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Mark Richards the Daily Telegraph Mentor for Mallorcan relocation writes..................

After twenty five years of employment in sales, technical and managerial roles within the information technology industry in the UK, Mark emigrated to Mallorca in the Spring of 2001.

He now runs a computer systems company in Palma de Mallorca. He and his wife Diana live in Esporles, which is a small town nestling in the Sierra de Tramuntana mountains about 15kms to the north of Palma.

Mark is Vice President of the Ciudadanos Europeos Group in the Balearics, which is a non-political voluntary organisation that, among other things, acts as a Citizens' Advice Bureau helping European citizens understand the Spanish "system".

Their work covers obtaining residents permits, explaining how to vote in local elections, paying income tax and social security and employment matters etc.

Geography: Mallorca is the largest of the Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. It is renowned as the single most popular destination for "inexpensive" package English tourism.

What is not so widely known is how beautiful the island is and how the social fabric and infrastructure of the island has been changing over the past fifteen years.

Mallorca is approximately 125 kms from east to west and it takes two hours to drive from one end to the other. The transport infrastructure is excellent. There is a good network of main roads covering the whole island. There is a three pronged motorway system connecting the capital city, Palma, to the West, South East and North West.

Geologically, the island is part of Africa (not Europe!) and is the boundary between the African and European tectonic plates. Most of the rock on the island is one form of limestone or another and therefore very porous. This means that there are no virtually no rivers or streams that have water the whole year around or whose waters ever reach the sea.

Geographically, the island is divided into three distinct areas. The Sierra de Tramuntana mountain range was created by the movement of the African plate towards Europe and has numerous peaks above 1400mts (the same height as Ben Nevis in Scotland).

The fabulous scenery of the north coast (including the popular scenic villages of Deia and Soller) is the result of the dramatic descent, in under 1km, from the mountain peaks to sea level. The towns and villages in the valleys that penetrate the Tramuntana (such as Puigpunyent, Esporles and Alaró) plus those on the edge (Andratx, Calvìa, Soller and Pollença) are considered the most attractive and desirable places to live on the island.

To the south east of the Tramuntana is the plain of Mallorca (once considered the bread basket of Spain and the source of income of the Dukes of Palma - who funded the Spanish Armada).

Like the Tramuntana, the plain runs from south east to north west. At one end is the bustling city of Palma (with almost half a million inhabitants) and at the other end is the bay of Alcudia.

In between are numerous rural towns and villages such as Inca and Sineu. These are less expensive places in which to buy a property and when walking along a country track near Sineu it is very easy to forget that this is an island at all.

To the south east of the plain is the area of low hills and jagged coastline (known as the Calas of Mallorca) with its picturesque sea villages such as Cala Figuera and Port Christo. The main towns are Arta, Manacor and Felanitx. This is the area of Mallorca favoured by the German residents and tourists.

Getting around: As a result of the dramatic increase in traffic on the islands over the past few years, the motorway system is currently being expanded. The metre gauge railway system, which was originally constructed a hundred years ago, is currently being revitalised and extended.

The public bus transport system has also improved dramatically over the last five years and it is possible to travel almost anywhere on the island, using clean, well maintained, modern and inexpensive buses or coaches. Finally, in comparison with the UK, cars are cheap to hire or buy!

Climate: In principle, Mallorca has a Mediterranean climate, which is supposed to provide long hot dry summers and mild wet winters but in practice, the geography of the island and the more recent effects of global warming, provide the day to day weather with much more variety.

Although the island did go through a serious ten year drought, the long term average yearly rainfall (to which the island has again returned over the last three years) is 30" and therefore as high as most Eastern parts of the UK. However most of this rain falls in storms and then only during the winter months.

Summer thunderstorms usually last for a couple of hours and during the autumn and winter, periods of stormy weather rarely last for more than a few days at a time.

The Sierra de Tramuntana mountains, have an important effect on the weather. As little as a hundred years ago there was an average of 60 days snowfall lying on the mountains. During the years of drought, residents assumed that global warming had ended such events but the snowfalls have returned during the last three winters.

