Cala Macarella

Macarella is a cove on the south coast of Menorca, west of Ciutadella, with its smaller sister Macarelleta immediately around the rock to the west. Both sit inside a protected area, which is why the pine comes down to the sand and there is nothing behind the beach but forest.

It is known as the picture of the Balearic cove. The geology is the reason: Menorca's south coast is limestone cut by short ravines, and where each ravine reaches the sea it leaves a small arc of pale sand between white rock arms. Macarella is the largest and best-proportioned of them, which has made it the standard image for an island that has several dozen of the same kind.

The shore is fine white sand about a hundred and eighty metres across, with rock and pine on both sides and water that stays clear and shallow well out. The bottom is sand with rock at the edges, the entry is gentle, and there is no swell because the cove faces into a sheltered aspect. Macarelleta, over the rock to the west, is smaller, deeper and clothing-optional by long custom.

There is a single seasonal beach bar and nothing else. In summer the road is closed to private cars and a bus runs from Ciutadella; outside those months you can drive to a car park and walk down. The Camí de Cavalls, the coastal path that circles the island, passes directly behind the beach and is the better way to arrive.

Limestone, pine to the sand, and a road closed to cars in high summer so that the shuttle can do the work instead. Walk the twenty minutes over the headland to Macarelleta and the crowd halves. Neither cove has a scrap of shade after noon and neither has anywhere to buy water.