Best Time to Visit Menorca

General & Geography

Menorca is an island of the Spanish Balearic Islands and is home to about 100,000 inhabitants on about 430 miles². The Catalan name means “the smaller one” and refers above all to the relationship to the much better known neighbouring island of Mallorca.

Despite its comparatively small size, Menorca is a fascinating holiday island with impressive contrasts. The northernmost island of the Balearic Islands surprises with romantic old towns, rugged cliffs, pine lined bays and sandy beaches like in the Caribbean.

While the northern part of Menorca (Tramuntana) offers ideal conditions especially for surfers, the south is a true paradise for beach vacationers.

The capital of Menorca is the municipality of Maó with around 30,000 inhabitants, which surprisingly offers the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney. In general, Menorca is a very green island with large wooded areas and a lot of agricultural use.

Almost half of the island is now a protected area, UNESCO declared Menorca a biosphere reserve. Compared to other Balearic Islands, tourism has developed very gently and is therefore not only a classic seaside holiday destination, but also particularly popular with nature lovers.

The journey is either by plane to Menorca International Airport near the capital Maó (Mahon) or by ferry to Palma and Alcúdia (both on Mallorca) as well as Valencia and Barcelona.

Climate in Menorca (Balearic Islands)

The island of Menorca has a typical Mediterranean climate, which is largely true of the entire Mediterranean region. The summer months are warm to hot and there is very little rainfall. In general, much more rain falls in the rugged north of Menorca than in the more touristically important south of the island.

Also the temperatures in the south are mostly up to 2 or 3 °C higher than in the northern part of the island. In principle, Menorca has the highest rainfall levels in the Balearic Islands. Our climate table shows an average annual value of 21.65 in rain on 66 rainy days – for comparison: Mallorca (15.98 in), Fuerteventura (16.81 in).

However, this is no disadvantage at all, as the main travel season remains quite dry and the rainfall ensures that Menorca is so impressively green and offers a beautiful flora. The winter remains quite mild with daytime temperatures around 15 °C, even at night there is usually no frost on Menorca.