The Highlights of Mallorca
Mallorca is big enough that the question is not what to see but what to build a day around. Six things are worth planning for, and they divide cleanly: a mountain range that runs the whole north-west coast, the villages inside it, a railway older than most of the roads, and a coastline cut into coves — several of which have no way in except from the water. Four of the six need a boat or a vehicle to reach, which is what the Palma de Mallorca Spain tours exist for.
The Serra de Tramuntana, and what UNESCO actually listed
The range runs about 90 kilometres along the north-west coast and rises to Puig Major at 1,445 metres, the highest point on the island. UNESCO inscribed it on 29 June 2011 as a Cultural Landscape under criteria ii, iv and v, covering 30,745 hectares with a further 78,617 hectares of buffer zone.
What was listed is the part most visitors miss. Not the view: the farming. The citation is for terraces held up by dry-stone walls and an interconnected system of channels, cisterns and mills, built over centuries to work a mountain that has almost no water of its own. The Consell de Mallorca describes it as a symbiosis between people and the land, and once you know to look for the walls you cannot stop seeing them — they are on every slope from Andratx to Pollença.
There is no gate and no admission. You can drive into it, walk the GR221 dry-stone route through it, or let somebody else handle the roads, which is what the day trips are for.
Valldemossa, Deià and the villages along the range
Valldemossa
The best-known village on the island, built in honey-coloured stone and stepped up the hillside. Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 1838 in its Carthusian charterhouse, and Valldemossa has traded on it ever since. Three of the land trips here stop for between one and two hours, which is enough for the lanes and the cloister without rushing.
Deià
Smaller, steeper and quieter, hanging off the slope between Valldemossa and Sóller. Robert Graves lived here from the 1930s and is buried in the village churchyard. Two trips stop or pass through; the full-day village tour gives it forty minutes.
Son Marroig and the Mirador Sa Foradada
The estate and the viewpoint between Deià and Valldemossa, looking down on the pierced headland the mirador is named for. It is a twenty-minute stop on the village day tour and an hour on the Wonders and Wines private experience.
Sóller and its port
A town in a bowl of orange groves, with Port de Sóller working away below it. The two are joined by a tram, and Sóller is joined to Palma by the railway below. Sant Bartomeu church on the main square carries a modernista facade by a pupil of Gaudí.
The Sóller train and tram
The Palma to Sóller railway was inaugurated in 1912 and still runs a daily timetable in its original wooden carriages, climbing through tunnels and orange terraces to reach the town. An open-sided tram carries on from Sóller down to the port.
The fares are the railway's own and are worth knowing before you book anything that includes them: €23 one way or €30 return from Palma to Sóller, €10 per direction on the tram, or €40 for a combined train and tram ticket. The tram runs every thirty minutes to an hour at peak times.
That matters because the one-day circuit is the trip that puts the train, the tram and a boat leg inside one fare. The village day tour visits Sóller but excludes exactly the €10 the tram charges, and says so.
Sa Calobra and the Torrent de Pareis
A cove at the mouth of a gorge on the north coast, reached by a road of stacked hairpins that loops back underneath itself at the Nus de sa Corbata — the tie knot. It is one of the most photographed roads in Europe and one of the least relaxing to drive. The one-day circuit drives down it and then sails out of the cove by boat, which is the arrangement that makes the day work.
The south-east coves, and which ones have a road
This is the table worth reading before you book anything. Several of the coves Mallorca is known for are reached by a narrow flight of steps and a queue; one of the best has no road at all. The sheltered anchorage at Portals Vells, south-west of the city, is where most Palma boats head, while the trips out of Cala Figuera work the south-east coast instead.
| Cove | Where | Road to it? | What reaches it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caló des Moro | Near Santanyí, south-east | Yes, then a narrow flight of steps | The Cala Figuera boat trip passes it |
| Cala s'Almunia | Beside Caló des Moro | Yes, and parking is scarce | Same boat trip, from the water |
| Cala Màrmols | South of Santanyí | No | The Cala Figuera boat trip anchors there for 45 minutes |
| Es Pontàs | Off the coast near Santanyí | It is a sea arch — there is no landing | Passed on the Cala Figuera boat trip |
| Portals Vells | South-west of Palma | Yes | The five-hour catamaran cruise and the private charter anchor there |
| Sa Calobra | North coast, below the Tramuntana | Yes, by a road of stacked hairpins | The one-day circuit drives it, then sails out |
The coves without a road are the argument for a boat
Cala Màrmols has no way in on foot, and Es Pontàs cannot be landed on at all. Both are on one boat trip out of Cala Figuera.
Palma, and the Bay
The island's capital and the point most trips leave from. The old town walks end to end in half an hour, the cathedral quarter sits directly above the seafront, and four of the marinas used by the trips here are within a few minutes of the centre. If you are staying in Palma you can reach the water without a car at all, which is not true anywhere else on the island.
Which trip reaches which
| Highlight | How you reach it | Trips that go |
|---|---|---|
| Serra de Tramuntana | By road, or by boat along its foot | The village day tour, the one-day circuit, the shore excursion, Wonders and Wines |
| Valldemossa | By road, 25 minutes from Palma | The village day tour, the private shore excursion, Wonders and Wines |
| Sóller train and tram | From Palma, on its own ticket or inside a tour fare | The one-day circuit includes both |
| Sa Calobra | The hairpin road, then out by boat | The one-day circuit |
| Cala Màrmols | Boat only | The Cala Figuera coves trip |
| Portals Vells | Road or boat | The five-hour catamaran, the private charter |
Where to go next
The things to do page covers what you actually do once you are there, the map puts each of these places against the departure point nearest to it, and Mallorca Spain Tours sets out the trips that reach them.
Sources
Checked on 5 September 2026. Fares, timetables and opening arrangements belong to the bodies that publish them and they change with the season. The official pages are the place to confirm before you travel.
Build a day around one of them
Every trip here refunds in full up to 24 hours before it starts.
See Top Tours