Thus for the Mallorcans, the subject of weather is an important daily topic of conversation, just as it is to the English. However there are some important and obvious differences between the climate of Britain and Mallorca that make the island a superb place to live.

The light seems far brighter, it is very unusual to be shrouded in fog or dampened by that constant grey drizzle. Nights can be crystal clear and without light pollution, so that the Milky Way is easily visible to the naked eye.

The cold snaps of winter never start before mid December and by late January, almond blossom is covering the trees and fields have carpets of flowers. Truly this is Camelot!

Property: Property prices on the island have risen dramatically over the last few years and in the popular areas on the island there is now little difference in price between a three bedroom apartment and a house of a similar size in the Home Counties. However renting an apartment is still relatively inexpensive and is the initial recommendation for anyone considering a move to Mallorca.

However one of the most attractive and interesting reasons for considering a move to Mallorca is the easy availability and cost of air fairs! Palma has a superb modern international airport that can cope with half a million passengers per day.

It is considered that Britain's best known low cost airline, Easyjet, has single handedly provided the justification for more parents and grand-parents to risk leaving children behind to make a new life in Mallorca, confident that a two hour airtrip back home can be bought for as little as 15 pounds!

The fourfold increase in the population during the last forty years, the increase in car ownership, the opening of numerous out of town shopping centres, multi-screen cinemas and satellite television, have catapulted sleepy Mallorca into the twenty first century.

The current housing and construction boom has helped maintain a very low level of unemployment. Tourism is important to the island but the nature of it is changing.

The Government is encouraging quality tourism as opposed to cheap package holidays and appreciates how important financially independent foreign residents are to the future economy of the island.

The popular places for English people to live are Palma, around Calvia (especially Santa Ponsa and Palma Nova) and more recently in the rural villages on the plain as the prices there are still reasonable.

Health care: Health services (state and private) on the island are first class and considered by many to be significantly better than in the UK. There are no prescription charges. UK Pensioners receive health care at no cost whatsoever. To finance this, workers and employers pay significantly more towards the social security fund than in Britain.

Language and Culture: According to the Census, over one million people reside on Mallorca. Approximately 20% of them are European nationals and a further 20% are non Spanish or non European.

The official language of the island is Catalan but everyone speaks Spanish and most speak some English (or German). The Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca are an autonomous region of Spain. This means that they have their own Islands' Government and Island Council which between them are responsible for spending 85 centimos in every euro of taxes.

Political matters are hotly contested on the islands but the issues that divide the parties are broadly similar to those in Wales and Scotland - that is an argument between national and local influences as opposed to left and right.

Whereas England gave up its plethora of small town and rural councils in 1973, the Island still has 53 independent civil towns (including the city of Palma) and their influence on a wide range of local issues including policing, planning law, property ownership, rubbish disposal, parking, water supply and taxes is enormous.

The various layers of authority and administration does drive European residents mad but usually there is some underlying sense to the different way that the system works here. Whenever tempers become frayed (and that happens quite frequently and as much to the Mallorcans as the foreigners), someone will remind the participants "tranquilo, tranquilo" - one does not live on Mallorca and expect things to happen quickly or sanely.

Entertainment: Mallorca is a great place to live and retire or a great place to set up a business and work. The culture and people of the island are vibrant, passionate, artistic and colourful.

Throughout the year there will be a village fiesta somewhere in which there will be a firework display on the street that would be banned in England as a danger to life and limb.

There are a large number of restaurants and the food is exciting and much less expensive. Mallorcan families love to eat out and to eat late, babies and grandparents and all.

During the main summer months when the southern towns and beaches are very crowded, it is still possible to escape to areas of the mountains or northern coasts where it is unusual to see more than a few other people during an hour's walk.

Mallorca is a wonderful place for all types of outdoor activity - on land and on the sea - including walking, cycling, climbing and mountaineering or sailing and diving. During the rest of the year the island lives up to its reputation of delivering a peaceful and tranquil environment.

The Mallorcan people are extremely open hearted and generally very happy to welcome "extranjeros" into their life and society, providing they respect the culture and try to speak some Spanish or Catalan.




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