Mallorca

Rising straight above the old sea walls, La Seu is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, begun after the Catalan conquest of 1229 on the site of the city's main mosque and not finished until the seventeenth century. Inside, the nave is extraordinarily tall and full of coloured light from its rose windows, one of the largest in the Gothic world. Antoni Gaudí reworked the interior in the early twentieth century, adding the floating iron canopy over the altar, and the contemporary artist Miquel Barceló covered a side chapel in a startling ceramic skin of fish, fruit and loaves. Guided visits up to the roof terraces give views over the bay.

TipTickets are cheaper online and visiting hours are short, ending mid-afternoon on weekdays and around lunchtime on Saturdays; Sunday is for worship only. Check the official site for the current price and times.

Next to the cathedral stands the Almudaina, a Moorish fortress turned into a palace for the kings of Mallorca in the fourteenth century and still an official residence of the Spanish royal family. Visits cover Gothic halls, a royal chapel and tapestry-hung rooms, and the gardens of S'Hort del Rei below are free.

Behind the cathedral, the old town is a tangle of narrow streets lined with honey-coloured mansions whose courtyards, or patis, are sometimes open to peek into. Look for the tenth-century Arab Baths, one of the few Moorish buildings to survive; the Basilica of Sant Francesc, with its Gothic cloister and the tomb of the medieval philosopher Ramon Llull; the arcaded Plaça Major; and the Modernista shopfronts around Plaça del Mercat. The broad Passeig des Born and the Gothic exchange of La Llotja lead down to the waterfront, and Es Baluard, a modern art museum built into a Renaissance bastion, has good views from its ramparts.

TipMercat de l'Olivar, Palma's main food market, is the place for a lunch of fresh seafood and a glass of wine at the counters; it closes on Sundays.

On a wooded hill west of the centre sits one of Europe's few circular castles, built in the early fourteenth century for King James II of Mallorca. Its round courtyard, double-storey arcades and moat-ringed keep are remarkably intact, and it houses Palma's city history museum. The real reward is the view from the roof across the bay, the port and the cathedral to the mountains.

TipThe walk up through the pine woods is steep but shaded; the castle is generally closed on Mondays.

At the far western tip of the island, a long, ridged island shaped like a sleeping dragon lies just off the village of Sant Elm. It is a natural park with no permanent residents, home to colonies of seabirds and thousands of endemic lizards. In the main season small boats cross from Sant Elm, and paths lead to old lighthouses with long views back to Mallorca's cliffs.

TipBoats do not run in rough weather or in winter; check at the Sant Elm harbour the day before.

Perched in a green valley at the start of the mountains, Valldemossa is the best-known village in Mallorca, a cluster of stone houses, potted plants and steep lanes around its Carthusian monastery, the Cartoixa. The composer Frédéric Chopin and the writer George Sand spent the wet winter of 1838 to 1839 in its cells, which Sand described in her unflattering book A Winter in Majorca; the rooms now hold a piano and manuscripts. Try a coca de patata, a fluffy potato bun dusted with sugar, with your coffee.

TipTour coaches arrive mid-morning; come before 10am or late in the afternoon to see the village at its quietest.

Deià tumbles down a hillside between the mountains and the sea, its ochre houses climbing to a small church and cemetery with a magnificent view. It has drawn artists and writers for a century, most famously the English poet Robert Graves, who lived here from the 1920s until his death and is buried in the churchyard; his house, Ca n'Alluny, is a museum. A path drops to Cala Deià, a rocky cove with clear water and a couple of seafood restaurants.

Sóller sits in a bowl of orange and lemon groves, cut off from Palma by the mountains until a railway tunnel opened in 1912. The wooden carriages of the Ferrocarril de Sóller still make the scenic hour-long run from Palma, and an open-sided tram, running since 1913, rattles from the town's main square down to Port de Sóller, a horseshoe bay with a promenade, beaches and boats along the coast. The town itself has a striking Modernista church and bank façade by Joan Rubió, a pupil of Gaudí, and an excellent Saturday market.

TipIn 2026 a single tram ride costs 10 euros and a single train from Palma 23 euros, with a combined train and tram return at 40 euros; timetables change in early November, so check the official site before you go.

Above Sóller, Fornalutx is often called one of the prettiest villages in Spain, all stepped stone lanes, green shutters and views of the island's highest peaks. Nearby Biniaraix is the start of the Barranc de Biniaraix, an old pilgrim path of thousands of stone steps climbing a gorge through terraced olive groves, one of the island's best short walks.

The road down to Sa Calobra is an attraction in itself, a ribbon of hairpins that falls some 700 metres to the sea and twists through a full loop at the bend nicknamed the Nus de sa Corbata, the knot of the tie. From the tiny harbour, a path runs through tunnels in the rock to the mouth of the Torrent de Pareis, where a deep gorge between sheer walls opens onto a pebble beach. Walking the gorge itself from Escorca is a serious, full-day scramble only for experienced hikers in dry weather.

TipThe road is narrow and clogged with coaches and cyclists from late morning; drive early, or come by boat from Port de Sóller.

