Menorca in 1 Day: all you need to know
Touring Menorca in one day will only serve to make you fall in love with the island and want to come back soon. One day is enough to see the highlights.
It may take more than five days to visit the whole island and see everything there is to see in Menorca, but one day is definitely enough to know that you need to come back to see more. The itinerary I have prepared for you aims to show you as much as possible in 24 hours on the island.
From the daytime activities to the restless Menorcan nightlife, just a few hours on the island will leave you wanting to spend a few more days to get a closer look at its culture and traditions.
Guided horseback riding tour in Menorca
To start with the plan of a day in Menorca, I recommend you to book a ride through emblematic places of the island.
As you have time on your hands, I would recommend you to book the shortest routes to save time and to get to know other places of interest. The ideal tour is an hour to an hour and a half, starting at 8:00 a.m.
Usually, this type of activity takes you around most of the island. These excursions depart from different coves. Some tours start from Cala Fustam, others from Cala Rotja and others from Cala Mitjana.
If you want to try adventure outside the adrenaline of the sea and you like horseback riding, you will love this experience.
Option 1: With visit to Cala Rotja
Departing from Ferrerías, the itinerary includes a ride through important and emblematic places of the island.
In this tour you have the possibility to enter private estates and also go on horseback along the Camí de Cavalls. This opportunity allows you to have a complete experience of different environments.
One of the places to visit during this tour is Monte Toro, the highest place on the island. The most interesting thing about this is that you will be able to climb it on horseback and at your own pace.
In Cala Rotja you will be able to live the experience of riding in the water with the horse. This equestrian experience is suitable for children as well as for experienced and inexperienced adult riders.
The horses used for this type of adventure are constantly in training so that the user, regardless of their relationship with this practice, feel safe and at ease. It is an activity that you can enjoy as a family, couple or with children.
The estimated duration of this activity is approximately one hour and a half. For this reason, I recommend that you start the day at 8:00 am. The starting point is in Ferrerías and after the hour and a half tour, you return to the starting point. The tour can cost from 110 euros per person.
Traveller Tip
Wear comfortable clothes and closed shoes. I also recommend wearing a jacket and long pants.
Option 2: Walk with visit to Cala Mitjana
This tour, which can be done by experts and beginners, takes you through magical places of the island. The starting point is from Ferrerías, it goes along part of the Camí de Cavalls and ends at Cala Mitjana. The tour is truly magical and promises you to connect with nature.
Part of the experience offers to take you to a high point of the cove, where you can have spectacular views of the island. In Cala Mitjana you will also be able to go horseback riding on the beach and enter the water together with the horses. It is a unique experience that you will surely want to repeat.
Before participating in this adventure you must take into account some minimum conditions, among them, to have a weight equal to or less than 95 kilograms. You should also take into consideration that pregnant women or people who suffer from any kind of back ailment will not be able to take the tour.
From Ferrerías to Cala Mitjana and back will take approximately one hour and a half. Departure times are every hour from 9 am to 12 noon. You can book this activity from 113 euros per person.
Visit to the Binissués Museum
Right after the horseback ride, the next place on the itinerary that I propose is the visit to the Museum of Binissuès.
To get there you can take Av. Verge del Toro towards Av. de Jaume Mascaró. Then, head towards Camí de Tramuntana and drive directly to Binissués. The trip will take just 10 minutes in a private vehicle.
Visiting the Binissués Museum is an experience not to be missed. It is definitely a fascinating activity to do during a single day.
This experience will take you to see first hand what life was like in the Menorcan countryside, you will also have the opportunity to taste local flavors and learn about the attractions of the museums.
It will take you about two and a half hours to go through the whole museum including all the activities you will do on the tour, so I recommend you to continue with this activity right after arriving from the previous route, so you can enjoy all its attractions without time restriction. You can get tickets for the museum from 18 euros per person.
Folkloric show
To start with this experience you will live a unique spectacle of art, culture and traditions that you will hardly find anywhere else. During the show you will have the opportunity to learn about life in the countryside. From the sowing of wheat to the recognition of the spaces of the farm and its animals.
During this show you can even participate in the preparation of wheat bread cooked in the typical wood-fired ovens that were used in ancient times. Tasting sausages and feeding the farm animals is also part of the show and time travel.
The best thing about this tour is that all the participating actors make you feel as if you were in the past thanks to their characterization of how the peasant generations of ancient times looked like.
Cheese making and tasting
During the elaboration and tasting of typical Minorcan cheeses, you will be able to participate in the manufacturing process, learn about the techniques applied to achieve their flavors and, at the end, you will be able to check the result with your own palate.
The cheese making formula has been in use for 100 years, so not only will you get to know its flavor, but you will also learn first hand the living history that characterizes the island. It is a rewarding experience for couples or families. This activity is available in English, Spanish and Catalan.
