Mallorca is far bigger than its beach. Start with these.
Which catamaran anchors long enough to swim. What the concert on the cave lake costs. Whether the wooden train to Soller beats driving the mountain road. Reviews of every tour you can book on the island.
A cathedral, a cave lake, a wooden train and a day at anchor.
The four bookings a first week on Mallorca hangs off. What each one costs, and what you actually get for the money.
01The first morningCathedral of Mallorca Skip-the-Line Entry TicketLa Seu opens before the heat and the rose window throws colour across the nave for about twenty minutes. Go then.
02The day at anchor5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & SwimOut of Palma bay under sail, lunch cooked on board and a proper stop for swimming rather than a lap of the marina.
03The underground dayCaves of Drach Entrance, Music Concert, and Boat TripDown to Lake Martel at Porto Cristo, where a string quartet plays from a rowing boat before you cross the water yourself.
04The mountain dayIsland Tour with Boat, Tram & Train from the SouthThe 1912 wooden train through the orange groves, the tram down to the port and a boat back along the Tramuntana cliffs.
Palma: the cathedral early, Santa Catalina late.
Everything in Palma →
The sandstone of La Seu goes gold about an hour after opening, and the lanes behind it stay cool until noon. After that it is the Arab baths, the palace gardens and a table in the market hall at Santa Catalina.
La Seu, and what the ticket covers
Entry includes the museum and the Gaudi canopy over the altar. It shuts on Sundays and on feast days, so a Sunday-only trip needs the outside view from the Parc de la Mar and nothing more.
The lanes behind the cathedral
Courtyards that are private property but legally visible from the street, the Arab baths, and the patios of Carrer de Sant Feliu. Two hours covers the lot without a single hill.
Santa Catalina, plate by plate
Sobrassada on hot bread, a glass of Binissalem red, then whatever the market stall opposite has left. The good bars fill from nine and nobody eats before eight.
Catamaran, ketch or the boat that needs no licence. Pick your deck.
The island is 340 miles of coast and most of the best of it has no road. Three kinds of day on the water, what it costs to board each one, and which coast it suits.
The calas that matter here are reached by hull, not by road.
Sa Dragonera off the western tip, the Malgrats islands, the sea caves under Cap de Formentor, and the shallow turquoise shelf at Es Trenc that looks fake in photographs and is not. Boats reach all of them; hire cars reach none.
The days out more people book than anything else on Mallorca.
Every Mallorca tour we have reviewed →What the island sells out of, in order, with what each one costs and how long it takes.
1
Cathedral of Mallorca Skip-the-Line Entry Ticket
Use your mobile voucher at La Seu Cathedral’s security entrance and step into Palma’s grand sandstone church. See the huge rose window, Gaudí’s early 20th-century work, Miquel Barceló’s Santísimo Chapel, royal tombs, and three soaring naves. Terrace access costs extra.
Read our review →
2
5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swim
3
Porto Cristo: Caves of Hams Entry Ticket
4
Island Tour with Boat, Tram & Train from the South
5
Catamaran Cruise with Swimming and Snorkelling
6
Quad Bike Tour, Snorkeling, and Cliff Jumping
7
Palma Aquarium Entry Ticket w/ Optional 3D Cinema
8
Alcudia or Can Picafort: Dolphin-Watching Cruise
Palma, the bay at Alcudia, and four places worth the drive.
A cathedral city, a Roman town behind a resort strip, a mountain range with one hairpin road, a cave with a lake in it, an orange valley with a train, and a headland that ends in a lighthouse.
Sobrassada, ensaimada, and a red nobody exports.
The island eats late and cooks with pork, almonds and its own olive oil. Book the tapas walk for an evening, the winery in Binissalem for an afternoon, and the paella class for the day the weather turns.
Mallorca is hollow, and the best of it is lit.
Under the east coast the limestone is drilled through with caverns. At Drach a string quartet plays from a boat on Lake Martel before you row across it. At Hams the formations are finer and the crowds are thinner. Both stay at 20 degrees whatever August is doing above.
Every cave trip →
What a day out on Mallorca actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A surprising number of the island's best days come in under the cost of dinner in Palma.
Cathedral and palace entry, the old-town walks, the short boat hops out of Palma and Alcudia.