Hidden in a high valley in the heart of the mountains, the sanctuary of Lluc has been Mallorca's spiritual centre for seven centuries, built around a small dark statue of the Virgin, La Moreneta, said to have been found by a shepherd boy. Its boys' choir, the Escolania, has sung here since the sixteenth century. Pilgrims, walkers and families picnicking in the woods all mix here, and simple rooms in the old pilgrims' quarters make it a peaceful overnight stop on the GR221.

Pollença is a handsome old market town of sand-coloured stone, built inland to protect it from pirates. From the main square, 365 cypress-lined steps climb to the little chapel of El Calvari, with views over the rooftops to the bay. The Sunday market fills the centre, and the coastal resort of Port de Pollença, a few kilometres away, has a long, family-friendly beach and a pine-shaded seafront walk.

The island's northernmost point is a narrow ridge of cliffs running out into the sea, crossed by a spectacular road to a lighthouse at the tip. Stop at the Mirador des Colomer, a viewpoint perched on a sheer drop above a rocky islet, and at Platja de Formentor, a pine-backed beach of calm water. The lighthouse terrace looks out to Menorca on a clear day.

TipFrom 15 May to 18 October 2026, between 10am and 10pm, private cars may only drive as far as the Formentor beach car park until it is full, and the section to the lighthouse is closed to them altogether. Take TIB bus 334 from Port de Pollença or Alcúdia, cycle, or drive out before 10am.

Alcúdia's old town is ringed by restored medieval walls you can walk along in places, with gateways leading into lanes of shops and cafés; its Tuesday and Sunday markets are among the island's busiest. Just outside the walls lie the ruins of Pollentia, the main Roman city on Mallorca, founded in the first century BC, with house foundations, a forum and a small theatre cut into the rock. The long sandy bay of Port d'Alcúdia is a short ride away.

South of Alcúdia, Mallorca's largest wetland is a maze of reed beds, canals and lagoons that was drained for farming in the nineteenth century and is now a protected haven for birds. Flat paths and hides make it easy to spot herons, egrets, marsh harriers and, at times, flamingos, especially in spring and autumn migration. Entry is free; bring binoculars and insect repellent.

Artà is a quiet inland town in the northeast, crowned by the walled sanctuary of Sant Salvador, reached by a stairway from the old town. Just outside, Ses Païsses is one of the best-preserved Talaiotic villages on the island, a Bronze and Iron Age settlement with a massive stone gateway and the base of a central tower, set among holm oaks. Nearby Capdepera has a hilltop castle with crenellated walls and sea views.

On the east coast at Porto Cristo, the Coves del Drac are a series of four linked caverns full of stalactites and stalagmites, explored and mapped at the end of the nineteenth century. The visit follows a walkway of more than a kilometre to Lake Martel, one of the largest underground lakes in the world, where visitors sit in the dark for a short classical music recital played from boats gliding across the water.

TipEntry is by timed ticket and summer slots sell out; book ahead online. The caves stay at a mild temperature all year, but steps can be slippery.

A small protected stretch of southeast coast of pine woods, farmland and dunes around two coves, S'Amarador and Cala Mondragó, with shallow turquoise water and easy coastal paths linking them. It is a gentler, more manageable alternative to the island's most famous coves, and good for families.

This tiny cove, a sliver of white sand between high rocky walls and pines, became one of the most photographed places in Mallorca thanks to social media, and its fame has caused real problems. There is no road down: parking near the trailhead is restricted, and the last stretch is a steep, rocky path. In peak summer the beach can hold only a fraction of the people who try to reach it, and the council has used staff to manage access at the busiest times.

TipCome very early in the morning or outside July and August, park only in signed areas and wear proper shoes. If it is full, the neighbouring cove of S'Almunia is lovely too.

A narrow, fjord-like inlet where fishermen's houses with green boat sheds sit right on the water, Cala Figuera is one of the few working fishing harbours left on the island. There is no beach, but a walk around the inlet at dusk, when boats return and the restaurants light up, is a fine end to a day on the coast.

The town that gives its name to this corner of the island is built of the warm golden sandstone quarried nearby, which was also used in Palma Cathedral. It has become a stylish place of galleries, design shops and cafés, and its Wednesday and Saturday markets draw people from all over the south. Inside the parish church of Sant Andreu is a remarkable baroque organ.

Es Trenc is the longest natural beach on the island, several kilometres of fine white sand and dunes with no high-rise hotels, protected within a natural park together with the salt pans of Salines de Llevant behind it. The water is shallow and Caribbean-blue in calm weather. The salt flats, still worked today, attract wading birds and produce the island's prized flor de sal.

TipCar parks charge in summer and fill by late morning; the quietest stretches are a long walk from the access points.

South of Colònia de Sant Jordi, the Cabrera archipelago is a maritime and terrestrial national park of rocky, almost uninhabited islands with some of the best-preserved sea beds in the Mediterranean. Day boats cross in season, stopping at the natural harbour below a small medieval castle and often at the Cova Blava, a sea cave where you can swim. Visitor numbers are capped, and diving, anchoring and overnight stays need permits.