Alcúdia's fair marks the turn of the season. The summer crowds have gone from the Port, the town inside the medieval walls goes back to being a Mallorcan town, and for three days at the start of October it fills with stalls, animals and noise. It is the sort of fair that exists for the people who live there, and is all the better for visitors because of it.
What to expect. Craft and produce stalls through the old streets, island cheeses, sobrassada, olive oil and wine to taste and buy, farm animals penned up for the agricultural show, and re-enactments that lean on Alcúdia's Roman past at Pollentia and its medieval walls. There is music and street theatre, and the food side of it is serious rather than decorative.
Practical bit. Early October in the north of Mallorca is the sweet spot — mid-twenties, no queues, sea still warm enough. Alcúdia is an hour from Palma airport and a hire car opens up the Serra de Tramuntana road to Pollença and Sóller, which is one of the great drives and horrible on a coach.
