Camp de Mar's beach cleared of seaweed accumulated over the winter

Andratx Council has begun works preparing the area's resorts for the holiday season...

Here, courtesy of Diario de Mallorca, we see the beach in Camp de Mar being readied.

Coronation Street and Camp de Mar

In 1974, the Camp de Mar's Playa hotel and the beach were used as backdrops for episodes 1434 and 1435 of the ITV soap Coronation Street. In the screenshots below we see Bet (Julie Goodyear), Rita (Barbara Knox) and Deirdre (the late Anne Kirkbride).

More pictures are in our Visitors & Celebrities section on our homepage.

Only 3 minutes walk from the beach... if you can walk on water that is!

"Located just within a 3 minute walk from the beach and with direct access to the sea via the rocks, this wonderful luxury villa will make a great spot from where to enjoy what Mallorca has to offer...   www.seemallorca.com "

The big 'office-style' villa overlooking the bay of Camp de Mar is now available for holiday rental; having been empty for a number of years.

With 6 bedrooms, the villa can house over a dozen guests and be rented exclusively for weekly prices beginning at 20,000 Euro, rising to 40,000 Euro in peak season.

More details here: http://goo.gl/07CeIg

seemallorca also reports that a new Summer Club will open in May, allowing guests to be picked up from the beach by yacht.

Camp de Mar has inspired many artists over the years: Here's Fonia's watercolours

Camp de Mar has inspired many artists over the years: Here's a link to Fonia's watercolours on Art Tutor.

Free high-quality Wi-Fi at the airport? Maybe later this year.

AENA, the airport authority for Spain, has announced plans for the country's terminals to be among Europe's best for a fast, free, and unlimited Wi-Fi service.

Free Wi-Fi is currently available, as we had the pleasure of using the unusable service at Palma airport recently. The free service would not load any page, but there was an option to use another provider for 30 minutes if you gave away your email address... no thank you!

AENA expects the new free Wi-Fi system will be available at all major airports in the world's third favourite tourism destination by Christmas.

Goodbye Thomson: TUI to phase out brand

In 1965, Canadian media baron Roy Thomson created the package holiday company that bore his name. However, after nearly sixty years in business and a variety of takeovers and mergers, this famous UK name will shortly be retired as the German TUI Group migrates to a single brand.

The Dorint is no more: Long live the Steigenberger

From today the famous Dorint 5-star Royal Golf Resort & Spa Camp de Mar is no more, having been taken over by the prestigious Steigenberger brand.

Steigenberger operate throughout Europe, the Middle East and China, but this will be their first hotel in Mallorca.

Steigenberger have indicated that extensive modernisation of the former Dorint site will be required to bring it up, from what was an already luxury standard, to their higher levels of comfort.

The hotel will be managed by the RIMC Group.

First look at Camí des Salinar apartments

Even though local environmentalists have been campaigning to stop the development of even more luxury apartments on the sand dunes of Camí des Salinar, the work has been progressing apace.

Now, the first artist impressions of these new beachside blocks have been released.

They all look rather bland on the outside, but will set you back over a million and a half Euros each.

Viewpoint renamed in honour of Thomas Harris

Local artist and ex-British spy Thomas Harris has been honoured by the Andratx council with the dedication of the dramatic viewpoint on the cliffs of Torre d'Andritxol to his memory.

Thomas died fifty years ago in a car crash on one of the many twisty and dangerous roads of the time near Llucmajor. His work with double-agent Juan Pujol in deceiving the Nazis was a significant contribution to helping the Allies succeed in the Battle of Normandy.

A MEMORY OF CAMP DE MAR (Video)

In the twilight of an English evening a man plays his guitar and remembers a beautiful bay in Mallorca and the friends he met there. (Instrumental)

Thanks to David Calderbank