History and evolution
Being an old fishing village,it is now a predominantly tourist area with a
great demographic expansion, especially from the 70s on. This change is due to
tourism (mainly English and German). It disposes over a wide white sand beach,
where in summer many tourists gather to stroll along its vast promenade, which
was remodelled in the late nineties. Its church is called Nuestra Senora de la
Lactancia and its patron saint is San Cristobal. The Portiuncula is the other
parish in the area, but it's located on palm land.
One part of El Arenal belongs to the municipality
of Palma de Mallorca and the other part to the municipality of Llucmajor, where
more than 10,000 inhabitants live according to the 2005 census,it has an
important recreational port on the island, which is as well one of its main
attractions, along with the beach littered with palm trees and with space for
sports activities. In the part belonging to the municipality of Palma there is
less space on the beach but the beach is much longer and is fraught with
leisure as discos, bars, cafes, mini-golf and of course hotels.
Socially, this area has always been very popular in the rest of Spain
(especially inland) as one of the most common destinations for study tours,
both in its season of the 8th of EGB ,as now of ESO and of Baccalaureate. It's
a very usual to see the promenade filled with youngsters from different parts
of Spain from late March until well into the summer.
Geography
You can access this town by road and motorway, the Llevant one or the Llucmajor
one. They also dispose of various bus stops of the EMT. Line # 15 connects El
Arenal with the famous Plaza de la Reina in Palma, while the # 23 line connects
the town with the Plaza Espana, but in less time. Recently there is a new
line,the # 25, which connects El Arenal to Plaza de la Reina in less time than
line # 15. It has a privileged position, which makes it especially interesting,
with sweet and very mild winters and pleasant summers. Its particular
geographical location makes this location one that is very well connected with
Palma, but also with villages in the centre of Mallorca such as Llucmajor,
Campos, Sant Jordi, Algaida, etc..
This ideal location is one of the pillars on which
the success of tourism in the early seventies was based: proximity to a major
city, beach, countryside and a spectacular natural bay, one of the most
beautiful and perfect in the Mediterranean as the one of the the capital of the
Balearic Islands. Furthermore, from this town you can enjoy the southernmost
part of the Serra de Tramuntana, which can be observed from far above Palma.
From the beach ,near the yacht club, you can even see on clear days the
Cathedral of Palma and the Castillo de Bellver.
El Arenal
(officially:S Arenal ) is a coastal district of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands,
situated between the municipality of Lluchmajor and Palma de Mallorca,
separated by a river, which name is of the river of the Jews ( Torrent dels
jueus). Its proximity to Palma (14 miles) and to the airport of Son San Joan (7
km) make it to one of places with the best access for tourists and residents.
Their patron saint festivities are held in July.
El Arenal is located between two
municipalities, Palma and Llucmajor. The border is outlined by the Torrent des
Jueus, which normally is empty, except when it rains. Nevertheless, it has
flooded, but without causing any damage. It flows into the beach and marks the
distinction between the beach of S'Arenal (municipality of Llucmajor ) and the
beach of Palma (area of El Arenal in the municipality of Palma). Some political
parties discussed the possibility of creating a single municipality, but
neither the Consistory of Llucmajor nor the Consistery of Palma have ever been
in favour of this possibility, which blocks the operation before it can take
place. El Arenal is bordered by Son Veri and Can Pastilla, a very similar town.
