Fornalutx, one of the loveliest villages in Spain

It is three kilometres from Sóller, clinging to the hillside, and the whole of it fits into a half-morning walk. Fornalutx appears on almost every list of the loveliest villages in Spain and, unlike others on those lists, it is still a village where people live.

Staircases, stone and painted tiles

The streets are basically staircases. The houses, in exposed stone with green shutters, stack one above the other up to the square, where there are two or three terraces and little else. It is worth looking up: many eaves still have hand-painted roof tiles, a valley tradition going back centuries.

How to get there from the hotel

It is about seven minutes by car, but walking up the old path between the orchards is one of the best ways to spend a morning in the valley: a little under an hour, almost all of it a gentle climb, with the mountain in front of you the whole way.

If you go in summer, go early or at dusk. At midday the stone gives back all the heat of the day.