Bendinat

Bendinat is residential and very little else. There is no strip of bars, no promenade, no resort centre. What there is instead is leafy streets, well kept gardens, villas set back behind walls, and a general sense of calm.

At the centre of it is Real Golf de Bendinat, an eighteen hole course laid out through a wooded valley, which is the reason a good number of people buy here in the first place. There is a small cove beach, Cala Bendinat, tucked between the pines, and the nineteenth century Bendinat castle sits above it all, privately owned and admired from a distance.

Location is what Bendinat sells. Palma is around twenty minutes on the motorway and Puerto Portals, with its yachts, restaurants and boutiques, is five minutes away.

That combination is unusual. You get a quiet address with almost nothing going on, and two very different kinds of city and marina life within a short drive.

It is also one of the best served areas on the island for international schools, with several within a ten minute drive, which is why it attracts families who are here year round rather than only in summer.

Bendinat has a genuine spread. Apartments and penthouses in established complexes, many looking onto the golf course, alongside a strong supply of houses and villas on the hillsides with views over the course or the Bay of Palma. There is also an older part nearer the sea where some properties have direct beach access.

It sits at the upper end of the market and holds its value, partly because there is very little land left to build on.

Buyers who want a quiet, green, established address with Palma and Portals close by. It suits golfers particularly well, and families who need the international schools. If you want life on your doorstep and somewhere to walk to in the evening, the resort towns will suit you better.