What's on in Menorca

Menorca is the quiet one of the Balearics — gentler, greener and far less developed than Mallorca or Ibiza, and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve as a result. The whole island is ringed by the Camí de Cavalls, a coastal bridle path that links cove after cove of turquoise water, from the busy southern beaches to the wild, empty calas of the north coast. Add the Georgian elegance of Maó's harbour, the old capital at Ciutadella, and a landscape studded with prehistoric stone talayots, and you have an island that rewards a slower kind of holiday.

The summer fiestas are Menorca's great spectacle, and they revolve around horses. They begin with the Festes de Sant Joan in Ciutadella in late June, when black Menorquí horses rear up through crowds packed into the old streets — an extraordinary, centuries-old tradition — and the pattern repeats town by town through the season, including the Sant Martí festival in Es Mercadal in July and the Festes de Sant Lluís in August. Alongside the horse fiestas, the summer night markets light up Alaior, Es Castell and the seaside quarters, and there's a strong run of flamenco and folk concerts and astronomy nights.

Menorca (MAH) airport just outside Maó takes flights from across the UK through the season. Buses link the main towns and beaches, but a hire car is what really opens the island up — the remote northern coves, the megalithic sites and the inland villages are far easier with your own wheels, and parking near the popular beaches fills early.

Whether you're in a Ciutadella townhouse, a Son Bou apartment or a beach hotel in the south, this is your guide to what's actually on while you're here — the horse fiestas, markets and concerts worth planning around.