The resorts of Son Bou and Cala'n Porter are the largest coastal developments of the municipal district of Alaior, along the central south coast of Menorca.

In theory at least, the 20km, or 12 mile journey west, from Mahon and the international Aeropuerto de Menorca, should take no longer than about 20 to 30 minutes, however, at least one of the major tour operators is known to make prior transfers into the resort of Cala'n Porter, before then making the short trip over to Son Bou.

This can effectively double the transfer time to over 1 hour from the time you actually leave the airport grounds.

This unscheduled "island tour", although very scenic I'm sure, is however forcing many visitors to actively consider making their own arrangements for the journey by either pre-booked hire car, or alternatively by one of the many taxis from the ranks outside of the arrivals hall.

Although taxis from the airport do operate on a fixed price basis, this "fixed price" can, and often does, vary slightly depending upon the number of suitcases, the time of day or night of the journey, and of course the number of passengers carried, although as a very rough guide the journey should cost around 25€ for a taxi carrying 4 people.

It's also worthwhile mentioning that as a rule, taxis do not normally carry child seats, so very small children will have to sit on their parents knees for the journey.

The journey for those who have chosen to drive is for the most part fairly easy, even for the most inexperienced driver on the island, although as an added complication we feel you need to be aware of, is that in recent years the local Government has re-numbered most of the roads on Menorca, so make sure that you have an up to date map before setting out!

As with the other resorts on the island, we have put together the basic route for this journey, complete with links to maps where appropriate, and this is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

If however this all sounds a little daunting, you should seriously consider making the journey by either taxi or coach, and then possibly hiring a car once you are settled in the resort.

A point you certainly won't see mentioned in any other guide to Son Bou, unless they've done a "copy / paste" of this page that is, as you drive through the short tunnel that has been cut into the cliffs on the final few metres into the resort, if you can remember, look back at the cliffs behind you.

In answer to the question you will be thinking, "yes", those caves are inhabited by people even today. However, for most people who are visiting Son Bou for the first time, the initial sight of the contrast between the blue sea and gorgeous beach will normally be enough to have already taken your breath away.

Once you are in the resort, and have settled in to your accommodation, the journey back to Mahon, or further afield to Ciutadella in the west, is then possible by public transport, but only if you plan your journey times carefully.

During summer weekdays, a regular bus service makes the 15 minute journey from the roundabout in the centre of Son Bou, to the nearby town of Alaior at least 5 times a day, and from there further connections are then available.

Throughout the year, visitors often ask us for bus timetables, however bitter experience has shown us that the term "timetable" is sometimes too generous a term to best describe the time the buses actually run, although these are published each year on the bus stop in town, and on the Transportes Menorca sa web site, however, in all cases clearly no responsibility can be accepted as to either the content or accuracy of information provided on these links.

Son Bou has the longest, but not necessarily the widest, beach on the island, with almost 2 miles of fine white sand backed in the most part by a protected area of sand dunes and freshwater marshes.

The lagoon that forms part of these marshes, is also the home to what must be the fattest ducks on Menorca. At some time during their holiday to Son Bou, everyone must feed these ducks at least once, and by 11am each day they all disappear into the reed beds to digest their ample fill, leaving quite a large number of visitors with spare bread and cakes that have all been so carefully sneaked out of their hotel restaurants each morning.

Something also worth bearing in mind when you are choosing your accommodation, is that the only access to the beach is near to the two big Sol Hotels at the far end of the resort, so if your accommodation is at the other end of town, be prepared for a long walk each day.

Also despite its size, the beach does get very busy at weekends when many of the locals from nearby Alaior descend on the town with their picnic baskets. Although not officially allowed in Menorca, the western end of the Son Bou beach, going towards Santo Tomas, is also widely recognised as being a nudist beach.

The resort has a few very basic tourist shops, along with a couple of medium sized Supermarkets that should meet your everyday holiday needs. These are split between two commercial centres, one being opposite the Sol Hotels and the other near to the self catering Son Jaime complex.

As with most resorts on Menorca, evening entertainment here is mainly hotel based, however, the resort does have a small late night disco that forms part of the Son Jaime complex.

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This website was launched on 1 May 2002

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