This idyllic enclave on the coast of Santanyí, now called Cala d’Or, was “discovered” by José Costa Ferrer “Picarol” (1876-1971), an artist, caricaturist and gallery-owner of Ibizan origin. After a life full of restlessness and adventures – he even came to open an antique shop in Chicago in the US – he finally settled on Mallorca and in 1928 opened up an art gallery in the island capital of Palma de Mallorca. The gallery acquired legendary status, not least because it was the first on the island to show works by Picasso.

His interests were not limited to art, however; he also dreamt of creating a summer colony. After a visit to the coast of Santanyí in southern Mallorca, he decided to purchase some land near a cove which he named “Cala d’Hort”, in memory of an Ibizan cove, although the locals soon imposed the name of “Cala d’Or”.

Seduced by Pep Costa and the beauty of this area, many of the artist’s friends and acquaintances – many of whom were also linked to the world of art - came to spend the summer here, including the painter Anglada Camarassa, the novelist Kellermann and figures such as Natacha Rambowa, who was the wife of Rudolph Valentino. Thus, at the beginning of the 1930s, the island’s first urbanisation came into being in the form of a colony of artists and celebrities. At the insistence of its founder, it was impregnated with Ibizan architecture which integrated magnificently into this landscape of coves and pine groves.

In spite of the fact that Cala d’Or grew up little by little, both in importance and in extension, this style still marks the atmosphere here down to our days. In the older parts, above all, the unrepeatable charm of the summer-dwellings of old is clear.

Pep Costa died in 1971, at the age of 95. He spent the last years of his life in his beloved Cala d’Or.

The years of the tourism boom were already here and the first hotel in the area, the “hotel Cala d’Or”, constructed in 1934 by a Belgian painter and inaugurated with a total of nine rooms (now the third-oldest operational hotel on the island) was joined by over 50 more hotels, aparthotels, guesthouses, etc., as well as the most diverse range of services and the Balearic Islands’ third marina in importance, Marina de Cala d’Or.

Nowadays high-category tourism coexists with a distinctly family-orientated public in this area. Cala d’Or Hotelier’s Association has among its members establishments from all categories, eight of them with four stars and one with five.

The Cala D `Or does have a very good infrastructure with galleries and shops of mode, sports articles and decoration which is inviting for shopping. The beautiful pedestrian precinct in the centre accommodates many bars and restaurants. Something participates for anyone of any taste out of the typical mallorquin kitchen up to the international dishes.

The beautiful private yachting port of Cala D'Or always invites to a walk along the yachts and invites to dream a little bit. Beside the yachting port of Palma, the yachting port of Cala D'Or is surely and clearly one of the most attractive ones on the island. In front of its luxury yachts, you can dine also well. Here one finds peace and cosiness in elevated restaurants and small Tapas bars.