Ponderosa Beach

The current owners’ grandparents started the business decades ago, selling refreshments to people on the beach, and the third generation of the family runs it today. It is now a full restaurant with a cocktail bar and a programme of DJs and live music around sunset.

After a spell when the coastal authorities stopped beach restaurants here from putting tables on the sand, Ponderosa’s tables are back on the beach. The kitchen buys local, seasonal produce where it can, and the business publishes its own environmental policy.

Rice is the reason to come. Paellas and fideuàs are cooked to order, from seafood versions to the Barroco, made with queen scallops, red prawns, crayfish, prawn tails, cuttlefish and mussels. Before the rice, share a sea bass ceviche, croquetas or Mediterranean squid with an orange and almond alioli. There is always fresh fish, a section of meat dishes and daily suggestions, and once the kitchen closes the bar moves on to cocktails, vermouth and wine.

Playa de Muro is a long, shallow sandy beach. In settled weather the yacht can lie off in the bay while the crew finds a sand patch or a mooring buoy, and bring you to the beach by tender where the marked swimming areas allow. From a berth at Alcudiamar in Port d’Alcúdia, about 7 km up the bay, it is a short taxi ride.

Ponderosa reopens each year in late March and closes for the winter. The kitchen serves from 12:30, and the restaurant stays open into the early evening for drinks. Book ahead in summer: tables are held for two hours and released if you are more than 15 minutes late.