What is the best time to travel to Menorca? This is the question to which we Menorcans are most subjected to throughout our lives. The second one would be, ‘Where can I rent a house?’ and the third one: ‘Do you know a beach with few people?’ In spite of the simplicity of the question, I have never had a single conclusive answer that is useful for everyone, because I think that not all visitors seek the same experience.
If asked by a young person looking for things to do, surely coming to the island in the middle of the tourist season is the best option. In July and August the weather is rarely bad and the recreational offers of restaurants, water activities, and nightlife is much greater (just like in that beer advert which was so successful).
However, when they ask me with the intention of coming to live in Menorca, I tell them to come from November onwards so that they can get to know the real Menorca. It is when the tourist season is over and the coastal housing estates sink into a deep sleep (as in the tale of Sleeping Beauty) when the local inhabitants disappear from sight to enter into a winter mode, which lasts until spring.
But if I detect that the person who asks me this is a gourmet who seeks to taste the island as if it were a good wine, then I show my most elaborate answer and answer: for me the best time to travel to Menorca is SEPTEMBER. This is when Menorca offers its best qualities (its best bouquet). The number of visitors is moderate, the roads and paths are clear, the first rains tinge the whole island with an intense green, and the beaches and coves with clear waters (still warm to bathe in for hours) shine in their best moment of splendour.
At this time you can enjoy almost deserted beaches, eat at a beach bar where you will be served without any rush, see the fish under the sea returning to the coast because they know that the August tourists have already left, visit a museum such as La Mola fortress (without dying in the heat), dine by candlelight in a stupendous gourmet restaurant and sleep lightly covered with just a sheet.
There is a reason why more and more Menorcans say: “I don’t start going to the beach until September”.
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