Mallorca Itinerary

Before the itinerary: the car and the base

Two decisions shape every Mallorca itinerary more than any sight on it: whether you have a car, and where you sleep.

1. Without a car you get Palma, the train to Sóller, and whichever beach the bus reaches. That is a city break, not an island trip.
2. With a car you get the Serra de Tramuntana, the hill villages and the calas on the east coast.
3. Parking in Palma is difficult and mostly paid. If you start in the city, pick the car up on the day you leave it.
4. For five days, one base can work. For a week, two bases — one near the mountains, one on a coast — save hours of driving.
5. Picking one coast beats moving hotels twice: the north, the east and the south are genuinely different holidays.

Day 1: Palma

Most itineraries treat Palma as the airport. It is a real city with a real old quarter, and it deserves a full day before you pick up the car.

1. Morning: La Seu, the cathedral on the seafront, unusually tall for its footprint, with a Gaudí-altered interior.
2. Late morning: the old town behind it — lanes, courtyards and patios, best walked without a plan.
3. Lunch: in the old town, from about 2pm.
4. Afternoon: Bellver Castle, a circular castle on a wooded hill above the city, with the best view over the bay.
5. Evening: back in the old town for dinner.

Days 2 and 3: the Serra de Tramuntana and Sóller

The mountain range along the northwest coast is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, and it is the part of Mallorca that looks nothing like the resort strip. The roads are narrow, steep and slow: 40 km can take ninety minutes.

1. Day 2 morning: Valldemossa, a stone village on a terrace above the valley — the busiest of the three, because the coaches stop here. Arrive early.
2. Day 2 afternoon: Deià, smaller and steeper, and the one that keeps its shape late in the day once the coaches have gone.
3. Day 3 morning: Sóller, by car or by the narrow-gauge railway from Palma, which dates from 1912 and climbs through tunnels above the valley.
4. Day 3 afternoon: down to Port de Sóller — a flat walk of about forty minutes, or the tram if the queue is short.
5. Day 3 alternative: Fornalutx, a village of stone steps above Sóller and the quietest of the group.

Treat the Tramuntana as a daylight activity. The mountain road is not a route to drive tired or in the dark, so plan to be back down before dusk.

Days 4 and 5: one coast

The coasts are three different islands, and two days on one of them beats a day on each.

1. North: one day on the beaches, one on the Formentor peninsula — a full day, not an afternoon.
2. East: two days of coves, arriving early, as the small ones fill by late morning in summer.
3. Sa Calobra, if you want the famous road: a series of hairpins including a bend that loops under itself, about an hour each way. Worth doing once, not in a hurry.

A week in Mallorca

Seven days is the length at which Mallorca stops being a resort holiday and becomes an island trip. The key is two bases.

1. Days 1-3 — base in or near Palma or Sóller: Palma, then the Tramuntana villages, then Sóller and its port.
2. Day 4 — Sa Calobra, as a full day from the mountain base.
3. Days 5-7 — move to the north or the east: beaches, Formentor or the coves, and one unplanned day.

Moving once in the middle of the week saves more driving than it costs, because the island is far larger than the map suggests.

Three days in Mallorca

Three days is enough for Palma and the mountains, not for the coasts as well.

1. Day 1 — Palma: the cathedral, the old town and Bellver Castle.
2. Day 2 — the Tramuntana: Valldemossa and Deià.
3. Day 3 — Sóller by the 1912 railway, and down to Port de Sóller.
4. Without a car, this is the one itinerary that works almost entirely on the train and on foot.

How the season changes the itinerary

The same itinerary needs a different shape in different months. These are the 1981-2010 climate normals for Palma de Mallorca Aeropuerto from AEMET.

1. July and August average highs of 31.2°C and 31.3°C: put the Tramuntana drives in the morning and the coves in the afternoon.
2. September has 3.9 thunderstorm days, the most of any month — keep an exposed mountain walk for a clear morning.
3. April, May and October, at highs of 19.8-23.9°C, are the months for walking in the Tramuntana.
4. From November to March much of the coast closes. Build the itinerary around Palma and day trips from it.
5. January averages 5.1 frost days at Palma airport — pack for cold nights in winter.