Bellver Castle

From the roof you see the whole of Palma at once: the cathedral, the city spread out below and the harbour full of ships. The upper walls run all the way round, and so does the view.

Down in the middle, the courtyard is a perfect circle, with two storeys of Gothic arches wrapping round it like the tiers of a bullring and a well at the centre over the cistern beneath. The keep stands apart, reached by a high bridge across the moat. Much of the stone was cut from the hill itself, and that stone is why cracks have opened in the walls.

The rooms hold Palma's history museum. The building's own story runs from royal residence to prison: the minister Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was held here from 1802 to 1808, and he wrote the first description of the castle and commissioned its first drawings.

• The walk up from the city is uphill and hard in summer heat; a taxi up and the walk back down is the easier split.
• The free car park fills up, and you may have to wait for someone to leave.
• There is an outdoor café and a gift shop, and free public toilets about 60 m from the castle.
• The roof and courtyard are open to the sun, so bring sunglasses and a hat in summer.
• On the Sunday after Easter, crowds gather in the forest and at the castle for the Diumenge de l'Àngel.

A road climbs the hill to the top, so by car, taxi or bus you arrive beside the castle. The free car park sits about 150 m away, and the Castell de Bellver bus stop about 50 m from the walls. A second stop, Plaça Gomila, is about 540 m away in a straight line.

The castle stands about 3 km west of the centre of Palma, and walking up from the city is an uphill climb through the forest that surrounds it. In summer heat, take a taxi up and walk down: the descent is the part you can do comfortably on foot.

Best: early morning, soon after opening, or late afternoon before closing.

Avoid: Mondays, when the castle is closed, and the middle of a summer day.

Early in the day the castle is quiet and the hill has not yet heated up; in late afternoon the sun sits in the west, behind the castle, and falls full on the city, the cathedral and the bay. At midday in summer the roof has no shade, and Sunday hours are shorter than the rest of the week.