A three-dimensional nonlinear model of the Balearic Sea region is used to examine the spatial distribution of wind-induced near-inertial internal waves. Results from the model are compared with those from two-dimensional cross-section and single-point models. In the case of motion induced by a wind pulse, there is no significant along-shelf flow, and comparable solutions are obtained from the three-and two-dimensional models. However, when forced with a realistic wind, a significant along-shelf flow is produced that is larger in the cross-section model than in the three-dimensional model because of the absence of an along-shelf pressure gradient. Associated with this change in flow are important differences in across-shelf currents and temperature fields that influence the distribution of near-inertial motion. Since the point model cannot take account of internal pressure gradients, near-inertial internal waves are absent. However, when some account of barotropic pressure gradients related to local wind stress are included, currents and inertial oscillations were in better agreement with the three-dimensional model than with the cross-section model. Although the major features of the wind-induced deepening of the thermocline could be reproduced by the single-point model, the absence of internal waves and mixing associated with them lead to a sharper thermocline than in the three-dimensional model. Comparison of two- and one-dimensional models with the full three-dimensional model shows some severe limitations in the simpler models.