Nofred Journals: A Family's Favorite Places in Mallorca

Three people wading in shallow water at a harbor during bright sunlight, with boats and a hillside town visible in the background.

TRAVEL WITH KIDS

A Family's Favorite Places in Mallorca

On a hillside outside Sóller, artist Julie Pointer Adams found the places her family returned to again and again - from grocery runs to golden afternoons at the beach.

@JULIEPOINTERADAMS

Julie Pointer Adams is an artist and writer whose whole life circles one question: how do we live well, simply, close to nature?

When she began a new book, she and her husband Ryan did the boldest version of that they left home for fourteen and a half months with their two small boys, following warm coastlines from one country to the next. Of everywhere that year took them, the place they still return to is a hillside outside Sóller, in Mallorca.

A family of four posing on a sandy beach with the sea and harbor in the background under a clear blue sky.

A woman and two children stand in the doorway of a rustic stone building with a terracotta tiled roof, white-trimmed window, and green shutters.

WHAT DREW YOUR FAMILY TO MALLORCA, AND HOW DID YOU END UP IN SÓLLER?

“Two summers ago we left home for what turned into fourteen and a half months on the road, travelling for an interiors book I was working on. Of everywhere we went, Mallorca felt most like a place we would want to call home. We found a house on a hillside just outside Sóller, and that became our centre — the surrounding towns and coast unfolding from there.”

“By the measures that actually matter, we couldn’t afford not to go”

A collage-style travel scene showing a man and child paddleboarding on calm blue water, with a beach and coastal town visible in the background. The left panel focuses on the paddleboarder on a light blue paddleboard, while the right panel shows a wide beach and seaside buildings under a pale blue sky.

A man stands on a paddleboard in calm water while a child sits on his shoulders, with boats and a green hillside in the background.

A scenic beach view with pale blue water, sandy shore, small beachgoers, buildings, palm trees, and a hillside background under a clear sky.

HOW'S MALLORCA AS A FAMILY DESTINATION?

“We’re all absolute sun-lovers — back home in California you’ll find us in the sea or on a trail most days — so an island like this, with two high-energy boys, was our natural habitat. We cooked most of our meals at home, which meant a lot of time in grocery stores and even more at the beach. The rhythm out there asks nothing of you. You wake, you wander, you end up in the sea. With two small boys, that turned out to be everything.”

WHERE ARE THE BEST PLACES TO EAT?

“There’s a small grocery shop in Sóller called Agromart with beautiful produce. When we did eat out, it was usually in Port de Sóller, ten minutes down the road, where the restaurants line the water and the outdoor tables sit just steps from the sand, so the boys could run back to the beach the moment they got antsy. We loved a pizzeria called Pizzeria Sa Torre, where the pizza comes out in one enormous rectangle. The boys had never seen anything like it.

In Palma, Mama Carmen’s is a lovely little cafe and bakery, with a pretty plaza right across the street to spill out into.”

“You wake, you wander, you end up in the sea”

A family of three, including a man, a woman, and a young child, sitting at a table with pizza slices and a glass of water under a patio awning.

A sunlit cobblestone street in a historic European town with narrow buildings on both sides, people walking in the distance, and a mountain visible in the background. A hanging sign on the right reads Engel & Volkers.

WHERE WOULD YOU GO FOR SHOPPING?

“We never shop much when we’re travelling with small kids — too chaotic for me. But we loved walking through the Saturday market in Sóller, where you find a bit of everything: fresh produce, linens, handcrafted goods, clothing, and the best people-watching. I also love following a studio called Accidente Con Flores from afar — a husband-and-wife team making clothing and accessories with local artisans from around the island.”

WHICH PLAYGROUNDS OR ACTIVITIES WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR CHILDREN?

“There s a playground just outside the center of Sóller, on Carrer d'Adela Olivér Llinás, that s the gathering place for local families in the evening hours. There s a little bar and cafe right there where parents can grab a drink while the kids explore the play structures, and it s right next to the old trolley line — safely separated by a fence — that runs back and forth to Port de Sóller, which is its own kind of fun for everyone at least once.

We also loved the free Picasso and Miró exhibit inside the Sóller train station, full of ceramic plates and sculptures the kids enjoyed looking at. And though I haven t been myself, I know Can Prunera in Sóller is meant to be wonderful — an old Modernist house turned into a place for play and exploration, with an art collection, sculpture garden, playground, and family workshops every Saturday.”

Recomendations

Agromart

Pizzeria Sa Torre

Can Prunera in Sóller

Mama Carmen's

Picasso and Miró exhibition

Saturday market in Sóller

Accidente Con Flores from afar

A family of three posing on a wooden trolley train, with a woman in sunglasses in the back, a young boy in a blue cap and white shirt in the front left, and a toddler in a blue and white striped top and cap in the front right.

A vintage wooden cable car with large windows travels along a street beside buildings and greenery.

A scenic photograph of a historic stone cathedral with two spires, set against a blue sky with white clouds, green trees in the foreground, and distant mountains.

A toddler wearing a blue and white striped romper sits on a sandy beach next to a red plastic shovel, with the ocean and a tree-lined shore in the background.

Two children standing on a cobblestone path outdoors, with trees, a stone wall, and a wooden trail signpost visible in the scene.

A scenic coastal landscape with rocky sea stacks rising from calm blue water under a clear pale blue sky, framed by green shrubs and sunlit hills in the foreground.

WHICH OUTDOOR AREA DO YOU USE THE MOST, AND WHY THAT PARTICULAR ONE?

“If we have to pick one place to be outside, it’s always the beach. Port de Sóller has everything — sand, paddle boarding, the boats in the harbour, gelato close by. When we wanted more of an adventure, we’d drive out to Cala Formentor for a wilder coastline and more dramatic views. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong at any beach on the island.”

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL YOU'D RECOMMEND TO PRIORITISE?

“Wherever we went, city or country, we did a mix of things we all enjoyed — a bit of beach, a playground for the boys to run wild, a lot of gelato, and always time left over for hiking, exploring, wandering. Most of our days were go-with-the-flow, and that’s my best advice for travelling with kids. Flexibility was everything.”

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL YOU'D RECOMMEND TO PRIORITISE?

“A whole day to myself is hard to imagine these days. But I’d wake slow with a good pastry, coffee and fresh fruit, then spend the morning reading and drawing, wandering a small town like Fornalutx or Deià. I’d fill a basket at the market — bread, cheese, fruit, chocolate — and lie in the sand at one of the quieter beaches until the sun went down, a glass of wine in hand.

That’s my ideal day.”