Four lights on the Menorca coast.

Four lights, one coast

The four lights were built over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as traffic through the Balearic sea lanes grew and ships worked this coast at night. Their job was simple: show a fixed position on a dark shore, in weather that made landmarks useless. Each was placed at a cape where an approaching vessel needed to know exactly where the land ended. That logic has not changed, which is why the towers are still maintained and lit.

The four are not the same kind of place. Favàritx and Cavalleria stand on the wind-cut north coast, one beside a marsh and one above cliffs. Punta Nati sits in farmland where the wind rarely drops, and Artrutx marks a harbour entrance beside a summer settlement. What they share is position: each is at the end of a road or a path, on ground the sea has shaped for a very long time. That is what makes them half-day trips rather than stops of ten minutes.

Favàritx, rock and marsh

The road to Favàritx leaves from the Maó side of the island, crosses the S'Albufera des Grau natural park and ends at a car park below the tower. The last stretch runs over low, dark ground where bare rock breaks through in slabs and the vegetation stays close to the surface. This is the north-east corner of Menorca, the part the tramuntana reaches first. On a grey day the cape is at its most itself: dark stone, dark water, wind.

The tower is painted in broad bands so that it reads against the rock behind it, and the best view of it is from the path that runs out along the point. Below the cape there is a small inlet where the water is clear and cold and swimming works on a calm day, though the stones are sharp and there is very little shade. Most people give the cape an hour, and the walk down and back rather more.

Cavalleria and the north wind

Cap de Cavalleria is the northernmost point of Menorca, on the Tramuntana coast north of Es Mercadal and a short drive from Fornells. The rock is older and darker than in the south, and the cliffs fall in broken steps to the water. Wind is the constant here: the tramuntana can come off the sea for days, and a morning that feels still inland is often breezy on the cape. Walk to the edge only where the path allows.

The drive in is part of the visit. The road crosses open, stony ground divided by dry stone walls, with few buildings and no village, then narrows towards the cape. Below the cliffs a path leads down to a small beach with reddish sand and clear water, good on a calm day and exposed when the wind is up. The Camí de Cavalls crosses this ground, and even a short section on foot gives more than the car park does.

• The capeShort walks from the parking area reach the cliff edge and the tower, with wide views on clear days.
• The beachA path leads down to a small cove below the cliffs, with reddish sand and clear water.
• The pathThe Camí de Cavalls crosses the cape, and a short out-and-back section makes a good walk.
• The windBring a layer even in August; the cape is exposed and the temperature drops when the wind gets up.

Punta Nati, the western corner

Punta Nati marks the north-west corner of Menorca, where the north coast turns south towards Ciutadella. It is a low, rocky cape with nothing behind it to give a bearing, and it had a reputation among sailors long before a light was placed here. Wrecks on this corner led to the tower being built, and its job is to make the turning point visible from a distance. It is a short, sturdy building, made for weather rather than for looking at.

The approach runs through farmland. Dry stone walls divide the fields almost to the cape, and the last stretch is open, stony ground with the sea on three sides and no shelter at all. In the evening the sun goes down over open water to the west, which makes Punta Nati the best of the four for a late visit. There is nothing at the cape but the tower, the walls and the wind, and that is the reason to come.

Artrutx at the harbour mouth

Artrutx is the odd one of the four. It stands at the southern entrance to the port of Ciutadella, low down near the water rather than on a high cape, and the land around it is built up in summer. Its job is to guide boats into a harbour that is not easy to enter in the dark. The tower is white, the light is visible from the coves nearby, and the setting is far less lonely than the other three.

That does not make it the least interesting of the four. Ciutadella is close, and the lighthouse is a natural end to a walk or a short drive from the old town. The coast on either side has small coves and rocky platforms where people swim, and in the evening the tower and the harbour lights work together. Arrive an hour before sunset, walk the point, then go into Ciutadella for the evening.

Getting to the capes

All four lighthouses can be reached by car, and none of the drives is long. From Maó, Favàritx is the closest. Cavalleria is reached from the Es Mercadal and Fornells side. Punta Nati and Artrutx are both within easy reach of Ciutadella. Roads are surfaced to within a short walk of each tower, though the last stretch at Favàritx crosses protected land and is narrower than the rest. Parking at all four is limited, and in July and August it fills early.

Buses reach the towns and the main beaches, but not the capes themselves, so anyone without a car should plan around the Camí de Cavalls. The long-distance path runs near more than one of these points, and walking in gives a sense of the coast that a car park cannot. Check timetables and current access before setting out, and treat any schedule you are given as a rough guide rather than a promise.

• By carSurfaced roads run close to all four towers, with limited parking and no through traffic.
• On footThe Camí de Cavalls passes near several of the capes and is the best car-free way in.
• By busServices reach Maó, Fornells and Ciutadella, but not the capes; check the island bus operator.
• In winterAccess roads stay open, but facilities close and the north wind is stronger and more frequent.

Light, wind and timing

The capes show their best face at the ends of the day. Favàritx and Cavalleria face east and north, so morning light works there. Punta Nati and Artrutx look west, and the last hour before sunset is the time to be at either. In midsummer the middle of the day is hot, shadeless and hazy, and the sea loses its colour. Out of season the light is cleaner, the roads are empty, and the wind decides how long you stay.

Weather on these capes is not the weather in the towns. The tramuntana can blow for days, bringing cloud and a sharp drop in temperature, then stop as suddenly as it began. Sea mist is common in early summer. None of this need spoil a visit if you allow for it: a windproof layer, shoes for sharp rock, and a plan that can move to another part of the island when the north coast is closed in.

Come for the light rather than the building: the capes are best in the first and last hour.

What to take and expect

None of the four lighthouses is open to enter, so the visit is the walk and the view. The towers are working aids to navigation, maintained for shipping, and their settings are protected in different ways: Favàritx within a natural park, the north capes within the Biosphere Reserve that covers the whole island. That means paths rather than wandering, no fires, no camping and nothing collected from the rock. The reward is a coast that still looks like a coast.

Take water, a hat and a windproof layer, and wear shoes that grip. The rock at Favàritx and Cavalleria is sharp and uneven, and the cliff edges are unfenced. Mobile coverage is patchy at Punta Nati and Cavalleria. None of the four has reliable facilities, so eat before you go or wait until you are back in Maó, Fornells or Ciutadella. In summer go early or late. In winter, go whenever the wind drops. Sunset is the busiest hour at Punta Nati and Artrutx.

• WaterCarry more than you think you need; there is no reliable supply at any of the four capes.
• ShoesGrippy shoes for sharp rock; the paths at Favàritx and Cavalleria are uneven and unfenced.
• LayerA windproof jacket earns its place even in August, especially at Cavalleria and Punta Nati.
• An hourOne hour at each cape is enough; the visit is the view, not the building.