Best advice is to take care. The accident rate in Mallorca is pretty poor.

For getting out of the airport to Alcudia and for general advice about driving, you might want to look at http://www.thealcudiaguide.com The travel section explains the route. Under "Alcudia", there is a general observations section with tips about driving.

One thing you really need to watch out for is that motorway entry and exit roads are sometimes the same road. This is the case when you come from the airport to Alcudia.

that is fantastic, the website is great and i'm going to print it off now along with your reply. thank you so much

Take time to work out where everything is on the car and ask how to open fuel caps etc. Have an idea of which road you want before driving off - heading into Palma city centre isn't a good start!! Main resorts are well signposted from the airport.

Form my experience in Majorca signage on motorways is excellent, but once you get in to towns and villages signs are either non existant, only appear once you get to the junction, or are tiny and at ground or first floor window level - passengers with decent eyesight are a bonus!

Remember to go round roundabouts the other way - I was confronted by a Brit going the wrong way round one in Cala D'or.

haha @ Davey
first time i drove i took a right turn once and somehow ended up on the wrong side of the road facing oncoming traffic waiting at traffic lights ..the look on the blokes face in the car in front of me was a picture

Jenny
have you got google earth ? you can then look at the roads and make a note of whats what etc
i have just bought a sat nav with street level europe roads on it ,hopefully that will make life much easier

On a happier note...I've been driving in Mallorca for 8 years. Roads are generally excellent, never seen an accident, never come close to one myself, so if you take reasonable care you will be fine. But...many of the locals typically judge parking by (literally) driving into the car in front/behind. So take care as to where you park.

if you have any mates with a TOMTOM sat nav that does europe , why not borrow it , i use mine all the time in europe . just pug in and away you go.

Thanks to all - Have had a look via google earth, and tips from Alcudia guide and email from Hotel also helped - I am looking out for the big red horse roundabout, after which I am hopefully home and hosed

Some say it looks more like a chicken, but horse it's meant to be. Either way, you can't miss it!!

As a previous poster siad - get used to the car and find out where every thing is. I kept trying to change gear with the window opener!!!! Just take it slowly out of the airport round the round-a bouts and it is pretty easy once you get on the bypass - very straight road giving you time to get used to driving on the wrong side. Good Luck.

We got lost once on majorca. The village we were passing through was having a fiesta and had closed the road. The diversion took us out into the country then the signs stopped. Knowing we were on an island we took the view that if we kept on going to the sea then turned right we would finally end up at our destination (Palma). That was how we discovered the (then) lovely resort of Sa Rapita which at that time (late 70s) had never seen a brit.

hi hope this helps a little bit just take your time i drove in majorca for the first time last year and had never sat in a left hand drive let alone drove one but i just took my own time and got on with it a lot of islands only let you go one way? a trip up the mountains is a must the views are amazing i felt comfortable after a couple hours take care and enjoy it

Hi Jenny Penny

I'm not going to contradict anything that's been said previously, but would advise great caution when driving here. I live here, I drive into Palma 2 or 3 times a week, and driving here is rarely a pleasure.

Spanish drivers are (generally) the most impatient drivers you will meet, and if you work on the basis that they all think they are in a Grand Prix, and they must be in front of you at all costs (even when they are turning right at the next turn-off) then you will be a little prepared for their behaviour. They will never let you out at junctions, they will never give way to you when you join the motorway, they will wave their arms at you when you are driving perfectly normally at the speed limit, and the young gel-haired idiots in their black hatchbacks are a nightmare and are normally the cause and the victims of the horific death rate on the roads over here, together with the young tourists wearings shorts only on the mediped Scooters.

I'm not trying to put you off driving over here, and maybe I'm being a little over the top, but rather that, than you thinking it will be some sort of pleasure to drive on the roads, particularly in and around Palma.

Cheers

Adam

Watch yourself on roundabouts - the Spanish don't know why there is an inner lane! They all drive all the way around the outside whichever exit they are after!

Thank you everyone for your invaluable tips. Just back and had a fab time, husband turned out to be a star driver. Trickiest part was getting from airport to the main 'motorway' as I had suspected but after that we were fine. Drove to the caves at Arta (fab!) and also a bit of 'local' driveing around the Alcudia coast (only because we had the car with a full tank of petrol!). Driving back to the airport was fine and hubby would be happy to do it again. I would not be keen and am quite happy to let him do it!
Adam I appreciate what you're saying, and we'd certainly not be brave/daft enough to venture into a city centre!