Half Term W/c 29th October - much open?

[apc]

Hi - we are thinking of spending a week in Puerto Pollensa at half term this October, with 4 children (aged 16, 14, 2 and 2). But the half term holiday is rather late - starts 29th October.
Anyone have a view on how many restaurants, shops will be open. And what are the chances of reasonable weather?!

[its cd]

We often come during theatre October half term and whilst it is certainly more busy when it falls early ours fell in the first week of November a few years ago and quite a few places remained open longer than they normally would in light of the late uk half term ...... Weather was also really nice so that may well have helped.

What I can say is that for the last 5 years we have visited at this time of year and never struggled to find sufficient places open or at least a few days when it has been warm enough for the beach

Clearly it's not as busy as mid season but actually in many ways it's better

[Sparky]

This is a tricky one. The season officially ends on Oct 31st but last year some places closed up earlier, there were still plenty of bars/restaurants open though.
I know this year some airlines will be stopping flights in early Oct so that may well have an impact.
Weather wise, November is usually quite good.

[pollensacare]

Originally Posted by apc

Hi - we are thinking of spending a week in Puerto Pollensa at half term this October, with 4 children (aged 16, 14, 2 and 2). But the half term holiday is rather late - starts 29th October.
Anyone have a view on how many restaurants, shops will be open. And what are the chances of reasonable weather?!

best place on the island in my opinion, but then I am biased lol, we relocated to the island last October,and rented in Santa Ponsa area, we visited Puerto Pollensa often over October November and December before deciding to purchase in this area, and surprisingly found that the north area was busier over this period than the south area, everyone down south told us that it is much quieter in the north and colder,I think in previous years when the airlines had the flights later, this may have been so, but we did not find this factual when we compared the two areas during our frequent visits north, there appeared to be more people around, and the cafe bars that were open were busier than those south, and appeared to be more open in the north this year. From chatting with the bar owners etc here, they confirm that there is more closing earlier now in the south than before. We did not find any real difference in temperatures that you would note, and some days found the north warmer and sunnier? Hope this helps

[kate1]

We always come over at the October half term and have, on the whole, experienced very good weather. The last few years have been glorious, and not so hot that you have to worry unduly about applying sun cream continually. A couple of times we have had some big rainstorms, so it's best to be prepared for these, but we have never had a whole week of rain/cold - maybe we have just been lucky! It's a great opportunity to travel round and see a bit of the island when it is not quite so busy. Last year we spent a couple of days in Palma and it certainly didn't feel any less buzzy than usual. Actually October is my favourite month in Mallorca - everything is so green again, after the hot summer, and the atmosphere is really mellow. And the beaches are really quiet.

Yes, hotels are starting to close down at the end of October but you will find plenty of restaurants still open.

Halloween in the Square in PP is also a lot of fun. Some of the restaurants - Nico's in particular - really pull out all the stops on this occasion... you might want to pop in there in advance of taking your younger ones, just to check that the costumes/special effects aren't just a bit TOO scary... The older ones could I'm sure go trick or treating if they aren't too old - lots of the restaurants have big bowls of sweets to give away. There were certainly quite a few local teenagers in full Halloween regalia last time.

One last tip: it can get a bit chilly in the evening, so bring some warm outer layers if you want to sit outside. If you are renting a villa, try and find one that is heated and, preferably, with a heated pool - then you will have no problem swimming, even if the temperature does dip during the day.