The Sant Sebastia festival is a core local celebration filled with legends of giants, demons and dragons and it is the biggest public festival in Palma.

Dancing, parades, fireworks, art exhibitions and sports events all take place until January 26.

On January 18 the highly-anticipated 46^th Ratapinyada Youth event at 5.30pm in Alexander Fleming square. Young people from ages 14 to 30 are invited to take part in a festival with music groups, young artist exhibitions and much more. Simultaneously, the Horabauxes DJ’s and live acts will take place from 6pm in Court Square and also in Plaza Mayor.

On January 19 there is the main event a parade and lighting of bonfires will take place from 6.30pm to 10.45pm in Plaza Cort and Plaza Mayor, this is when the famous Dragon of Na Coca begin is procession through the city with its accompanying parade and dancing giant.

Live music will take over the city during Palma‘s Sant Sebastia festival.

Multiple orchestras, bands and dancers will take part in the parade. The Revetlas will bring every corner of the city to life, with their live music events held in, Plaza de España, Plaza Cort, Plaza Mayor and Plaza Joan Carles I too.

There are another week’s worth of events, music and festivals for visitors to go and enjoy with cultural and sporting activities all the way through until January 26. To find out more information visit the City Hall website.

Before you visit Mallorca take a look at what’s on here.

On January 12 Mallorca registered its first snowfall of 2025. A cold front which covered the Balearic Islands left the first snowfall of the year in Mallorca on the highest peaks of the Serra de Tramuntana.

Although only a little snow had fallen by the early morning of Sunday, January 12 the mountainous terrain of the Serra was capped with snow.

The first snowfall of 2025 in Mallorca, captured the attention of geographers on social media.

One geographer Alberto Darder explained through social media that it began snowing at about 1,300 meters up at six in the morning. The snowfall coincided with a hailstorm.

He also suggested there may be more snow in the near future, forecasting new snowfall at lower levels later in the week Darder seemed confident in his forecast saying “We’ll see. Although my theory usually works.”

The State Meteorological Agency had pre-warned residents of a sudden change in temperatures in Mallorca starting Sunday January 12 and continuing through the week, they have said that minimum temperatures should reach 7 degrees.

They also suggested that as temperatures continue to drop light frost is to be expected at high altitudes in the Serra de Tramuntana.

It is going to continue to be a cold next week with the lowest temperatures forecast for Monday January 20, when even in the city of Palma residents can expect lows of 1 degree.

We keep you updated on major weather changes here.

Alynne is originally from Belgium and has lived in Spain for 8 years. Many of the people we’ve interviewed in Spain came here looking for their happily ever after, some, like Alynne, brought theirs with them.

Her story starts when her boyfriend suggested they move abroad, she states “it was my boyfriend’s idea, he had a bar in Belgium whilst I was studying, he sold it and worked for friends for a year, then said to me ‘I want to move to Spain’.” Alynne then 22 years-old had just finished her studies in social work and had never been to Spain before but her boyfriend already had family and friends here.

When asked if she visited Spain before moving Alynne said:

“We came twice, I believe that as people we learn more if we do stuff like this taking an adventure away from what we know, rather than staying in the same area for the rest of your life. Here we’ve learnt Spanish and about a new country.”

You’ve found it easy finding a community here?

“There are loads of Belgian people here, at first, I went to work in a Belgian bar and found a community there. I was also working mostly in my own language so it was easier.”

“People were so helpful you could ask them anything.” She says her friends helped her to start her own business.

“You could say that restaurants and bars are in our blood. I grew up in restaurants and my boyfriend always had bars. After a year I opened my own bar here. We were lucky and knew loads of customers that moved with us when we opened. I also got lots of help from other bar owners.”

It turns out Alynne’s bar- Bar Maschi has been a roaring success.

Open for seven years; it’s known for its lively entertainment and cosy feel.  Bar Maschi, will host the Fire and Rain show later in the year and once a month they have live music from super group A las Raices.

Like lots of expatriates Alynne loves the weather here but misses family.

“The hard thing with living here is leaving my family and friends in Belgium, there are still some days where I miss them but this is really where my heart and home is. We have a very big friends group we love going to beach, walking and we have a big dog. One of my favourite activities is going to the sea for a swim. Being by the sea is something I’ve always loved, but its better in the warm than in the cold.

Find a wider expatriate community with our European Speaking interviews.