I’m off to Mallorca and with OH and 8 month old baby. I have booked a bike on the flight (in hindsight would have been better hiring), but can’t decide between road vs MTB.

I’m going to be getting out at odd times with our baby is asleep and OH is by the pool, so prob won’t have time for guiding. I’ve already bought a book with some MTB gpx routes from Soller.

Anyone got any experience or advice??

I’ve got a full-sus or road bike (or 29er hardtail which could do both with a change of tyres).

MTB because road is dull and Mallorca is covered in steep spiky rocky mountains with tons of natural trails.

Everyone will now disagree with me because this isn’t really a MTBing forum…

In terms of your constraints on time etc, I’d go for the road bike. Some lovely scenic roads, especially around Soller. Soller/Port de Soller are both lovely in general – great holiday destinations.

There’s a MTB guiding company in Soller from memory. Maybe if you take the road bike you could do a shorter session with them, or hire a MTB to mix things up.

Where are you staying ?
Next year we want to stay over that way.
If anyone has rented a nice, clean , bright villa over that way please let me know.
PS I hope the weather has sorted itself out. We had tons of rain.

I used some of the routes from the online book afew years ago. From memory many of them are around Soller and are pretty challenging (at least for me), the black grading does mean black. I enjoyed them all but obviously be prepared for very long and steep ups and downs…

I was told that MTB in Majorca is a bit rubbish unless you have a guide because so much is private property. No idea if that’s true or not.

You could do some nice rides from Soller though on the road. Even if you did nothing else, just doing the nice little climb above the tunnel to the bar at the top for a coffee each morning would make it worth it IMO.

If your time is limited then youll prob get more out of the road bike.

But ,the mountain biking will be more fun (as always).

Also interested in this. Local cycling club organises an annual week there (well Pollensa) which I’m thinking of going along with, they are basically roadies though most also ride MTBs to some extent. Wondering whether to take a bike and/or rent there. I’d certainly enjoy the roads but maybe MTBing would be good too?

I do love my MTBing, but when i see pics like this of Sa Calobra I get very tempted by the road biking…

Following, I’m going to Pollensa (this year port of, not old town) and have always thought that whilst it’s famous for roadie riding the off-road must be awesome.

I investigated some trails near Pollensa and they all seem to end with a locked gate. Even the track that leads up to the hills in Cala St Vincent has a big keep out sign and locked gates. Someone has scratched that walkers are ok on the sign and drawn an arrow to a gap by the gates. Just at the start of the track there’s a map of where to go ,what you can see etc so you are definitely good to walk there.
Landowners don’t like people on “their” land.
As I mentioned on my other thread some of the road riding looked superb. Even better on a big trail motorbike though!

I took my road bike when I was there and glad that I did. As someone said I found that a lot of the trails seemed to on private property and so closed to mtbers.

it is a fabulous island, especially the tramontana mountain range. you will have a ball with either bike. however the roadike is easy to navigate on your own , whereas booking a tour with tramontana tours gets you to the best trails/scenery, i booked bike and guided Soller tour(technical) for about 70euro

http://www.tramuntanatours.com/mtb_soll_tech.html

I do a “close up our place for the winter” excuse for 4d bike trip every year (week after next!) and alternate road and mtb – both are great! The mtb in our area (arta – capdepera- son servera) is great, but the more epic descents are near Soller- descent de bunyola is great fun, guide is worth it for the uplift alone! If the book you have is the Rock and Ride then its great and the gpx are pretty good, be prepared for the odd locked gate I just lug the bike over if the route goes that way!
Road action is fab with smooth roads – the Mallorca cycle map is a good start. Soller to Pollensa and back is quite a day out…

Just got back from Mallorca, stayed for a few days in Alaro then a few days in Soller. Hired a road bike and got out for a great couple of rides. You’ve got some good options from Soller: Puig Major, Sa Calobra, col de Soller or the road to Deia.

I also went over to Port de Pollenca and joined the Pro Cycle Hire shop ride which was great. If you’re on the road bike I’d also recommend riding out to the formentor lighthouse, the views are stunning.

So which is the best place to base yourself for MTB?

MTB trail park….In Peguera

here

Plus 1 for riding up and along to deia, it’s an incredible road

I’ve recently come back from Soller and did two guided trips with Tramuntana tours (based in the port). I thought the mountain biking was ace. I’d warrant the off road route to the aforementioned Cala Deia is far superior to the road one 😀

Regarding access, my understanding is that unless specifically noted then all footpaths are good for walking on. My guide seemed to think there was little restriction on riding (unless you were on private land).

Soller or Port Soller both seem like good bases for both mountain biking and road biking. If you and up taking a mountain bike I’d recommend taking the FS.

However, if you have limited time then as others have said the road bike might be the better option. There are some very good road routes that are a doddle to navigate.

Soller for MTB, anywhere for road, although port de pollensa is the centre of the roadie scene.

Don’t bother taking the bike, just contact Tramuntana Tours in Soller and hire whatever takes your fancy on the day, they have a good selection at their port shop and you can collect from the town shop. They won’t be busy at this time of year.

http://www.tramuntanatours.com/

We hired two Trek Emonda SL6 Pros from the shop, which was about 7 minutes walk from the finca where we stayed. They were superb climbers and descenders but next time we won’t be going in July as it was too hot. We saw a few mountain bikers but it was my impression the riding there is 75% road.