General Information
The original old town of Alcudia is 2 miles inland from the coastal development, and it is certainly worth a visit during your stay with parts of the town dating back to around 1300. What visitors may not realise however, is that it was the Phoenicians and Greeks who first settled here, closely followed in the 2nd century BC by the Romans, who made Alcudia the capital of the island. Visitors to the Old Town today enter the narrow streets through one of the two gates that were constructed, along with the impressive city walls, after the conquest of the island by King Jaime I of Spain. The best way to fully appreciate this side of Alcudia is to take the 2 hour guided walking tour that is organised by the local tourist office every Wednesday starting at noon.
The actual port and holiday resort of Alcudia, where most of the hotels and tourist developments have taken place over the last 40 years, lies at the western end of the magnificent Bay of Alcudia, which runs for over 8km through Playa de Muro and onto the resort of C’an Picafort in the east. Many of the tour operators now conveniently refer to the hotels of Playa de Muro as being in Alcudia, however, the resort is quite remote and some considerable distance from the centre of Alcudia. A leading tour operator was once asked what the difference is between Alcudia and Playa de Muro, and flippantly replied “about £200 per week”. Which indirectly highlights that, being the newer development, Playa de Muro does have a far higher proportion of 4 and 5 star hotels and aparthotels than Alcudia.
The resort itself is spread either side of the busy Ma-12 northern coast road, and really lacks a centre or focal point. When booking a holiday here it may be worth checking on which side of this road your accommodation is situated. For the more adventurous, brave or just stupid, this road does have a “dedicated” cycle lane running the full 3 mile length of the resort, which on occasions you do have to share with taxis, or other locals who can’t be bothered with the formality of using the main road. Bicycle hire is plentiful and relatively cheap throughout the resort, and costs around £4 per person for a days hire.
The warm shallow waters of Alcudia Bay make this resort very popular with families with young children, and the beach is without doubt a major attraction with fine, clean sand with a wide variety of water sport and other facilities available to suit all tastes. Whatever part of the beach you choose, you will never be more than a few hundred metres from the nearest beach bar or cafe.
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