{"id":67610,"date":"2025-05-02T05:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T05:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/67610\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T05:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T05:41:13","slug":"spains-pretty-little-town-so-overrun-with-tourists-locals-say-its-now-a-theme-park-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/67610\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain’s pretty little town so overrun with tourists locals say it’s now a ‘theme park’ | World | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the summer fast approaching, many will be looking forward to some well-earned rest and relaxation in sunny climes. One of the most popular European destinations is Spain<\/a>, with its stunning cities and beautiful island paradises. Majorca<\/a> is one such destination, a popular haunt for Brits and other globe trotters – attracting a whopping 15.3 million visitors last year.<\/p>\n

The largest of the Balearic Islands<\/a>, Majorca<\/a> is famous for its crystal blue waters, gourmet food scene and for having more than 300 days of sunshine each year. On the north coast of the island is a small town that has become a magnet for tourists.<\/p>\n

Soller sits in the heart of the “valley of oranges” and has been described as a “typical old Mediterranean town.\u2019<\/p>\n

Crisscrossed by narrow streets lined by stone houses with clay tiled roofs, its beating heart is Plaza de la Constituci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Numerous bars and cafes are located on the square, which is dominated by the Sant Bartomeu church.<\/p>\n

Fans of Antoni Gaudi<\/a> may also recognise the features of the Banco de Soller, which was built by his student and collaborator Joan Rubi\u00f3 i Bellver.<\/p>\n

Adding to the quaint atmosphere is the old red tram that rolls through the town, offering relaxed tours of the locality.<\/p>\n

For sun lovers, there are two beaches at Port de Soller<\/a>, as well as others scattered nearby along the north coast.<\/p>\n

One such beach is Cala Dei\u00e1 – a secluded rocky cove with clear water and two wonderful cliff-side restaurants.<\/p>\n

However, local residents are becoming ever more resentful of the influx of tourists, which they believe is turning their town into a “theme park”.<\/p>\n

In particular, locals say the number of tourists is causing huge traffic jams, stretching for kilometres and making it almost impossible for them go about their daily business.<\/p>\n

Residents have now launched a newcampaign using AI-generated images to register give voice to their frustrations and anger.<\/p>\n

Naming their campaign \u201cWelcome to Sollerland\u201d, an ironic reference to their town as a tourist theme park, the group have posted online images.<\/p>\n

These include a child on a beach saying \u201cI used to play here\u201d and an adult in a square saying \u201cI used to have a coffee here\u201d against backdrops of crowded streets and seaside scenes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the summer fast approaching, many will be looking forward to some well-earned rest and relaxation in sunny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[34169,2000,299,2838,2863,34168,104,5006,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-67610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-balearic-islands","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-majorca","12":"tag-overtourism","13":"tag-soller","14":"tag-spain","15":"tag-tourism","16":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114436642148684860","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}