The Sunday Times released its top 50 “Best Places to Live in the World 2015” this weekend and Palma came out as the best place to live, beating Toronto into second followed by Auckland, Hoi An in Vietnam and Berlin and, having lived in the capital for the past 20 years, I could not agree more with the judges.
During the two decades I have lived right in the heart of city, I have enjoyed experiencing the dramatic transition Palma has undergone.
Now open 365, the city is buzzing all year, there is always something going on, what ever the season, and that is what makes the city an exciting place to live and visit, so perhaps now, the airlines will take note and provide more and better flight connections between the UK and Palma this coming winter!
As a keen cyclist, I can slip out of the city and into the countryside in a matter of minutes and not every capital in the world can proclaim to having its own beach.
With the airport just ten minutes away, anyone coming to Palma for the first time will be blown away by the site of the Cathedral as they reach the city and Bellver Castle, surrounded by its lush forest, bearing down on the sea front and the super yachts. Palma has grown up over the past 20 years, it is now a cosmopolitan hub of a rich mixture of cultures and nationalities and all that has helped Palma become the best place in the world to live.
The selection of restaurants is second to none, one has been singled out as one of the five restaurants which have to be visited inSpain this year, the variety of quality hotels is growing year by year, the capital’s café culture has expanded with large, spacious terraces adding extra life to the city, the shopping matches, or is even better than, any other high street in Europe and of course, the city’s rich deep history and architecture are fascinating and are what make Palma such a diverse place to live. Just wander round and you can see how history has shaped the capital and, despite all the modernisation and cultural diversification Palma has undergone, the local population and the local authorities have not forgotten the city’s roots.