Lunchtime in Fornalutx. The sun is cascading through the olive groves and there's not a sound, apart from the sizzle of the kitchen grill. Above me the village slumbers in the sunshine, a cluster of honey- and saffron-coloured cottages; below, the mountains stretch into an unbroken vista free of roads, houses - of any sign of human life.
Welcome to Mallorca. If the biggest Balearic still makes you think of Magaluf and mainstream tourism then it's time to catch up. Mallorca is the Madonna of the tourist world, constantly reinventing itself. Right now it's all about style: hotels that ooze glamour, restaurants that mix tradition with 21st-century tastes, sculpture gardens and open-air galleries and gastro-routes with views to die for. Here is our selection of the best.
Phone numbers given are for dialling locally; from abroad, prefix with 00 34 971. Hotel prices are for a double room, usually without breakfast.
Palma
Relax
Often overlooked, Palma has blossomed as a city in the past few years. Millions have been spent on giving it a facelift; new museums and a clutch of boutique hotels have put it squarely on the city break map. The Hotel Continental (780100, £104) opened last month, pairing hi-tech rooms with a traditional feel. More avant garde is Convent de la Missio (227347; www.conventdelamissio.com, £166), once a monastery and now a temple to minimalism, all whitewashed walls, taupe soft furnishings and a tan-blanchingly expensive restaurant. Most fun is the Puro (425450; www.purohotel.com, £163) - two years old but still home to the city's hippest watering hole, with feather-encrusted lighting installations and plenty of scarlet and purple cushions to break up the wall-to-wall white.
Indulge
Kick off the day at Ca'n Joan de s'Aigo (Calle de Ca'n Sanc 10) with a breakfast ensaimada (a hefty-sized pastry dusted with icing sugar) - the kitschly elegant cafe has been serving sweet-toothed Mallorquins since the 17th century. Compare it with the city's newest sweetie emporium, Cacao Sampaka (Plaça Marquès des Palmer 1, www.cacaosampaka.com) where there are some startling flavours, including chocolates infused with curry or olives. La Llotja is the traditional restaurant quarter; don't miss the crispy squid at La Bóveda (Carrer Botería 3), though it can be a little touristy. As an alternative, try a mini tapas crawl, starting at Tast (Calle Union 28) for sesame-encrusted prawns and succulent sobrasada sausage served on different coloured plates according to price (€1 to €4). Four doors down is Lizarán (Carrer Enrique Alzamora 2), where slabs of bread topped with a mind-boggling array of spreads, pâtés and fishy mixtures is on offer for a euro a pop; the bill is calculated by the number of cocktail sticks on your plate. Finally, lurch across to Making Tapas (Calle Brondo 5), a new addition to the tapas scene based on the Yo Sushi! conveyor belt concept.
Explore
Mallorquins love a grand gesture and Es Baluard and the Palau March, Palma's latest acquisitions, are seriously impressive. Es Baluard (www.esbaluard.org) is the city's answer to Tate Modern. Housed in an old military fortress with modernist additions, it forms a perfect backdrop to works by Miró and Picasso, among others. The Palau March (www.fundbmarch.es), an elegant mansion on the city's seafront, holds the private art and sculpture collection of the March family - Joan March was a Mallorcan banker who became one of the world's richest men. Works by Moore, Rodin and Alfaro litter the outdoor terrace, which has glorious views to the Mediterranean.
To walk off all that culture, head east along the newly landscaped promenade (there's also a cycle lane) to the Portixol marina. What was once a run-down area has been renovated into a picturesque jumble of cottages and bijou eateries. Stop for tapas at Minimar (Calle Vicario Joaquin Fuster 67).
To hang with Palma's hippest set, head out to Puro Beach (www.purobeach.com), a riviera-style beach club. Take a yoga class in the morning, have a languid lunch and a sprawl on a sunlounger or strap on your slingbacks for the nightly party till 3am.
The north
Relax
Behind the busy resorts of Port de Pollença and Port d'Alcúdia lies a charming hinterland of Roman towns and lushly dramatic countryside. Pollença now has a clutch of boutique hotels; the newest is L'Hostal (535281; www.hostalpollensa.com, £66), all cool and cream with modern art on the walls and sleek scarlet and chrome bathrooms. L'Hostal is the younger sibling of Hotel Juma (535002; www.hoteljuma.com, £75), which first opened its doors in 1907 and is still run by the same family. It's more traditional but with a fabulous location - most bedrooms look out over the town square, crammed with cafes. Neighbouring Alcúdia's medieval streets and houses are spick and span after a serious restoration. Its newest sleek boutique is Cas Ferrer Nou (897542; www.nouhotelet.com, £76), a former blacksmith's house converted into a six-room hotel with exposed-stone walls, chrome detailing and a neat decked patio.
If you want to avoid tourism altogether, stay at the Ermita de la Victòria (549912; www.lavictoriahotel.com, £42), a restored 14th-century hermitage perched high above the Bay of Alcúdia.
Indulge
Spend the early evening sitting in one of the village square bars in Alcúdia or Pollença, watching the world go by. In Pollença, follow up with supper at La Fonda (534751, Carre Antonio Maura 32) - there is no outdoor seating but it does the best traditional Mallorquin food in the area. If you're after a little more glamour, book a table at 365, the restaurant at the Son Brull (535353, www.sonbrull.com) one of the island's swankiest hotels, about five minutes' drive from Pollença. The X-factor here comes after dinner, with ambient tunes courtesy of the DJ and the chance to snooze off supper on one of the daybeds dotted around the candlelit pool. Also just out of town lies Balaixa (530659; www.puertopollensa.com balaixa), a restored farmhouse that is ideal for families - by day kids can swim in the pool, and in the evening the outdoor terraces means there's plenty of space for energetic legs.
