Known for its nightlife and pleasant beaches, Arenal, if you know where to look, offers entertainment and comfort beyond your typical Mallorca experience-. In this article, we explore in which way you can make the most of your stay as a digital nomad in Mallorca based at bedndesk.
Mallorca is generally known as a touristic destination for party-hungry Germans and British. But as the location-independent movement gains a broader foothold in Europe, and with initiatives like bedndesk, the small island conveniently located in the middle of the Mediterranean is finding itself attracting increasing numbers of a more diverse group of travelers: Remote freelancers, Internet entrepreneurs and other digital nomads.
Mallorca, specifically Arenal, a little way southwest of the island’s capital Palma, is a pleasant place for digital nomads, 15 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from the city center of palma by bus. Why this is so will be explained in the subsequent paragraphs, brought to you by recent Mallorca traveler Joe Goerbert from BrainHive, your competent business planning and digital marketing consultancy.
1. Mallorca for Business Digital Nomad
If you are looking to work in a pleasant and stimulating environment, you absolutely want to check out the bedndesk co-working/co-living space conveniently located in Arenal, literally 1 min. away from the famous beaches and only 20 minutes away from the airport. While the waterfront offers ample commerce, gastronomy, there is a local beach 5 minutes’ walk and you g. You will find the bnd co-working/co-living space to be excellently equipped with all necessities for your productive workday and well situated to geta way soon from work.
Mallorca’s community of digital nomads is still in its infancy but growing rapidly as bridgehead operations such as bnd expand. There are weekly meet-ups of the Mallorca digital nomad group organized via Facebook, but there are also the couchsurfing and expat-meetups as well as sporadic events held by universities and the local Chamber of Commerce where one might be able to network, especially if one is in dominion of the Spanish language. You could probably be seated in a restaurant or beach right next to one big investor while they are on holidays in Mallorca.
2. Athletic Digital Nomad
While the offerings for business-minded nomads are still in development, opportunities to get sweaty are close to unlimited in Mallorca. In Arenal you will find bike rentals literally everywhere, plus jogging up the beachfront is a joy. Swimming will work during most of the season, of course, and you might be able to extend your personal swimming season with a neoprene shortie, also conveniently available for rental.
Other types of water sports are likewise at your disposal, plus there are gyms (e.g. Easyfitness Arenal), dojos and yoga centers around, as well as of course opportunities to break out those dancing shoes dancing Latin dance or simply get down at one of the many party places. If you are looking for more of an outdoors experience, skip ahead to the outdoors nomad section of this article to find some more advice of how to make your stay give you that extra bit of workout.
3. Relaxed Digital Nomad
If you are simply looking to refuel those work-worn batteries in beautiful weather and plunk it down at the beach, you will find Mallorca a most suitable environment for doing so. During the main season it might at times get a little bit crowded, but at least this will mean you will have no trouble finding people to enjoy the happening nightlife with, including all that good stuff that goes with it (if you know what I mean).
Other than the wide-stretching beachfront at Arenal, there are many secluded places all around Mallorca which you will have no trouble finding with a rental car and a little bit of tongue work directed at the subject matter expert of your choice. Likewise, you can approach one of the many tour operators and get that “done for you” sailing or sightseeing trip underway.
4. Outdoors Digital Nomad
This is where the rubber meets the road – quite literally. The north coast of Mallorca with its “serra de tramuntana” an Unesco World Heritage will offer you a new perspective of the island. Mallorca is a beautiful place to explore, either by foot, by bike or by car. Recently also road-skiing has enjoyed a surge of popularity and professionally equipped road-skiers are seen regularly making their noisy thoroughfare.
Make sure you bring enough water as you scale the numerous hills and rise to beautiful scenic spots and picturesque landmarks. There will also be opportunities to practice your rock climbing skills in the cracked rock walls, but make sure it’s safe, Mallorca is one of the most famous spots in the world for Deep Water Soloing (DWS). The same goes for exploring caves, which you will find likewise in many places, some are only accessible from the sea.
5. Spiritual Digital Nomad
Admittedly, you will have to look for those places which give you a feeling of serenity and peace, but once you find them, they will be just as beautiful as in the more far-flung places where one would usually expect to be tanked up on that elusive thing called tranquility. A good place to start? Go back to the outdoors section, because there are many hiking paths to Christian shrines, views over unique landscape and other destinations away from the hotspots of carnal pleasures.
If you’re looking for that more hardcore spiritual experience, seek out the Yoga Finca in the center of the island where you can participate in many programs, including Vipassana (silence) meditation which might extend to up to 7 days. Other points of interest for spiritual nomads are peppered all over the island. In this regard, it is also worth mentioning the great cathedral in Palma, which at times will admit foreign visitors and which already is awe-inspiring through its beauty and its dimensions all by itself.
6. Foodie Digital Nomad
Mallorca offers all the deliciousness of the Iberian cuisine, plus in Santa Catalina Market at Palma center you will find a precious local market plus tons of small international resaurants from Peruvian to Libanese, Mexican, japanesse and much more. My personal advice is to find a regular local supermarket (not the touristic souvenir supermarkets) and dig in at the fruit, seafood, cheese and meats section. The extra-yummy Iberian ham, Menorcan goat cheese and appetizing Tapas-foods go together ideally with some local wine or beer.
Mallorca is generally a little bit pricier than Spain, which is naturally not as cheap as many preferred digital nomad hotspots in South East Asia or South America. However, first of all you will usually get superb food quality and second it is possible to find ways to stretch your resources going to the right places, plus the flights from Europe are really cheap. For a memorably lavish and exquisite yet economic dinner if you are staying at bedndesk, preferably to be shared between at least four people, head over to Café Andaluz in Arenal. Expect to wait for a moment to get your table (they are so busy that they don’t do reservations), but I assure you: It’s 100% worth it.
Conclusion: To Each Their Own, That’s Mallorca
For me as a German growing up with widely perpetuated stereotype views about what is and what isn’t Mallorca, I was surprised to find the island which I explored during my Coboating-bedndesk Workation to be not at all one-dimensional. Something in me tries to avoid Germans when I travel, and as a nomad fluent in Spanish I had some wonderful times off the beaten tracks by getting along well with the locals, many of which look with ambiguity upon the party tourists.
For you as a remote worker, you have the opportunity to make your stay in Mallorca whatever you want it to be. Keeping this in mind, do make the most of it- life is short after all, and even more so for successful remote workers living the dream.
About the Author
Joe Goerbert, founder and director of the business plan writing service BrainHive and digital marketer is an avid remote work enthusiast since 2010. Even though his favorite haunts are Brazil and Argentina, he can be seen in and around Europe during the northern summer. Since co-working offers an opportunity to tap into other nomad’s knowledge, he makes it a point to always pay his visits, and has since visited many of the hottest spaces around the world.