: exit the MA-13 at Junction 37, follow the MA-3440 for nine minutes and the first stone houses appear. There is no train, no Uber, and the hourly bus from Inca stops running at 20:15. A pre-booked transfer costs about €55 each way; car hire for a week can be under €90 if you avoid August. Accommodation is mostly detached villas with pools; the single small hotel has eight rooms above a restaurant that shuts on Mondays.

Llubí works best as a pause rather than a destination. Use it to break a journey between Palma and the northern coves, or as a low-key base if the idea of Magalluf’s strip makes you shudder. Expect quiet lanes, decent bread, and conversations that end when the tractor driver wants his coffee. Stay longer than a day and you’ll start recognising the same three dogs outside the bakery; stay a fortnight and the bar owner will remember how you take your coffee. Just don’t arrive hunting for a beach, a spa, or a cathedral – the village never promised any of those. What it does offer is the sound of wind through cereal stalks and the faint mechanical heartbeat of a place that still grows its own supper.