Manacor (Mallorca, Spain)

Manacor is just an ordinary town with a population of around 30,000. Narrow streets radiate randomly from its large, central Gothic-style church, whose spires soar above the surrounding low-rise buildings and tree-lined streets and squares.

Manacor is famous for its pearl factory and, more locally, for its good-quality wooden furniture. Apart from its attractive old centre, this is one of the lesser attractive towns on the island, and most visitors are simply passing through on the way to somewhere else.

However, Manacor is lively, restless, accessible, rapidly growing, and a great centre for sport activities, shopping, industry and culture, including art and is a commercial and industrial town and regional capital. The town of Manacor is situated in a hollow which experiences the freezing fogs of winter and the burning heat of the summer.

It is surrounded by a diversity of landscapes and a countryside where large manor houses with defence towers dominate the horizon, former refuges for those fleeing Burber pirate attacks. Today several of such towers have been reconverted into establishments catering for agricultural and rural tourism.

Manacor has recently experienced a great boom in tourism and the nearby beaches are well attended in the summer. The recent boom has encouraged an increase in the number of hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions. It has also enabled the area to become more organised. Most of Manacors beaches have been awarded the Blue Flag for safety and facilities.

Another industry for which Manacor is famous, and indeed Mallorca in general, is olive wood. There is a good factory on the entrance road to Manacor that allows visits. You can visit the showrrom and see thousands of items hand crafted from olive wood. You will also see some of the antique machinery once used in the factory. The visit is free and prices are reasonable for the olive wood items. You will see everything from coffee tables to coasters, dominos and pens.