Mallorca is really well-known to roadies – with thousands of them following the lead of the pro teams who train here during the winter. And with good reason – spring and autumn offer the perfect weather for riding, plus the scenery, the climbs, the ease of access from UK airports and the general cycle friendliness of the island all make for a great long weekend tour.
Instead of taking your own bike you can hire from one the many bike hire shops in Mallorca which have high quality road bikes but not tourers. Given that there are no campsites and the weather is warm, you can travel very light – take your gear in a bikepacking seat bag and then go by bus to your your bike hire location.
Arguably the best parts of the island are the north and west so it’s good to start a short trip near Andratx in the west or Port de Pollenca in the north, where there are good bike hire shops.
There are many possible routes – the following suggestions provide some of the best riding in the island and take in the full extent of the mountain scenery of the Serra de Tramuntarra national park together with lots of attractive towns and villages along the way:
- Andratx take the Ma1032 through Galilea, La Granja, Valldemosa and Deia.
- Continue through Port Soller and Soller and Fornalutx take the Ma10 for a 30km climb to Coll de sa Batalla and the Monastry Santuari de Lluc. Descend to Pollenca and Port de Pollenca.
- Out and back ride to Cap de Formentor from Port de Pollenca.
- From Port de Pollensa through Pollenca, Campanet, Selva, LLoseta, Alaro, Coll d’Honor, Bunyoya, Palmanyola, Esporles, La Granja and then the coast road via Banyalbufar, Coll de sa Gramola to Andratx
There are many, many possible diversions or additions that can be made to this suggested route. The only two main areas of Mallorca to avoid, unless you like high density tourism – hotels, bars, beaches etc – are Badia de Palma, the bay spreading out from Palma, which includes resorts such as Magaluf and Palma Nova – and Badia d’Alacadia south of the more attractive town of Alacadia.
Mallorca really does have a lot to offer all cyclists and flights can be so cheap it’s a great place to start the touring year!
Practicalites
Map. Very useful for planning a trip is the Mallorca Bike Map which you can either buy online from Alpina or from most bike shops in Mallorca. This map highlights the roads with least traffic, cycle routes, gradients, places of interest etc
Bike Hire There’s a bike shop in Peguera Ride Mallorca near Andratx, and in Port de Pollenca in the north shops include Pro Cycle and Pollensa Cycling Bus information and timetable is available from https://www.tib.org/portal/en/web/ctm/inici
Riding from airport. If you do take your own bike then you can either ride out from the airport or take a taxi. This forum post describes a route, although it might be worth checking on Google Earth.
Accommodation. There’s plenty of accommodation available that can be booked online through Booking.com, Airbnb and other online booking sites. The spring season there doesn’t seem to start until about the end of March so they can be less accommodation available before then.
