12 Best Things To Do in Palma, Mallorca

You can’t really start anywhere else. The cathedral, known locally as La Seu, rises straight up from the waterfront and turns almost golden when the light hits it. It’s one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe, and even after seeing more churches than I can count, this one genuinely impressed me.

Inside, look up at the enormous rose window, often called the Gothic eye and made of more than a thousand pieces of stained glass, then find the parts Antoni Gaudí reworked and the wild ceramic chapel created by Mallorcan artist Miquel Barceló.

Palma Cathedral is open Monday to Saturday, with shorter hours in winter, from 10:00 AM to 5:15 PM (Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 2:15 PM)

Closed to sightseeing and tourist visits on Sundays

The standard ticket price is €10

Combined Tickets (including roof visit) are €25

Right next door to the cathedral sits the Royal Palace of La Almudaina, and together they make a pretty unbeatable pair. It started out as a Moorish fortress, the name comes from the Arabic word for citadel, and was turned into a royal palace after the island was conquered in 1229. It’s still used by the Spanish royal family for official events in summer, which feels kind of wild for a building this old.

The Royal Palace of La Almudaina is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, with last entry at 6:00 PM. (Shorter hours in winter)

Closed on Mondays

The standard entry is €7

Free entrance: Wednesday and Sunday from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM, with access up to 60 minutes before closing. 

Please check the official website before visiting, as the palace may temporarily close for renovation works or official events.

This one is a small, personal favorite. Cafesphere is a tiny specialty coffee shop tucked into the old town. The pastries are genuinely good and fresh and the whole place has that cozy, slightly hidden feeling I always look for.

The reason it made this list though is the postcards. You can grab a random postcard here for just €1, and there’s something really sweet about picking one blindly, not knowing what you’ll get, and, if you want, sending it off to someone back home. It’s the kind of tiny, low cost moment that somehow becomes one of your favorite memories from the whole trip!

It’s a small spot with only a handful of seats, so it works best as a quick coffee stop rather than a settle in for hours kind of place. Pop in, grab a coffee and a postcard, and keep wandering.

Honestly, one of the best things to do in Palma is to get lost on purpose. The old town is a maze of narrow, beautiful streets, and every corner seems to hide a little square, a tucked away shop or a quiet courtyard. Put your phone away for an hour and just follow whatever looks interesting.

A couple of spots worth aiming for along the way: Plaça de Cort, the city’s main square, where a 600+-year-old olive tree sits in front of the grand town hall! And Can Forteza Rey, a wonderfully over-the-top modernist building covered in colorful broken-tile mosaics, with a big carved face hiding just off Plaça Major.

Eating your way through Palma is half the fun! Mallorcan food is simple, seasonal and deeply comforting, and once you start working through the local specialties it’s hard to stop.

Do not leave Palma without trying ensaimada (a spiral pastry dusted with icing sugar that locals eat for breakfast), pa amb oli (toasted bread with tomato and olive oil), and coca de patata (a light and fluffy potato bun that’s perfect with a coffee).

If you want a proper sit down meal, look for Ca'n Joan de s'Aigo. This is an authentic, family-run Majorcan cafe specialising in traditional pastries and they offer many options of Ensaimadas. It's an absolute legendary place!

You can also taste a bit of everything if you head to a market. Mercat de l’Olivar and the Santa Catalina market are both brilliant for browsing, picking up local cheese and sobrassada, and eating where the locals actually shop.

When you need a break from the old town lanes, head down to the water. Palma’s seafront promenade, the Passeig Marítim, runs for a few kilometers along the bay, past marinas packed with boats and with the cathedral standing behind you. It’s flat, easy and made for an aimless stroll.

It’s lovely on foot, but it’s even better on two wheels. There’s a dedicated cycle path the whole way, so renting a bike is one of the nicest ways to take in this side of the city.

Discover Pollença: Beneath the 365 Calvari Steps

Come back around sunset. The light turns golden, the cathedral lights up, and the whole promenade fills with people out for an evening stroll.

If you only do one viewpoint in Palma, make it Bellver Castle. It sits on a wooded hill just outside the center and is one of the very few completely round castles in Europe, which makes it special before you even take in the views. It was built in the early 1300s as a royal residence, later spent centuries as a prison, and today it holds the city’s history museum.

