5 Days in Menorca with Kids: Our Day-by-Day Itinerary

We had five days and four nights in Menorca at the end of September with a five-year-old and a two-year-old. We saw at least three beaches a day, drove the length of the island twice, and still did not see it all.

This is what we actually did, day by day, with the driving times and the two numbers everybody asks about — what the flights cost and what the car cost.

The short version

• When: end of September. 33°C, warm sea, beaches never full.
• Flights: Barcelona–Menorca with Vueling, €200 for all four of us, booked a few months ahead on an offer.
• Car: €190 for five days. Essential, not optional.
• Base: an apartment five minutes’ walk from Cala Blanca, just south of Ciutadella. We did not move.
• Luggage: two backpacks for four people, including the camera.
• Is five days enough? For a first trip, yes. You will not run out of beaches, but you will stop feeling rushed by day three.

Getting there and getting around

The flight

Barcelona to Menorca is a short hop, and Vueling run it. We booked a few months out on an offer and paid €200 for two adults and two children, return. We landed early in the morning, which is worth aiming for — it buys you most of a day.

The car — and why the cheap option worked

I spent nearly three hours before the trip comparing hire companies. We ended up with a small firm with no desk at the airport, which sounds like a bad idea and was not: they run a shuttle to their office and back every fifteen minutes. We had our keys faster than the queues at the main counters, and paid €190 for the full five days.

You need a car in Menorca. The best calas are not on a bus route, and several are down a single narrow road with a car park at the end.

Apartment, not hotel

We normally like hotels. With a two-year-old, an apartment wins: a fridge, snacks at any hour, and somewhere to put a sleeping child down at seven in the evening while the rest of us are still awake.

Ours was five minutes’ walk from Cala Blanca. We arrived far too early to check in, and the receptionist gave us the key anyway — we dropped the bags and were on the beach by mid-morning.

What we packed

Two backpacks. For four people. For five days. Including a camera that is not a small one.

• A few t-shirts, two or three pairs of shorts, two or three dresses
• Comfortable sandals — and trainers, which we wore more than the sandals
• Swimwear, obviously
• Two small bottles of sunscreen, and we used both. In late September. Do not underestimate it

The island’s climate is Mediterranean and late-September days were in the low thirties. You need very little.

Day 1 — Arrival, Cala Blanca, and not doing very much

Driving: 20 minutes, airport to Cala Blanca.

Early flight, car collected via the shuttle, bags dropped at the apartment, and then straight to the beach five minutes away.

Cala Blanca is small, white-sanded and so clear it looks like a swimming pool. The water stays shallow for about ten metres, which meant both boys could be in it without either of us holding on to them. After an early start and a flight, that is exactly the right first afternoon — nobody had to drive anywhere or make a decision.

What I’d keep: not planning anything for arrival day. The temptation with five days is to start immediately. Don’t.

Day 2 — Cala Galdana and the walk to Macarella

Driving: about 40 minutes each way from Cala Blanca.

Cala Galdana became our favourite beach on the island, and we went back again later in the trip. A large white-sand bay backed by pines, with lifeguards, kayaks and pedalos to rent, and water shallow and clear a long way out. My husband and Damian snorkelled straight off the beach and found proper fish without swimming anywhere.

From the western end of the bay, the Camí de Cavalls — the coastal path that circles the whole island, 185 km, waymarked as GR 223 — runs 2 km to Cala Macarella. We walked it. With a five-year-old, 2 km of coastal path is a real walk, and the views down onto Macarelleta from above are the best part of it.

Honest verdict on Macarella: we thought it was overrated. We went the day after a windy one, the water had brought in weed, and after two visits to Cala Galdana it did not do anything the others hadn’t done better. It is the most photographed beach on the island. Plan around it and you may be disappointed.

⚠️ This has changed since we went. The Macarella car park is now physically closed to cars and motorbikes from 1 June through the summer season — you cannot simply arrive early. A bus runs from Ciutadella, roughly 08:25 to 20:20, with extra services in July and August. Walking and cycling are still allowed, which is how we got there. Check the current season’s dates before you plan this day.

Day 3 — North coast: Monte Toro, Cavalleria and the lighthouses

Driving: a full day of it. Cala Blanca to Monte Toro is roughly 45 minutes; Monte Toro to Cavalleria another 30.

This is the day to leave the south.

Monte Toro first, in the morning, with coffee at the top. At 358 metres it is the highest point on Menorca, crowned by the Sanctuary of the Verge del Toro, and you can drive the whole way up. From the top you can see white villages, lighthouses and sea in almost every direction, and on a clear day the mountains of Mallorca. It costs a child about ten minutes of patience and it is one of the best views in the Balearics.

From up there we could see Cap de Cavalleria lighthouse, so that became the next stop. The road out to it crosses private land — for a long time there was no direct public access at all, and it is open to visitors now but the land around it is still someone’s.

Playa de Cavalleria is the largest bay on the north coast: reddish sand, backed by dunes and rocky hills, reached down a wooden staircase. There are no facilities at all — no bar, no toilets, often no bins. Bring water, bring a picnic, take your rubbish home.

It is also noticeably deeper than the southern calas. Both our boys needed us in the water with them here, which had not been true anywhere in the south. That single difference is the clearest argument for basing yourself on the south coast with small children.

Day 4 — Ciutadella, Punta Nati and an evening sunset

Driving: short. Everything on this day is within 20 minutes of Cala Blanca.

An easier day after all the driving.

Punta Nati lighthouse is 20 minutes from Ciutadella through a landscape of low, salt-tolerant scrub and dry-stone walls, ending at tall cliffs above the sea. You park and walk the last kilometre or so. It is bleak in the best way and there is nothing between you and the water.

Ciutadella itself has narrow streets, small squares and a colourful harbour, and it is the better of the two cities for an evening with children — you walk down to the water, look at the boats, and eat. Sa Farola lighthouse stands at the northern end of the harbour; walk the promenade out to it and there is a small sheltered inlet below that swimmers use.

What I’d change: we passed through Ciutadella rather than doing it properly, twice. Give it a whole evening.

Day 5 — Santo Tomás, then Punta Prima before the flight

Driving: Santo Tomás is about 40 minutes from Cala Blanca; Punta Prima is 15 minutes from the airport.

We found Santo Tomás on our last morning and stayed for all of it. A long narrow strip of soft white sand, rocky in places, backed by hills — and, crucially, the car park is about twenty metres from the sand. With two small children, a cool bag and a parasol, that distance is the whole difference between an easy morning and a hard one.

Then east to Punta Prima, fifteen minutes from the airport, for the last swim and the gift shopping. Wide white sand with plenty of room, well-stocked supermarkets in the village behind, and a clear view across to Illa de l’Aire and its lighthouse. It holds a Blue Flag for 2026.

Ending the trip at a beach that close to the airport is the single most useful piece of planning in this itinerary. You swim, you change, you drive fifteen minutes, you fly.

Where to stay in Menorca with kids

We’ve put the full comparison of the family bases — Cala Blanca, Cala Galdana, Punta Prima and the big resort areas — in our main Menorca with kids guide, along with every beach we visited and what each one is actually like with children.

More Menorca

• Menorca with kids: best beaches, where to stay and what to do
• The seven lighthouses of Menorca
• Where to watch the sunset in Menorca
• Mallorca with kids: our family adventure
• Ibiza travel guide for families