The postcard-pretty village of Valldemossa became a tourist trap on Tuesday as thousands of visitors abandoned the beaches and swarmed the Serra de Tramuntana. With clouds hanging over Mallorca, the streets of the mountain hotspot were gridlocked with rental cars, leaving locals furious.
Queues stretched for up to three kilometres on the road from Palma, with frustrated drivers inching their way into the village. Parking was near impossible, and crowds jostled at ticket machines just to secure a spot. Word of the chaos spread like wildfire on WhatsApp and social media, warning residents to stay away.
Once inside Valldemossa, tourists packed the streets but strangely not the restaurants. Many bars and cafés sat empty at lunchtime as visitors chose to queue outside bakeries for cheap sandwiches and pastries instead.
Locals complained the crush has turned their home into a no-go zone, with traffic at a standstill and pavements overflowing with confused tourists. One resident branded it “an August nightmare we’re forced to endure every year.”
What should have been a quiet, cloudy Tuesday ended in frustration, fumes and horns blaring, as Valldemossa once again buckled under the weight of Mallorca’s summer crowds.