The real reason to climb up though is the panorama. Climb 400+ steps to reach the top and from there, you get a full 360 degree view over Palma, the bay and the harbor.

Winter hours (October to March): Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Summer hours (April to September) are extended from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Sundays: 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Closed on Mondays

Tickets cost €4. But it’s free to visit on Sundays!

Discover Alcúdia: Mallorca’s Charming Historic Town

You can take a city bus and walk up through the pine woods, grab a taxi, or hike up if you’re feeling energetic. There’s no parking right at the top. Also, the Bellver Castle is part of the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus route which you can combine with other top things to do in Palma.

You’ve probably already seen this one online. If not, you have to give it a try! Fika Farina is a little Swedish style bakery in the old town that went properly viral, and happily, the hype is real. The name comes from fika, the Swedish word for a coffee and cake break, which is exactly what you should do here.

The cinnamon and cardamom buns are the stars, buttery, soft and not too sweet, and easily some of the best I’ve had anywhere. Grab one with a coffee, find a spot in the sun, and enjoy. It’s a simple pleasure, but a really good one.

Go early. The buns are baked fresh and the most popular ones sell out fast, plus the queue only grows as the morning goes on. You’ll find it on Carrer del Sindicat, a short walk from Plaça Major.

One of the most fascinating hidden sides of Palma is its courtyards, or patios. As you walk through the old town, a lot of the historic buildings look plain and quiet from the street. But when the big wooden doors are open, they reveal beautiful inner patios with stone staircases.

A few of my favorites to look out for are Can Vivot (€12 entrance fee), with its grand columned patio, Casal Solleric on Passeig del Born, which you can walk straight into since it’s now a free art space, and Can Bordils, one of the oldest manor houses in the city.

Most patios can be glimpsed for free from the entrance, since many are still private homes or offices. If you want to see more, look up Palma’s patio route, and try to visit during the open patios days.

Located near the waterfront, Sa Llotja is one of Palma’s most beautiful buildings and surprisingly easy to walk straight past. It was built in the 1400s as a merchants’ trading exchange, basically the stock market of its day, and it’s considered a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Step inside and look up: six slim, spiraling columns fan out into the ceiling like stone palm trees, and the whole hall feels airy and unique.

Entry is usually free (the interior is only accessible when exhibitions are running) and it’s closed on Mondays. The surrounding La Llonja district is also Palma’s go to area for tapas and drinks in the evening, so it’s great to build a whole night around it.

Palma is wonderful, but the mountains right behind it are calling. Two of the prettiest villages in the Serra de Tramuntana, Valldemossa and Deia, sit close together and make a perfect day trip.

Valldemossa is all stone houses and flowers, best known for the grand Charterhouse where the composer Chopin and the writer George Sand once spent a famous winter.

Deia is smaller and artsier, a cluster of houses clinging to the cliffs above the sea that has drawn writers and musicians for decades.

The drive out along the coastal road is half the magic, winding through olive terraces and mountain views the whole way.

You can reach Valldemossa from Palma in about half an hour by car or local bus, and Deia is a short hop further along the same coastal road. The 203 bus runs along the west coast, connecting Palma, Valldemossa, Deia, and Soller. From Palma, the bus departs from Estació Intermodal. Check the timetable ahead of time and plan accordingly.

Saving one of my favorites for last. The wooden train to Soller has been running since 1912. It leaves Palma and heads up through the Tramuntana mountains, ducking through tunnels and past orange groves.

Once you reach Soller, a beautiful town in northern Mallorca, hop on the connecting old fashioned tram that leaves to the seaside at Port de Soller for a swim or a long lunch by the water.

If you’re planning to take both the historic train from Palma (the train leaves from the station on Plaça d’Espanya) and the vintage tram to Port de Soller, it’s worth buying a combined ticket, which costs €40 per person. The train journey takes around an hour, while the tram ride to the port takes about 15 minutes. I recommend starting early and combining Palma, Sóller, and Port de Sóller into one easy day trip without a car.

You can also buy your train ticket in advance, here is the website. I would recommend to go for an early departure.