10 Best Things to Do in Mallorca in 2026

Palma repays unhurried walking more than any other Balearic city. The old town (Es Centre) sits behind medieval walls and opens into a dense web of narrow lanes, Baroque mansions with hidden courtyards, and one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in Spain. La Seu Cathedral, rising directly above the waterfront, was begun in 1229 under the orders of King Jaume I after his victory over Moorish forces. The interior was partially redesigned in the early 20th century by Antoni Gaudí, whose wrought-iron baldachin hangs above the high altar in a sinuously organic design that remains wildly at odds with, and yet entirely complementary to, the Gothic stonework around it.

The Almudaina Royal Palace, directly beside La Seu, was originally a Moorish fortress and is now a working royal residence that opens for public tours when the Spanish royal family is not in residence. The Arab Baths (Banys Arabs) nearby, dating to the 10th century, are among the only preserved examples of Moorish civil architecture in the Balearic Islands. The neighbourhood of Santa Catalina, northwest of the old town, has become the city's most interesting food and arts district, with the Mercat de Santa Catalina acting as both a working food market and a gathering point for some of the best tapas bars on the island.

The Palma to Soller railway is one of the most atmospheric train journeys in all of Spain. The original wooden carriages were built in 1912 and remain in service, running through orange and lemon groves in the Soller valley before climbing into the Serra de Tramuntana via five tunnels and thirteen viaducts. The 27-kilometre journey takes approximately one hour, but the experience is worth treating as an event rather than a transfer.

Soller itself is a handsome market town of stone houses, well-preserved Modernista architecture, and a main square dominated by a Gaudí-influenced church facade. From Soller's central square, a historic tram runs down to Port de Soller on the coast, where a crescent-shaped harbour shelters fishing boats, seafood restaurants, and crystalline water calm enough for year-round swimming. The port's lighthouse walk at dusk, tracing the promontory to the north, is one of the most quietly rewarding evening strolls on the island.

The Cuevas del Drach near Porto Cristo on the east coast are among the most visited natural sites in the Balearic Islands, and the visit remains spectacular enough to justify the crowds. The cave system extends for approximately 1,200 metres underground, culminating in Llac Martel, one of the largest underground lakes in the world at 177 metres in length. The guided tour ends with a live chamber music concert performed on boats floating across the black surface of the lake, a theatrical flourish that has been a feature of the cave visits since the 1930s.

The caves were systematically explored and mapped by French geologist Edouard Alfred Martel between 1896 and 1897. Several chambers contain extraordinary stalactite formations that have taken hundreds of thousands of years to reach their present form. Photography without flash is permitted throughout.

The Serra de Tramuntana mountain range runs the entire length of Mallorca's northwest coast for approximately 90 kilometres, reaching heights of 1,445 metres at Puig Major, the island's highest peak. The range was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 2011 in recognition of its extraordinary cultural landscape: a millennia-old system of dry-stone terracing, irrigation channels, lime kilns, and mountain refuges that represent one of the most intensive human transformations of Mediterranean terrain.

The road from Andratx in the southwest to Pollença in the northeast (largely following the MA-10) is one of the great coastal drives in Europe. It clings to clifftops several hundred metres above the sea, passes through the artists' village of Deià where the poet Robert Graves lived for much of his adult life, and winds through Valldemossa before descending through ancient olive terraces to the medieval tower at Sa Calobra. The entire route takes a full day when driven properly with stops, and the light in the afternoon hours turns the limestone cliffs and olive groves into something genuinely extraordinary.

Valldemossa sits at 427 metres above sea level in the Serra de Tramuntana and has been drawing creative visitors since Frédéric Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 1838 to 1839 in the town's former Carthusian monastery. The Real Cartuja de Valldemossa is now a museum complex where visitors can see the austere cells Chopin occupied, the upright piano on which he composed several of his 24 Preludes Op. 28, and the original manuscript scores held in the archive. Sand wrote a somewhat unflattering account of the visit in her 1841 memoir, and its candour about Mallorcan insularity makes it a fascinating historical document.

