Your first weekend in Palma. What should you visit?

You don't need to see all of Mallorca in one weekend, just get a feel for how Palma actually works: a produce market before the heat sets in, an old quarter that turns from history lesson to bar crawl after dark, a rooftop view that orients you geographically, a beach close enough for an afternoon rather than a day trip, and a sunset spot the locals keep for themselves.

Below is a Saturday-to-Sunday shape. Each stop has a map link and a couple of places we'd actually send a friend.

Santa Catalina market: the city's best food, before 11am

Mercat de Santa Catalina is a working produce, fish, and meat market that doubles as the anchor of Palma's most liveable neighbourhood for newcomers, wine bars and boutiques wrapped around the market hall, English widely spoken. Go before 11am, while locals are still doing their shopping.

Inside the hall, Charcuteria Selecta Izquierdo runs an award-winning ham and cheese counter worth the queue, and Es Mercat Bar does tapas and oysters standing-room only among the stalls. Either is a better introduction to how Palma eats than any restaurant.

In August, shift the whole plan earlier. The market and the old town are pleasant before 11am and hard work at 2pm, the beaches are yours before 9am and full by 11, and everything is better again after 6pm. Parking is the real constraint in high season: take the bus or a taxi into the centre rather than circling for a space, and check whether your beach of choice has a paid car park before you drive out.

La Lonja: maritime history by day, bar crawl by night

Wander Carrer dels Apuntadors and the lanes around Plaça Drassana, Palma's historic maritime quarter, named for La Llotja, the 15th-century fish and merchant exchange that still anchors the neighbourhood. By day it's narrow lanes and old stone facades; by night the same streets fill with bars.

Have a cocktail at Abacó, set inside a 16th-century palace and decorated with an almost absurd amount of fruit and flowers, a fixture of Palma nightlife for decades. For something more low-key, Forn de Sant Joan has been serving solid Mediterranean food on Carrer Sant Joan for more than 20 years.

Es Baluard: the view that orients you

Climb up to the rooftop terrace of Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani, built into the city's 16th-century bastion walls. From up there you can see the cathedral, the port, and the bay all at once, the single best way to understand how the old city sits against the sea.

The Es Baluard Restaurant & Lounge on the upper terrace is where locals go for a sea-view lunch or a sunset drink. Afterwards, the Passeig Marítim promenade runs from the fortress straight along the seafront toward the cathedral, an easy walk to finish the visit.

Cala Major: the beach locals actually use

About 4km from the centre, reachable by bus or bike in ten minutes, Cala Major is the cove Palma residents go to on a weekday afternoon, not the long tourist strip of Playa de Palma. Fine sand, a proper cove shape, and a string of beachfront chiringuitos for a drink afterwards, pick whichever one has a free table.

It's a useful first taste that a quick, no-car beach escape is a normal part of life here, not a special occasion.

Castell de Bellver: sunset, the way locals do it

Finish at the Mirador del Castillo de Bellver, the viewpoint by the 14th-century hilltop castle reachable by EMT bus 46 or a walk up through the surrounding pine park. The view sweeps over the bay, the port, and the whole city skyline, and it's the sunset spot people who actually live here keep coming back to, rather than the crowded seafront.

Bring a layer, it cools off fast once the sun's down behind the bay.