Why Mallorca needs to be on your radar for solar eclipse and gorgeous men

Queer travelers love Spain for its accepting culture, sunny beaches, and gastronomical delights — not to mention the loads of museums, amazing architecture, and gorgeous men.

Add in some island charm, and you have the incredible getaway of Mallorca, a 1,400-square-mile spot of Mediterranean joy 140 miles southeast of Barcelona.

And 2026 will provide the perfect opportunity to visit Mallorca, as the island takes center stage for the summer’s biggest celestial spectacular, a two-plus-minute total solar eclipse that sweeps across Greenland, Iceland, and Spain on August 12th. 

Compared to the two magnificent eclipses the United States experienced in 2017 and 2024, this one will have a shorter duration of totality (occurring near Iceland).

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But Mallorca, famed around the world for its spectacular sunsets, will present travelers with 96 seconds of totality a mere 15 minutes before the sun sets into the Mediterranean Sea — perhaps the most unforgettable twilight one will ever experience.

These circumstances mean that low clouds could easily obscure things, but it’s a high-risk/high-reward situation. And with a trip to Mallorca being a pretty amazing consolation prize in that case, queer travelers should scoop up their flights to Palma and hotel rooms soon.

Here are four things to know about this island paradise in advance of all the summer excitement:

1. Mallorca is heavily tied to tourism.

Mass tourism started here in the 1960s, on what they jokingly call “la isla de la calma,” or the island of calm, due to the slow, relaxed lifestyle. Even today, many hotel chains are headquartered here, such as Barceló, Meliá, and Iberostar. The island’s tourism board was established in 1905 and is considered the world’s oldest. Today, the island is renowned for its beaches, stunning geography, scuba diving (with 30-meter visibility), and cycling opportunities. One of the main industries today is tourism, with shipyards that build, maintain, and refurbish many superyachts.

2. Queer life is growing.

During my visit to the island last year, I met Edward, a young gay entrepreneur who created Ca’n Cuir, an LGBTQ+ cultural center and bar that opened in April 2024. Once a month, there is a big vendor market outside with drag queens greeting people on the street. The bar has topical things for the community to talk about, including bisexual stigma, chemsex, and fertility issues for trans folks. 

Events here include Ella, an annual all-female festival each September, and a Pride Parade on June 28 to honor the Stonewall date. Other towns on the island, such as Inca, also host their own Pride parties or events during June or July weekends. And Flexus bar always has a big party on July 12, even bigger than the Pride parade. Edward is trying to create a small queer festival here, hoping to replicate something like the WHOLE United Queer Festival, perhaps as a two-day festival in June or September.

3. Adventure is everywhere.

In addition to the various water sports that you can enjoy on the island — snorkeling and scuba diving, jet skiing, paragliding, kite surfing, cliff diving, and kayaking — Mallorca has some quite dramatic terrain, making it a huge destination for cycling. The Serra de Tramuntana mountains on the island’s northwest side provide plenty of elevation and windy roads, and there are also abundant hiking opportunities here. 

I also tried one of the newest sports, Salty Cycling, a fascinating way to bicycle on the water. The owners of this local company are aiming to make Mallorca the “hydrofoil capital of the world.” While hydrofoil bicycles have 10 distributors worldwide, these distributors are the only ones developing experiences and shaping the sport. Here, you book your “baptism” for one day and then take a tour the next day, riding across the water. The hydrofoils definitely take some practice to get the hang of. They have batteries, like an e-bike, but you still have to do a good deal of the work, especially to get your bike out of the water and to hydrofoil.

4. Cuisine here is … [chef’s kiss].

Mallorca punches way above its weight in cuisine. On an island of less than 1 million people, there are 11 Michelin one-star restaurants and one two-star restaurant. In addition to incredible paella and seafood throughout my trip (including many memorable waterfront meals), I took a cooking class with MOLTAK, held in a refurbished 17th-century windmill in Palma. Owned by Luis Mothis and his wife, this business focuses on local ingredients and recipes, and we enjoyed the preparation as much as the eating. Plus, Chef Luis regaled us with kitchen tips and tricks and stories about everything from types of olives to regional differences in Spanish cooking, and how influences from Arabs and other groups shaped the dishes over the centuries.

As Luis put it concerning my favorite local dish, “Paella is a result of two cultures that left behind parts of themselves. Arabs left the saffron, and Romans left the pan.”

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