Beyond the monastery, Valldemossa rewards slow exploration on foot. The village of stone houses, flower-draped doorways, and steep narrow streets is compact but consistently beautiful. The local pastry, cocas de patata, a soft potato-based cake dusted with sugar and sometimes filled with cream, is sold from small bakeries throughout the village and should not be missed.

The Cabrera Archipelago National Park, 10 kilometres off Mallorca's southern tip, is the first national park established in the Balearic Islands and one of the most protected marine areas in the entire western Mediterranean. Access is strictly regulated: only a limited number of day visitors are permitted each day, and boat permits are required. Day trips depart from the port of Sa Colonia de Sant Jordi and take approximately 90 minutes to reach the archipelago.

The waters around Cabrera contain some of the highest concentrations of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean, which support an extraordinary density of fish life including grouper, sea bass, and the rare dusky grouper. Above water, the islands support nesting colonies of Eleonora's falcon and Cory's shearwater. The 14th-century castle on the main island, built as a defence against Barbary pirates, overlooks the anchorage and is accessible by a short steep path.

The Cap de Formentor, a narrow limestone peninsula stretching northeast from Pollença, ends at a lighthouse 210 metres above the sea. The 20-kilometre road from Port de Pollença to the lighthouse is considered one of the finest cycling routes in the Mediterranean, and in 2022 Mallorca introduced a vehicle restriction on this road between 10 AM and 6 PM from May to October, making the early morning window ideal for both cyclists and visitors arriving by car.

The road passes Formentor beach, a long arc of fine white sand sheltered by pine trees that was once described by Winston Churchill as the most beautiful beach in the world. The Mirador del Mal Pas viewpoint midway along the road offers vertiginous views down to the sea and across to the island of Menorca on clear days. Arriving at the lighthouse at dawn, before the vehicles and tour coaches, transforms the experience entirely.

The south coast of Mallorca is markedly different from the north and west. The Serra de Tramuntana gives way to flat limestone plains, salt lagoons, and a string of protected beaches that retain a wild, unmanicured character. Es Trenc is the longest natural beach on the island at approximately 3 kilometres, backed by sand dunes and protected from development by its status as a natural park. The sand is white and powdery, the water shallow and intensely turquoise.

Es Caragol, accessible only on foot from Es Trenc car park via a 45-minute walk along the coast, is a clothing-optional beach surrounded by dunes and pine scrub. It requires effort to reach, which means it remains uncrowded even in the height of August. The walk between the two beaches along the shoreline, with the salt flats of Ses Salines to the north and the sea to the south, is one of the most peaceful coastal walks on the island.

Alcudia in the north of the island is one of the most complete medieval walled towns in Spain. The 14th-century walls encircle an old town of cobbled lanes, Baroque churches, and small squares that feels genuinely lived-in rather than preserved for tourism. Sunday morning brings a weekly market spreading outside the walls that draws locals from across the north of the island.

Just outside Alcudia's walls lie the excavated remains of Pollentia, a Roman city founded around 70 BC and occupied continuously until the 5th century AD. The excavations reveal forum columns, residential floors, and a Roman theatre cut into a hillside. The small Museu Monogràfic de Pollentia holds the finest collection of Roman objects recovered from Mallorca, including bronze figurines, jewellery, and oil lamps. It is almost always quiet and admission is minimal.

Artà in the northeast is arguably the most rewarding inland town in Mallorca for visitors who prefer substance to spectacle. The hilltop Santuari de Sant Salvador, reached by a steep cypress-lined stairway of 180 steps from the town centre, crowns the hill with a 14th-century fortified church and medieval watchtower. The views from the battlements extend to the Cap de Ferrutx headland and on clear days across to the island of Menorca.

The Museu Regional d'Artà holds an exceptional archaeological collection including finds from the Talaiotic site of Ses Paisses, a Bronze Age settlement 2 kilometres south of town that is among the best-preserved prehistoric monuments in the Balearic Islands. The stone Talayot tower and surrounding perimeter wall at Ses Paisses date to between 1300 and 800 BC and stand largely intact, with the original doorway lintel still in place.