Are there any marginally commercialised resorts with nice beaches and fairly easy access?

None, not a one, sorry don't waste your time. I'm being serious, the only possible candidate is Puerto Soller and the beaches are hopeless and the town at night totally dead. Try Puerto Pollensa or Cala San Vicente in the North West, you will love the area.

Puerto Pollensa is absolutely right Puerto Soller is not ideal for children, although the Platja Repic is not that bad. Your family would want more than a beach and although the Eden where we stay has a nice pool not many children stay in the hotel. Puerto Pollensa has much more the Pollensa Park Hotel is smashing for kids.

Either that or choose a South West resort family resort such as Santa Ponsa, Paguera or perhaps Camp de Mar which is quieter and less commercialised. All three have decent beaches and are not far from the Sierra de Tramuntara mountains as well as being close to Puerto Andraitx with it's beautiful harbour and marina.

santa ponsa is a lot livelier than cala bona but puerto pollensa although larger than cb is not v lively but is gorgeous and a lot of lovely restaurants

Thanks for the replies - just the sort of info I was looking for.

We drove through Puerto Pollensa and thought it looked busy and crowded. I guess we should have stopped to get a proper feel for it. Sounds like we should give it some thought.

Camp de Mar looks good, and is on the side of the island we haven't been to. Is there much to do there outside the hotels, without a car in the evenings? A promenade with a few restaurants or family friendly bars?

From reviews, Santa Ponsa may be too busy, but Paguera sounds like it could be the type of place we are looking for.

Any further suggestions welcome.

Many thanks again.

Santa Ponsa is very much aimed at families but also has facilities for singles, couples or small groups. It's less than 15 minutes drive into Palma, one of the great spanish cities, whilst the superb roads make it an ideal location for exploring this beautiful island.

The resort is informally divided into two distinct areas, North and South:

Scuba-diving, excellent golf, sailing, a wonderful shallow sandy beach, the national park and some excellent restaurants are found on the more peaceful south side of the resort. Much of the accommodation here is in apartments or private houses and many Mallorcians and expats live here permanently. I spend much of the winter here so am a tad biased!

The livlier north end of the resort offers the larger hotels, great clubs, open-air entertainment in the evening, numerous bars, lap-dancing (yes, really), cheap and cheerful restaurants, sports bars, souvenir shops and so on.

So if you are more inclined to the Cala Bona / Magaluf type of resort you'll enjoy the north end. If you want more of a relaxing and peaceful time head for the south end; you'll be only ten minutes walk from the entertainment quarter at the other end of the beach but enjoy a quieter time when you don't. Best of both worlds I would say.

I usually stay in Camp de Mar when I visit Mallorca but it may be too quiet for you if you don't have any transport as it's a very nice, but small resort. I always hire a car for the duration of our holiday so it's never an issue. There is not a proper promenade there - you need to go to Paguera for that. The main hotels are the Riu Camp de Mar, the Playa Camp de Mar and the Lido Palace, all 4-star hotels and right next to the beach. We usually like to go into Puerto Andraitx (my favourite place in Mallorca) 3 miles away and eat at one of the quayside restaurants and watch the boats go by as the sun sets over the hills - idyllic. There is only a postage stamp-size beach there so it is never going to be a family resort but the setting and harbour are hard to beat.

Paguera is a pleasant resort with a pedestrianised street of shops and restaurants running behind the beach and promenade. Paguera and Camp de Mar are about 40 minutes walk apart or a €5 taxi ride. Paguera is particularly popular with German tourists.

I suggest you read the resort reports in this forum to get a bit more of a feel for the resorts and see if any would suit.

We drove through Puerto Pollensa and thought it looked busy and crowded.

That will not be an issue in October (which I see is the month you plan to go). The resort will be moderately busy, but that will never be a problem in the evening when you are looking for a restaurant/bar. We go every September, first two weeks or 2nd/3rd week and we find it perfect then with respect to weather and crowds. We have also been 1st two weeks in May and again 1st two weeks in October, both months it is fairly quiet in the evening. Weather is also cooler than September.

Paguera sounds like it could be the type of place we are looking for

Paguera is **very much** a resort that caters for Germans. I have German relatives and we travel to Germany regularly, but even I was taken aback at how Paguera is like Germany with palm trees. I want Germany...I go to Germany...I want Mallorca...I don't go to Paguera.
Just my personal opinion.

Agree with the last reply, Peguera is full of our friends from Germany, in a way not a bad thing, the service is a lot better, simply because the Germans demand it!

Overall I would say Santa Ponsa is the right place for your needs.