Two-Day Trek: Palma, Mallorca, Spain
Enjoy warmth and comfort, and not just from the sun, in the Balearic Islands.
The Balearic Islands may be known for their beaches and parties, but it’s a collision of history and culture in Mallorca’s capital.
FRIDAY
With our flight arriving shortly after 4:30 p.m., we caught the No. 1 bus from the airport to our hotel, HM Jaime III (Passeig de Mallorca 14), and were able to check in just after sunset. After dropping off our bags, and with nothing but dinner planned, we decided to wander around the city.
After a brief stop marveling at the Palma Cathedral in twilight, we looped around and meandered through the city streets in the general direction of Cellar sa Premsa (Plaça del Bisbe Berenguer de Palou 8). A restaurant in an old wine cellar decorated with aging vintage bullfighting posters, it has a large menu, but it’d be mistaken to pass up the Mallorcan specialties such as the Llom amb Col, a pork loin wrapped in cabbage and served with raisins and pine nuts, or the Albergínies farcides, eggplants stuffed with ground beef and ground pork.
Because dinner is served much later in Spain than many other places, it was near 10 p.m. by the time we left, so we wandered back in the direction of our hotel after leaving.
SATURDAY
We debated between two excursions to other parts of the island, both of which would take up the better part of the day. The first choice was taking the scenic train, the Ferrocarril, to the town of Sóller. The narrow-gauge railway originally opened in the early 1900s in order to get citrus fruit from the groves in Sóller through the Serra de Tramuntana mountains to Palma, and it remains today as a novelty, traveling through 13 tunnels and over a series of viaducts between the two cities. After the hour-long journey, visitors can continue on to the coast on a significantly less bulky tram ride that takes half an hour.
The other option was to head east to the town of Porto Cristo and the Cuevas del Drach, a series of interconnected caves with a vibrant blue subterranean lake. Records exist of locals knowing about the caves for more than 700 years, but it wasn’t until the 1890s that all 1.5 miles were able to be fully explored and mapped.
What To Know
Date of visit: Feb. 8 to Feb. 10, 2019.
Airport location: About six miles east of the city. The No. 1 bus goes between the two and will take about 25 minutes.
Walkability: 8/10. It’s a small city with everything within a 30-minute walk, but visiting other towns obviously requires a car.
English: Not widely spoken but enough is known for visitors to get by.
Must-See Attraction: Heritage railways or subterranean caves? That’s the choice, though both main sights are at least an hour away from the city.
Traveler’s tip: For ultimate flexibility, consider renting a car. The bus network is thorough but unreliable with significantly reduced service on the weekends.
We opted for the caves, primarily because during the winter, the times for the train and tram to and from Sóller don’t line up particularly well. After stopping by the Mercat de l’Olivar, Palma’s main produce market, on the way to the Estació Intermodal, the No. 412 bus dropped us off after about an hour at the entrance to the caves, which we explored for about 30 minutes. Before exiting, visitors are treated to a concert, with an orchestra playing Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” from the comforts of a rowboat on the lake.
After surfacing, we had to take the bus from Porto Cristo to Manacor and take the train the rest of the way to Palma — a trip that regrettably took, in total, about an hour and 45 minutes. Back in Palma, we stopped by the Basílica de Sant Francesc, Palma’s oldest church and one that took nearly 425 years to finish, and then looped around the Palma Cathedral, this time in daylight.
Hungry and with some time still until dinner, we returned to the hotel restaurant for drinks and tapas, as is customary around Spain, and unwound before setting off for Japo Sushi Bar (Carrer de Sant Magí 25), serving fresh fish — as one would expect.
SUNDAY
Our last day of exploration began with a 45-minute trek up to the Castell de Bellver, which sits just southeast of the city center and was first a royal fortress, then a royal summer residence, then a prison. Although tickets were a modest €4 when we visited, it was open for free to all on Sunday, and the crowds started filling in shortly after it opened.
The trek, though downhill, took nearly just as long upon leaving, and it was our intention to head to the Jardi del Bisbe, the city’s tranquil botanical garden, lined with palm trees, pomegranate trees and a citrus grove. Instead, we found the gates locked, leading us right next door to the Palau de l’Almudaina, which was originally an Islamic fort when built in the 13th century but has, over time, become a temporary summer residence for the monarchs.
Our final task was to find lunch, which we assumed we’d do after making the 30-minute walk north to the Mercado Gastronómico San Juan (Carrer de l’Emperadriu Eugenia 6), a former slaughterhouse that has been reinvented as a food market. Instead, we found most of the food stalls closed — and the ones that were opened were fairly overpriced — so we retreated toward the train station to Sukata (Carrer Marie Curie 3), which sells incredibly filling poke bowls and sushi-style burritos.
Stuffed and happy, we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags before catching the No. 1 bus for an unexpectedly quick 20-minute ride back to the airport.
Verdict: Unsure what we’d find in a Mediterranean island in the middle of winter, we were pleased to encounter a number of pleasant surprises, from the welcoming people to the warm temperatures to a vibrant city that’s less reliant upon the beach than we thought.
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Disclaimers: All products, services and experiences were paid for and arranged by the author and the vendors named herein had no editorial oversight of this piece. All photographs were taken by and remain the property of the author; contact for republication rights.
