Sant Joan in Port d'Andratx: the shortest night and the start of summer
There is one night in Mallorca when no one is in any hurry to go to bed. It falls on 23 June, the eve of Sant Joan, when the whole island stays awake to see off the shortest night of the year and welcome summer as it deserves: with fire, with the sea and with no eye on the clock. From Mon Port Hotel & Spa, in Port d'Andratx, that night is lived with the Mediterranean on one side and the Serra de Tramuntana on the other — the perfect setting to understand why Mallorcans wait for it all year long.
The revetla: fire, wishes and a midnight swim
Sant Joan coincides with the summer solstice, the moment when the day stretches to its fullest before it begins to shorten again. Tradition celebrates it with the revetla: bonfires on the sand, people gathered around the flames and the custom of leaping over the fire to leave the old behind and make a wish for what lies ahead.
In the villages of the Andratx municipality, the night is lived more intimately than at the great street parties in Palma, where the correfoc and the music take over the streets. Here the rhythm is set by the sea. And there is one gesture almost no one skips: the first swim of the summer, right at midnight, when the water still holds the warmth of the day and the moon is reflected across the bay. Whatever your age, that plunge is the real starting signal of the season.
The Sant Joan Market in Camp de Mar
A few minutes from Port d'Andratx, Camp de Mar hosts one of the loveliest plans of the night every 23 June: its open-air Sant Joan market, which usually runs from six in the evening until midnight.
It is a small, craft-focused market, the kind you wander through without hurrying. Its stalls offer pieces handmade by local artisans, and between one stroll and the next there is live music — jazz is almost a house signature — with the beach and the Camp de Mar islet as a backdrop. It is worth confirming this year's times and programme on the town council's website before you go, as they can change from one edition to the next, but the essence stays the same: crafts, music and sea on the longest night.
Experiencing Sant Joan from Mon Port
The great advantage of staying in Port d'Andratx on a night like this is that the logistics stop being a problem. The port is a short walk from the hotel, and Camp de Mar a brief journey away, so you can stretch the evening out as long as you like without a thought for the way back.
After the fire, the market and the swim, the night ends just as it should: heading back to the hotel with the smell of salt still on your skin and summer already under way. And if your body asks for calm the next day, the Mon Port spa is right there to find your rhythm again without leaving the hotel.
A night to stay for
Sant Joan is not a show you watch: it is a night you live. It has something of a collective ritual — the fire, the water, the wishes — and something of a simple celebration, of being with your own out in the open while the whole island does the same.
To experience it from Port d'Andratx, between the mountains and the sea, with the hotel just steps away, is the easiest way not to miss a thing. 23 June is coming. The shortest night is coming. And, with it, the summer you have been waiting for.
