Balearic Islands · Spain
7 Best Places in Mallorca: What to See and Where to Go
Mallorca pulled in roughly 13.5 million visitors in 2025 — more than Ibiza, Formentera, and Menorca combined — and most of them never get more than a few kilometres past Palma's beach clubs and the south-coast resort strip. An hour's drive in almost any direction changes the picture completely. The Serra de Tramuntana, a UNESCO World Heritage mountain range since 2011, cuts across the island's northwest with reservoirs and hairpin roads; the north coast breaks into cliffs and coves reachable only by a single narrow road; and Palma itself hides a circular medieval castle that most beach-holiday visitors never see. The seven places below were picked to cover that range rather than repeat it — two stretches of the wild north coast, a mountain reservoir, a sea arch famous among rock climbers, a 700-year-old circular castle, and two very different beaches. Each one comes with the practical detail that actually decides whether it's worth the detour: a road that dead-ends, a seasonal driving ban, a car park that fills by mid-morning.
Balearic Islands · SpainSa Calobra Beach
BeachSa Calobra is the payoff at the end of the MA-2141, the mountain road engineer Antonio Parietti carved down from the 682-metre Coll dels Reis in the early 1930s without using dynamite. The final stretch loops back under itself at the Nus de sa Corbata (the "tie-knot"), then drops to a dead-end paid car park by the cove — there's no through road, so every car has to come back the same way. From the car park, a path through two tunnels blasted into the cliff leads to the pebble beach at the mouth of the Torrent de Pareis gorge. Coach traffic clogs the road by mid-morning in summer; the calmer way in is the Barcos Azules boat from Port de Sóller, about an hour each way for around €30 return.
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Balearic Islands · SpainCap de Formentor Viewpoint
ViewpointHikingThe Cap de Formentor road ends at a lighthouse on the island's northernmost tip, but for the 2026 season (15 May – 15 October, 10:00–22:00 daily) private cars and motorbikes are banned outright from Formentor Beach onward — the only ways in during those hours are the TIB bus 334 from Alcúdia or Port de Pollença, on foot, by bike, or by taxi. Cameras enforce it, and fines run €100–200. Outside the ban window, or before 10:00/after 22:00 in season, you can drive it yourself and stop at the Es Colomer viewpoint, where the cliffs fall straight into the sea.
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Balearic Islands · SpainBellver Castle
CastleHistorical landmarkBellver is one of the few fully circular castles in Europe, built between 1300 and 1311 as a residence for King Jaume II of Mallorca on a pine-covered hill above Palma. Four towers face the compass points around a two-storey courtyard, and the whole structure is cut from marès, the honey-coloured local sandstone. It later spent two centuries as a military prison — the Spanish reformer Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was held in one of its cells — before the city took it over as a museum in 1932; a long restoration turned it into Palma's official History Museum, reopened in 1976. The climb up is short but has no shade; the payoff is a terrace view over Palma Bay, the cathedral, and the harbour.
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Balearic Islands · SpainEs Pontas
ViewpointEs Pontàs is a 20-metre limestone arch standing just offshore near Cala Santanyí, and there's no path to it — you reach the base only by boat or by swimming out. It's best known among rock climbers as the site of Chris Sharma's 2006 free solo, graded 9a+ (5.15a), one of the hardest deep-water solo climbs done anywhere at the time. Most visitors see it from the Mirador Es Pontàs onshore instead, reached by a short dirt track off the road between Santanyí and Cala Llombards, best around sunrise or sunset when the arch is backlit.
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Balearic Islands · SpainGorg Blau Reservoir
LakeHikingGorg Blau is a working reservoir, not a natural lake — it was dammed to supply Palma with water — but it sits in one of the most dramatic parts of the Serra de Tramuntana, wedged between Puig Major (1,445 m, the island's highest peak) and Puig de Massanella. The Ma-10 road runs right along its shore, so you can pull over for the view without leaving the car, or pick up the GR221 long-distance trail (the "Ruta de Pedra en Sec") that skirts the reservoir on its way between Sóller and Escorca. The water level, and the intensity of that blue, drops visibly by late summer in a dry year.
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Balearic Islands · SpainAlcudia Beach
BeachAt roughly 7 kilometres, Alcúdia is the longest beach on Mallorca, running along the whole bay on the island's north coast, and it holds Blue Flag status for water quality. The main draw is how far out it stays shallow and calm — the bay is sheltered, unlike the open-sea coves further east — which is what makes it the easiest beach on the island for small kids. A promenade with hotels, showers, and rental sun loungers runs the full length, so even in August there's room to walk to a quieter stretch.
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Balearic Islands · SpainCala Mesquida
BeachCala Mesquida owes its shape to the dune system behind it, protected since 1991 when the Balearic parliament declared the whole area — Cala Mesquida, Cala Agulla, and Cala Moltó together — a Natural Area of Special Interest. A raised wooden boardwalk crosses the dunes from the car park instead of a path cut through them, which is also why the free car park itself is small and regularly full by mid-morning in summer. Because the beach faces the open sea rather than a sheltered bay, the waves run bigger than at most Mallorca coves, and it's a local spot for bodyboarding rather than just swimming.
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These seven cluster into three natural loops rather than one long drive: the northwest corner of the Tramuntana (Sa Calobra and Gorg Blau sit a few kilometres apart on the same mountain road), the north coast (Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia Beach face each other across the same peninsula), and a Palma day that easily fits Bellver Castle. Cala Mesquida in the northeast and Es Pontàs in the south are far enough from everything else to deserve their own half-day rather than a rushed add-on. Check the Cap de Formentor dates above before building a day around it — outside the 15 May–15 October window the road behaves completely differently. Tap any place above to open its page and pin it to your route.
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