House museums
During the tour you will also have the opportunity to learn how the inhabitants of Menorca lived in 1700 and 1800. One of the most interesting tours is inside the manor house. The Salort family, who formerly inhabited what is now the museum, spent their vacations and spring time in this manor house, so you can see what life and comforts were like for these people around 1800.
In another of the houses, the farmhouse, you will discover how the peasants and the unprivileged, such as the Salort family, lived.
You will have a tour of all the spaces of the house, the kitchen, the large living room and other places inside the building. The farmhouse was the place where farm work was organized in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Another space within the visit to the house museum presents a complete collection of everything that has to do with the tools that were used in the field.
In this collection you will see everything from horse saddles to kitchen utensils and other elements necessary for tilling the soil. You will be able to see the first vehicle that circulated in Menorca.
Museum of Natural Sciences
The Museum of Natural Sciences of Binissués has an impressive amount of species of Menorca and the world. There are about 8000 species that are part of a private collection of the Carreras Torrent brothers.
The most interesting thing of this visit is that you will be able to know among this great quantity of animals, the rarest, biggest and less known species of the whole world.
Something interesting that you will see inside the facilities of the museum, is the representation of more than 1500 mushrooms of 350 different species and typical of the Minorcan island. These species are handmade to be presented to tourists.
One of the most attractive species to be seen during the tour is the beetle Potosia Cuprea Ferreriesensis, which has remained intact since it lived in the dinosaur era. This is considered one of the strongest and largest animals in the world, with the capacity to carry up to thirty times its weight for an hour.
Inside the Museum of Natural Sciences you can walk through four sections of the natural world: zoology, malacology, geology, mycology and botany. Each of them has different species for the knowledge and enjoyment of the whole family.
Half day excursion by boat to the southern coves of Binissuès
After a light lunch at the museum's restaurant (or buy something to drink on the way if time is tight), it's time to continue the tour, this time going on a half-day excursion to the southern coves.
The embarkation point is located in Cala'n Bosc, just 20 minutes from Binissués. To board the boat and start the tour you should arrive about 20 minutes before departure time.
This excursion is available at 10:00 and 14:00. In the case of the itinerary I have made for you, you must book the 2:00 pm option. To embark, it is necessary to arrive at the port of Cala en Bosc around 13:30 hours.
On this tour you will board a medium-sized boat in which you can visit all the coves in the south of the island.
The idea of this excursion is that you get to know the most unspoiled beach spots of the island. Among the coves you can visit are Turqueta, Macarella, Macarelleta, Mitjana, Trebaluger and Galdana.
In Cala Galdana the excursion goes back and forth for a few minutes, which extends the tour for thirty minutes more. This happens in the afternoon tour, which is the one we have chosen.
The place of return will be the same point of initial departure. The duration of the tour is approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes.
To enjoy this truly enriching experience, you can find tickets from 36 euros. It is a tour that you can do with family, friends and couples. If you go with children, you can embark without problems.
Enjoying the night in Ciutadella
After a pretty hectic day of activities that you will surely enjoy a lot, there is nothing better than relaxing a little bit having some refreshing drinks and eating good food in the restaurants of Ciutadella.
Possibly, when you are walking around you will realize that for your next visit to the islands you cannot miss a tour of all the attractions of Ciutadella.
If everything goes as planned, you can go and enjoy the nightlife in Ciutadella from 18:30 or 19:00.
To start with the night and something simple, I recommend you to eat something in the trendy bars and restaurants. The gastronomic options are varied and you can choose between hamburgers, pizzas, typical Mediterranean food, fish and chips, among other dishes of this style to liven up the night.
Wine tasting and other refreshing drinks are also available in each of the places in the port of Ciutadella and the city in general. If you prefer other beverages such as tea or coffee, you can also get a wide variety of coffee places to enjoy alone, with friends, family or partner.
Once you have recharged your energy with a good meal, you can continue the night in any of the bars and discos that are ready to start the night party day. You will be able to enjoy multiple rhythms that will make you dance and enjoy.
How to go out in Menorca
Once your day in Menorca is over and you want to leave the island, you have different ways to get to the airport from your hotel. You can go by cab, by public transport or by private car.
You can also leave Menorca by sea. In this case, I advise you to take the sea route to the mainland and from there fly to whatever your destination is.
Organize the day's activities
- Horseback riding in Menorca
- From 110 €.
- Estimated duration: 1 h 30 m
- Itinerary: Cala Fustam, Cala Rotja, Cala Mitjana.
- Starting time: 8:00 a.m.
- Visit to the Binissués Museum
- From 18 €.
- Estimated duration: 2 h 30 m
- Itinerary: Folkloric show, cheese making, visit to museum houses, Natural Science Museum.
- Starting time: 10:00 a.m.
- Half day excursion to the southern coves
- From 36 €.
- Estimated duration: 3 h 30 m
- Itinerary: Turqueta, Macarella, Macarelleta, Mitjana, Trebaluger and Galdana coves.
- Starting time: 14:00