The town of Mahón is one of the capitol cities of Menorca. It is situated in the East of the island and contains the main airport.
Mahón is set on a ridge above its harbour, the second biggest natural port in the world.
On the outskirts of Mahón you will find large supermarkets and shops such as Decathlon and Ikea, car hire companies and petrol stations. Be aware if you visit Ikea that it is just a show room and if you want to buy anything it takes them a week to order it to the island.
Further into Mahón, you will find the old town, a great place to visit. With its pretty little side streets full of shops and eateries you can easily spend an evening or afternoon wondering around looking in the shops, stopping for ice creams, watching the world go by or visiting ornate churches.
The old town is also a photographers dream with so many pretty streets and buildings. The squares, with their play areas for children, petangue pitches, little cafes and water features, seem to be where all generations congregate.
From the old town you can look down over the harbour and the view is lovely. You can either walk down many steps to get to the harbour or drive round.
The harbour is worth a visit to see all the expensive yaughts moored up or to eat in one of the many restaurants. Further along you can get frequent boat trips round the harbour on various boats, fishing trips, or even hire boats to take out yourself.
Mahón is also the home to the islands gin factory, the Xoriguer distillery which is worth a visit if you like gin as you can taste the local varieties.
In an old 17-century monastery, you will find the Museum of Menorca which looks at the island’s history, including Talayotic and Roman history as well as the islands shoemaking traditions.
Visiting Mahón with an autistic child?
The harbour doesn’t have railings.
A few of the boat trips have glass bottoms so are good for spotting fish.
The old town can get quite crowded. We visited once when the shops were shut on a Sunday evening. It was much quieter however obviously we could only wonder around and have a look.
The walls are quite high for looking at the view from the old town but the drops are awfully high too.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you would like to read more then feel free to follow my blog or like my Facebook page which I keep up to date with new posts as they are written. You can also find me on Twitter @KidsOnTour1.