The full-day standards: catamarans with lunch, the Drach caves, the train-and-tram loop, dolphin dawns.
Private skippers, chartered sailing days, diving courses and the balloon at sunrise.
- 1Discover Scuba Diving for Beginnersfrom $176
- 2Sunrise or Sunset Hot Air Balloon Flightfrom $215
- 3Spanish Cooking Experience in Mallorcafrom $157
Three things that only happen on this island.
Beaches and boat trips exist all round the Mediterranean. A 1912 electric train through orange groves, a mountain road that ties itself in a knot, and cliffs you are meant to jump off do not.
The Wooden Train to Soller
Built in 1912 to move oranges to Palma, the train still runs the same wooden carriages through thirteen tunnels and out onto a viaduct above the valley. At Soller an open tram rattles down the main street to the port, past gardens that have not changed much either. It is slow on purpose and the seats on the left have the view.
- 1Island Tour with Boat, Tram & Train from the South★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 8 hours · from $117
- 2Mallorca in One Day Sightseeing Tour with Boat Ride and Vintage Train★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 9 hours (approx.) · from $123
- 3Boat Trip to Sa Calobra and Torrent de Pareis★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $40
Sa Calobra and the Knot
The road down to Sa Calobra drops 800 metres in twelve kilometres and passes under itself in a full 270-degree loop. At the bottom a walkway through the rock opens onto the mouth of the Torrent de Pareis, a gorge that comes down out of the mountains and stops at a strip of shingle. Coaches go early; the light in the gorge is better late.
- 1Boat Trip to Sa Calobra and Torrent de Pareis★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · from $40
- 2Tramuntana Full-Day Tour with Sóller Train and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 8 hours · from $230
- 3Day Trip to Hidden Gems of Tramuntana with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 6 hours · from $147
Coasteering the Calas
The limestone on the south and west coasts is undercut into ledges, chimneys and swim-throughs, and the local answer is to climb along it in a helmet and jump off the bits that are deep enough. Guides read the swell that morning and pick the cove to match. Nobody asks you to jump from higher than you want to.
- 1Quad Bike Tour, Snorkeling, and Cliff Jumping★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · from $62
- 2Kayaking, Sea Cave, Cliff Jumping & Snorkel Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3 hours (approx.) · from $83
- 3Mallorca Half-Day Coasteering Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · from $79
Four Mallorcan bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this island can be sorted over breakfast. These four run on session times, one daily departure and a timetable that has no interest in when your flight lands.
- 01Caves of Drach Day Trip & Optional Caves of HamsThe concert on Lake Martel runs at set session times with a fixed boat capacity, and the coach parties hold most of them.
- 02Cathedral of Mallorca Skip-the-Line Entry TicketLa Seu sells timed entry slots and closes on Sundays and feast days. The cool early slots are the first to go.
- 03Alcudia or Can Picafort: Dolphin-Watching CruiseThe boats that actually find dolphins leave before sunrise, once, and turn back when the wind gets up.
- 04Island Tour with Boat, Tram & Train from the SouthOne wooden train, a handful of departures, and the carriages hold what they held in 1912.
The day the boat is cancelled is not a wasted day.
The north wind shuts the harbours at short notice, usually in spring and again after the first autumn storm, and midsummer does the same job with heat. Both have one answer on Mallorca: go underground, or go inland. Caves hold 20 degrees, cellars hold less, and the cathedral is the coolest room in Palma.
By place - coast, capital and mountain
By kind of day - deck, cave, saddle or table
Palma, Soller, the Tramuntana, Formentor: the week most people do first.
The newest Mallorca tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Mallorca Shore Excursion Bellver Castle and Cathedral Private Tour
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Tour Beach Portal Vells, Cave Portal Vells.
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Tour Sa Calobra, Torrent de Pareis y Cala Tuent
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Palma de Mallorca Shore Excursion: Palma, Deia and Sa Foradada
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Mallorca Old Town Walking Tour with Cathedral Skip The Line Tour
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Mallorca Airport Arrival Transfer -Airport from/to Cala Ratjada
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Mallorca Hidden Marvels: Guided Routes for Small Groups
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Mallorca Shore Excursion Highlights Private Tour including Valldemossa
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