I've always seen Mallorca as a touristy package holiday or party destination for Europeans and it definitely is hahah. BUT not only that.. It's also a beautifully vibrant island with some of the prettiest beaches I've ever seen, charming villages and of course delicious Spanish food. It's the ultimate European Summer vibes! Jacob and I spent a week on the beautiful island in the end of June. We hired a car at the airport, which is definitely the best way to see everything.
The stops on the one-week itinerary:
A) Palma
B) Valldemossa
C) Deiá
D) Port de Sóller
E) Sa Calobra
F) Cap de Formentor
G) Alcúdia
H) Caló des Moro
I) Cala Pi
J) Palma Airport
Day 1: Palma de Mallorca
Day one starts with breakfast at Mama Carmen's – the most delicious brunch. After that we were ready to get our daily steps in by seeing the city by foot. First stop was Parc de la Mar which is near Mama Carmen's. Then we worked our way further into the city. Palma's Old Town is where most of the sights are. Here we visited Catedral de Mallorca, which is definitely worth a stop. In front of the cathedral is Plaza Mayor, a public square with a great viewpoint of the town. Next to the cathedral you'll also find the Royal Palace of La Almudaina, which used to be the king's residence. For lunch we had poke bowls at Ola Poke and then we continued our sightseeing. My two favorite photo locations was the building Can Forteza Ray. We found this building near the cathedral and immediately thought Gaudí! Apparently besides Barcelona, Gaudí lived on Mallorca for 10 years and was the architect behind multiple buildings and decorations. Right next to the building there's this pretty street with great views. Another photo spot is Mallorca Delicatessen, which sells Sobrassada; a raw, cured sausage that's a speciality in the Balearic Islands. To end our first day on the gorgeous Spanish island, we had to have seafood paella, which we found a good spot for at the restaurant Fervor. Another place we've been recommended for dinner was El Aquanauta, where they serve seafood tacos. Unfortunately it was closed the day we visited, so instead we're passing the recommendation on to you guys!
Day 2: Romantic Mountain Villages
After breakfast we started our drive North of Palma to all the romantic mountain villages. First stop: Valldemossa. The village on a hilltop in the Tramuntana mountains was once described as the most beautiful place in the world and it is definitely up there. The village has the cutest narrow streets with stone buildings and green windows everywhere. The small mountain village of Valldemossa is only a short 20 minutes car ride from Palma.
Second stop is Deiá. The romantic village has housed lots of singers and other artists when they wanted to get away from the spotlight. It's such a hidden gem, even though it is well known, because the village is so tiny with almost no place for parking, so no busses or tourist tours can stop here and flood the area.
Third stop is the village in the valley of the nothern part of Mallorca: Sollér. A city with a vibrant city life, lots of orange trees and the famous 14th-century Church of Sant Bertomeu. If you're staying in Sollér you can take the tram to the sleepy port, Port de Sollér, or you can stay at the port and see the tram from here and watch the sunset over the harbour. We did this and stayed at the beautiful Bikini Island & Mountain Hotels.
Day 3: Sa Calobra & Formentor
After a lavish breakfast at the hotel, we drove from Port de Sollér to the famous beach Sa Calobra. The road to Sa Calobra is honestly just as famous as the beach itself – it's called the MA-2141 and pictured below. There's only one way to Sa Calobra and this is it! Full of hairpin turns and dramatic views, which are not for the faint-hearted, but pretty spectacular!
At the bottom you'll find the parking area and from here the rest of the way is only reachable by foot. It's a fairly short walk. About 15 minutes. The walk takes you past Port de Sa Calobra firstly, then through two tunnels in the mountain. On the other side, you are greeted with what I think is one of the coolest beaches on the island! Sa Calobra is tucked in between two steep cliffs. It is a pebbled beach, so bring your waterproof slippers.
After a beach day at Sa Calobra we went back to the car and drove to Alcúdia for the night and for sunset at Cap de Formentor. The northern cap of the island and probably the best sunset spot here! At Formentor you are met with INSANE views of the cliff sides, the ocean and the sunset (or sunrise). There's a few good locations and viewpoints here. These are my favs and there names on google maps:
Mirador Es Colomer: This is the most famous view of Formentor. It has the best views of the cliff side. The stop is the first stop when driving into the mountain, and it's not hard to find as it has a fairly big parking area.
Albercutx Watchtower: A lesser known place right next to the previous spot. The coolest part is that you can climb up and inside the watchtower and see the sunset from up here.
Formentor Lighthouse: The last stop, right at the tip of the cap, is the lighthouse. There's lots of people here for sunsets but the sunset is also pretty spectacular from here.
Day 4: Alcúdia
After a few days on the road, day 4 was dedicated to relaxation at the beach. Even though Alcúdia is a very famous tourist town, there was nothing bad to say about the beach here. White sand and water with the prettiest blue color. In the evening we went to Alcúdia Old Town Market for dinner and even more pretty streets.
Day 5 & 7: Southern Mallorcan beaches
The last days of our trip was spent exploring Southern Mallorcan beaches. There's so many pretty beaches here but these are my favourites:
Cala Pi
One of my absolute favourite beaches not just in Mallorca but everywhere! The water has the most beautiful color and the beach is perfect to chill around for a day. It's easy to get to with parking nearby and a little restaurant with lunch and ice cream just at the top of the stairs leading down to the beach (a lot of the beaches here isn't within walking distance of food). To the left of the stairs down to the beach there's this pretty viewpoint which you should definitely check out!
Caló Marmols
Unfortunately we planned this wrong and therefore I have no photos of this, but the pics I've seen online is out of this world! We read online that there's three ways to get here. One is the "official" path which is a 5 kilometres trip along the rugged coast which starts at the lighthouse: Cap de ses Salines. Another way is by boat, which is definitely the easiest (and most expensive). The last way is only 2 kilometres long but we discovered that to go this way, you have to jump a fence and go into private property where someone told us they had wild dogs running around. It was very sketchy, so we gave it up... If we'd known this we would have taken the road from Cap de ses Salines early in the morning to avoid the hot weather, however, we would still have to walk the 5 km back later in the heat.
Caló des Moro
This bay is very busy but also too beautiful to miss!! The water is crystal clear with the most amazing turquoise color. Might be the prettiest water I've ever seen. It's a15-25 minutes hike from the parking area depending on the way you choose. We took the short way, which is rocky and steep in some areas, but it also takes you by the best viewpoints over the beach which you can see in my photos. There's another way which is easier but a bit longer. You go to Cala s'Almunia and from here there's an easy path to the beach.
My tip to avoid crowds: Go as early as possible. It becomes crowded at around 10-11am. The problem is, there's no room to lay around as the bay is mostly big rocks, so what we did was visit at around 9am, hang out for a bit and then head on to another beach. Cala Llombards for example is only a 5-minute drive away.
Cala Llombards
After Caló des Moro we went to the nearby beach, Cala Llombards. This is a pretty bay framed by cliffs with a nice sandy beach and possible places for jumping of rocks into the water. On the left side of the beach, you'll find a collection of cute little beach shacks that just makes the beach even more picture perfect. Actually it is possible to stay in one of them right at the beach front for a very cheap price. It's called Fisherman's Shack on Airbnb.
As I hope you can see, Mallorca is much more than parties and touristy tours. It has an amazing mix of picture perfect beaches, unique coastlines, scenic routes and romantic villages. It is the ultimate European Summer vibe and the beaches are some of the best beaches I've ever been to! So if this sounds like your kind of travel, you can definitely use our 7 days Mallorca itinerary to plan your Mallorcan road trip!
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