So off to a stag on Friday, in Magaluf, right in the centre. I know, carnage most likely to ensue there, I can handle 2 nights of that. But I’ve another 4 days once everyone else leaves on the Sunday morning, I fly home Thursday mornig. I will be heading over to a quieter bit of Santa Ponsa. Will probably hire a car an explore the island a bit.

So any must/do see’s on the island? Not really looked tbh, and we’ve just booked the other 4 days on the basis of chilling out in the sun…So open to ideas, and would be good to have some I can refer back to next week should the need arise!

Take/borrow a road bike. There’s a reason all the pro teams have camps there. The roads are brilliant, the drivers are courteous, the mountains and views are spectacular.

Aye bike idea has already occurred have scoped out some shops. Any decent routes out of Santa Ponsa? Or is it better heading elsewhere on some other form of transport and hiring?

Ride from Sant Elm to Valdemossa via Banyalbuffar. Or go towards Palma and ride up to the monastery at Lluc? Nice ride and the Pamboli at the top is ace as are the views. Or move across to Pollensa and ride out to Formentor and back in the morning with an afternoon out to Col Sa Batalla and back?

If you want to ride and want a guide etc I can thoroughly recommend Fonz at Mills and Honey.

ta will google those locations.

Have a look here:

http://mallorcacycling.co.uk/mallorca-cycle-routes/

Palma’s worth a scope to chill and watch senoritas.

The old railway from Palma to Soller is stunning. The bus back from Soller is cheap enough.

EDIT: And yes, possibly worth hiring a car for a few days. Valdemossa is pretty. The ferry from Puerto Pollensa to Formentor is a nice trip.

cool, cheers DD and D! 🙂

How fit will you be feeling? From Santa Ponsa the loop along the coast via Andratax, Estellencs, Deia to Soller then back via Bunyola, Esporles, Puigpunyent, Es Capdella is 75-80 miles of beautiful (hilly) road.

Palma’s worth a scope to chill and watch senoritas.

The old railway from Palma to Soller is stunning. The bus back from Soller is cheap enough.

EDIT: And yes, possibly worth hiring a car for a few days. Valdemossa is pretty. The ferry from Puerto Pollensa to Formentor is a nice trip.

Would have to agree with deadly. You may not be up to some mega mountain ride after destroying your liver on the stag 🙂 Chill out in deadly’s suggestion.

Not very, looking at some of the profiles on them i’m thinking could be amazing to get dropped off at the top! 😆 Or at least strategically placed to take advantage of not doing the worst climbs to get to altitude, on a road bike probably be looking at 40 miles or so with some hills, not lung busting king of the mountains type though! The mountains in the west look stunning.

Not really tested myself recently though, most of my cycling has be consisting of 20 miles or so about glasgow, so fairly flat but fairly comfortable, but with chunky tyres on road/easy dirt. Guess a road bike could probably double that easily enough..Then a bit more for adding some effort.

Aye Palma and some smaller villages have been on my mind too, maye a day or so touring tapas bars, sampling some nice beers, and seeing just how bad my pidgeon spanish is these days! Valdemossa does look nice. Senoritas sound nice too mind! 😆

Have a word with toni at http://www.tramuntbike.com his shop is in santa ponsa, hell hire you a bike (road or mountain) and if required can take you on some guided routes ( again road or mountain)

Hire a road bike and ride down and up Sa Calobra. I hired a car for a couple of days and did this from Magaluf last year. I parked at a cafe not far from the top. Rode down then back up and finished off down and back up another decent size hill with loads of hairpins on the other side of the cafe where i parked. It was quite a lot of hassle hiring the car and bike but it was well worth it and one of the best days I have spent on a bike. Even if you don’t ride Sa Calobra I recommend driving down to the bottom then going for a walk to the beach. Even driving up and down the hill is an unforgettable experience.

Sant Salvador and Porto Cristo for a car trip to the east of the island. Palma in the evening around the cathedral and generally to the west of it.

As already mentioned the train / tram to Soller.

Didn’t think much of the beach at Sa Calobra – the drive down is a highlight. A street full of tourist tat shops, a short walk through a rock tunnel for some shingle, some nice cliffs and a very grubby looking river! And jampacked with hundreds of confused-looking coach parties. There is a little beach on the other side, but again it’s heaving.

Take care if riding it (or driving it) – it’s worth timing it to avoid the 100 tour buses who arrive mid-morning and leave mid-afternoon. Chaos on the hairpins. Will be much better in the off-season, I guess.

The road between Port de Pollenca and Cap Formentor is amazing, but again, at a peak hours, it’s a narrow road with two-way traffic/buses jockeying with each other.

Best beach that we found in that area was the Playa de Formentor along that road, which would be good for a stop off ice cream.

Like food? Go to Es Verger like Rick Stein. Superb food at the the top of a mountain up a single dirt track road. Recommended.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g642209-d1811495-Reviews-Es_Verger-Alaro_Majorca_Balearic_Islands.html

San Salvador +1 even better if you ride up it, fairly flat around it so can be easily squeezed into an steady loop.

Same for (Puig de) Randa.

Or have a ride into Petra town square.

Playa de Palma for the Bierkonig!?

The climbs in Mallorca are generally easy angled – I think Sa Calobra is 8% apart from a couple of hundred metres at 10%, it’s basically get in an easy gear at the bottom and just keep spinning.

The biggest climb is Puig Major out of Soller which is about an hour or so. The road from Soller round to Valdemossa and back towards Bunyola and then over the Col de Soller is probably the best of the short loops, you can extend it down towards Andratx. If you head out to Pollensa way then the Lluc monastery loop is another excellent shortish ride – I prefer it clockwise. Sa Calobra is a big day out unless you park up somewhere near the shack at the turn off or maybe Lluc, an amazing road though. We saw someone skateboarding down it one day!

As for traditional touristy things: dunno, only ever been to climb or ride bikes.

Save time for chilling out drinking beers and coffees. Old wooden train is mint, as others have said. Relax in Palma for a bit, and eat at Bri – my favourite restaurant anywhere in Europe, and cheap as chips for the quality you get. Soller old town is nice but touristy. In fact, pretty much everywhere is super touristy, slightly annoyingly so. Formentor is stunning, and you can snorkel off beautiful Murta beach there. Cafe Alvaro is good for poncy but delicious taps in Soller. Like Sniff says – Es Verger is great.

If you do head out Puerto Pollensa way then the road upto the Formentor lighthouse is lovely too with a nice bay and lots of cafe’s…