Hotels in Santa Margalida

Santa Margalida

Santa Margalida, known locally as La Vila, is an inland town of about three thousand six hundred people in the north of Mallorca, set on a ridge some eight kilometres back from the bay. It is the seat of a municipality that also contains the beach resort of Ca'n Picafort, which is larger than the town itself and is listed here as a separate destination, and the quieter development of Son Serra de Marina. The municipality borders Muro, Llubi, Maria de la Salut, Ariany, Petra and Arta, and is one of the sixteen municipalities of the Pla de Mallorca even though its territory reaches the sea. Under Muslim rule the area formed part of the district of Algebeli, which the Christian conquest split between the parishes of Muro and Santa Margalida, the forerunners of the two municipalities that exist today. The territory of Maria de la Salut belonged to Santa Margalida until it was separated off in the nineteenth century. The town's coat of arms has been documented since 1679 and has always shown the same two things: a dragon standing for the devil, and the cross with which Saint Margaret tore open the belly of the dragon that had swallowed her, so that she could escape from it. The great day of the year is the Festes de la Beata in the first week of September, one of the most striking processions on Mallorca and the event that brings the whole municipality back to the old town. La Vila keeps a proper market square, a parish church on the high point and the working rhythm of an agricultural town, which is precisely what the coast eight kilometres away does not. Staying here means beaches at Ca'n Picafort, Son Serra and Son Baulo within ten or fifteen minutes by car, and the Albufera reserve and Alcudia's old walled town both close by. For a family it is the practical choice: the north coast within reach, without seafront prices or a resort to sleep in.