The Balearic island of Mallorca is not without reason referred to as Germany's 17th federal state.

 

There is no other travel destination in Europe that attracts more German tourists year after year than "Malle," as this Balearic paradise is colloquially known in Germany.

Mallorca – a historic holiday destination that has always enticed visitors to settle here.

The fascination visitors have with this island runs like a thread through Mallorca's history. Among the first celebrities to spend the winter on the Balearic island was the Polish-French composer Frédéric Chopin.

He lived with his lover, the trouser-wearing, cigar-smoking Baroness Dudevant, alias the writer George Sand, in the Carthusian monastery of the mountain village of Valldemossa on Mallorca during the winter of 1838–1839.

To this day, the stream of approximately 250,000 visitors annually to this otherwise almost unmissable global tourist attraction continues unabated. Even the great explorer among the Habsburgs, Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, couldn't resist Mallorca. He even cited asthma as a reason to escape his obligations at the Imperial Court at Schönbrunn in Vienna and discover the Balearic Islands for himself.

This Austrian, "el Austriaco," was, incidentally, extremely popular with the Mallorcans. He cultivated humble dealings with the local rural population and always treated even simple farmers with kindness and respect, never condescendingly.

Not least for this reason, the Austrian Archduke is still fondly remembered on the Balearic island. Ludwig Salvator, for his part, loved Mallorca and was fascinated by the island's diverse flora and fauna. He created a lasting monument to his temporary adopted home with the nine-volume work "The Balearic Islands in Words and Pictures."

In the 19th century, traveling to the island was still a rather expensive adventure, one that required financial means. Finding suitable accommodations was anything but easy. The first hotel in Mallorca didn't open until the beginning of the 20th century.

In the 1960s, international mass tourism finally set its sights on the Balearic island, and this trend continues unabated to this day. Germans have been by far the largest group of visitors to the island, accounting for an estimated one-third of all Mallorca vacationers for over 100 years.