Explore
Alcúdia dates back to 700BC, when the Phoenicians used the place as a staging post between northwest Africa and Spain, and there are walking tours of the old town every Wednesday at noon (free, meet at the tourist office).
A hidden gem is the Jakober Art Foundation and Gardens (www.fundacionjakober.org), tucked away in woodland behind Alcúdia on a rural estate called Sa Bassa Blanca. The main attraction is the collection of 130 portraits of royal children dating from the 16th century, but there's also an open-air sculpture trail and a beautiful rose garden with more than 100 varieties on show.
If your hair needs raising, take a spin out to the Cap de Formentor, the northernmost tip of the island and home to some utterly stunning scenery. The road winds for about eight miles, with serious drops, hairpin bends and varying degrees of narrowness. There are several viewpoints - the dramatic clifftop Mirador de Mal Pas gives a good idea of what is to come - but for the best vistas keep going until you reach the lighthouse, where you can stop for a coffee and Menorca floats hazily in the distance, some 40 miles away.
The Tramuntana
Relax
The Tramuntana is a glorious combination of lush green slopes, orange and lemon orchards and tiny roads snaking between olive groves. The mountains hug the western coast and tucked between the peaks are some gorgeous places to stay. At the southern end lies the hamlet of Galilea and the former artists' colony that is now Scott's Galilea (870100; www.scottsgalilea.com, £120). It has six studios and cottages, which can be rented on a self-catering or B&B basis. There's a pool, honesty bar and staff on hand, but the USP is the mesmerising view across Galilea to the sea. Further north, the Espléndido in Port de Sóller (631850; www.esplendidohotel.com, £82), opened this month; it's a funky, modern take on a seaside hotel (a tram clunks its way between the port and the town all day - touristy but fun). One of the best ways to experience the mountains is to stay in an agroturismo, a traditional finca or estate converted into a small hotel. Some, like Can Coll (633244; www.cancoll.com, £121), just outside Sóller, are like plush hotels - others more simple, but all of the best can be found on www.topfincas.com.
Indulge
The best places to eat in the mountains tend to be tucked away in the smaller hamlets rather than in the tourist honeypots such as Deià and Valldemossa. Bag a table on the terrace at Es Turó (630808, Avenida de Arbona Colom 6) in Fornalutx and order the Pa amb Oli, a traditional dish of tomato-rubbed bread with local ham and cheese. If you're staying at Scott's Galilea, head down to the next village of Es Capdella, where Bar Nou (233170, Calle Mayor 7) does the best slow-cooked lamb on the island (and pretty spectacular garlic prawns too).
Explore
The Tramuntana is perfect walking country. A new book, Walk & Eat Mallorca by Valerie Crespi-Green (Sunflower Books, £6.99), includes a mix of gentle strolls and longer hikes, each with a recommendation for the best spot en route for lunch. If you're up for some serious trekking and want a guide, contact Mallorca Muntanya (www.mallorcamuntanya.com). If your focus tends to be on eating rather than walking, book into the new Mallorcan cooking school run by Jay Ciccarelli, who has worked for the Gettys and the Versaces (www.cookingholidays.com). There are scheduled courses - or, if there's a group of you, day classes on request.
A couple of must-see spots in the region: right next to the tunnel to Sóller are the Jardins d'Alfabia, beautiful Moorish-designed gardens full of palms and hibiscus and draped bougainvillaea with a cafe in the middle selling freshly squeezed juice. High up in the mountains between Sóller and Pollença sits the Monastery Lluc, the island's most important place of pilgrimage since the 13th century and still breathtaking for a stroll around.
Inland
Relax
The talk of the island is of the opening of the Son Julia, sister property of the Son Net, which bought a whole new class of swank to the island when it opened in the late nineties. Son Julia (669700; www.thesteingroup.com/sonjulia, £165) is something of a curate's egg, a 15th-century Spanish country estate owned by an Arabic family and managed by an American hotel company. The decor is a little startling - my room was a smorgasbord of browns and caramels with vivid green chandeliers - and the location, in the flat southwest of the island, is unprepossessing, but the food was fantastic and, if you're looking for serious high-end, it ticks most boxes.
Indulge
If you go to the market in Sineu drop in on Celler Es Crup (Carrer Mayor 18), one of the town's traditional cellar bars. If you're feeling feisty, go for the very traditional frito Mallorquin - deep-fried offal and vegetables. Sa Bassa Rotya (168225; www.sabassarotja.com), a small hotel in the heart of the island near the town of Porreres, is a beautifully converted farmhouse with a charming traditional restaurant; the grilled prawns are an absolute must. It also offers ayurvedic treatments and therapies - pretty rare in rural Mallorca - which can be booked even if you're not a guest.
Explore
If you go to only one market, make it Sineu on a Wednesday morning, the only one where livestock is still bought and sold. Horse-trading takes place in the main square, where sheep, goats, chickens and hens also change hands.
Inland Mallorca is home to the little-known possessios - wine estates that have been in the same families since the 15th and 16th centuries. A new wine tour, run by Carol Forrest, ex-sommelier at Gleneagles, visits these estates on a day tour of tasting and tuition. To arrange a tour visit www.majorcawinetour.com.
If you want to explore the vineyards yourself, and pair them with a visit to local food producers, then explore the food and wine routes produced by the tourist office. Its new Good-Taste Agro-routes (www.illesbalearsqualitat.com) include cheese, sobrasada and olive oil producers, as well as vineyards that offer tastings.
Getting there
Easyjet (0905 5607777; www.easyjet.com) flies to Palma from seven UK airports, BMIbaby (0871 224 0224; www.bmibaby.com) flies to Palma from six UK airports including Heathrow. Jet2 (0871 2261737; www.jet2.com) flies from three UK airports to Palma.
