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Palma - Arriving & Getting Around

  • Airports

    Unsurprisingly, given that it services so many busy resorts, Palma’s Son Sant Joan airport is huge. It lies 8 kilometres east of Palma and features all the facilities you’d expect in an international airport. Packed in the summer, its eerily quiet in the winter and its size means that it can take you a fairly long time to get from your plane to the terminal.
    Bus No. 1 runs between the airport and the bay-side Passeig Maritim via Plaça Espanya every 15 minutes from about 06.00 to around 02.15 every day. The single fare is €1.80. A taxi will cost around €20 to the city centre.

  • Buses

    A range of bus routes circumnavigate Palma’s old town and run along the Passeig Maritim. The No. 2 passes through the centre of the old city. Within the greater Palma area there is a flat fare of €1.00. Palma’s city bus station is on Plaça Espanya.
    Open-top tourist buses run on two routes every 20 minutes around the city (and as far as Bellver Castle). You can jump on or off the buses as many times as you want within a 24-hour period and there’s an audio commentary.

  • Taxis

    Taxis are cheap and plentiful – there are ranks at the bottom of Avda d’Antoni Maura, on Passeig d’es Born and in Plaça Weyler. Alternatively, simply hail one with its green light on.

  • Eating & Drinking

    Being a capital city, Palma has a more impressive array of restaurants than many other Spanish cities. The choice ranges from very basic establishments serving simple tapas to traditional Mallorcan restaurants to modern designer eateries serving international and fusion cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Thai influences.

    If you’re eating out in Palma, the easiest way to orientate yourself is to think of the city as divided into four different areas. The Sa Llotja district, west of the Palau de l’Almudaina, is where you’ll find the highest concentration of bars and pubs. The centre of the old town includes some of the more traditional restaurants. Santa Catalina, west of the old city walls, boasts some of the best new restaurants and is a favourite with the locals. Lastly, the Passeig Maritim, which runs along the harbourside, is mainly devoted to tourist orientated establishments, but has a few gems.

    As for the food itself, traditional Mallorcan cuisine has the freshness and simplicity of rustic cooking, with a few Arab and Moorish influences. This means that it’s focused on classic Mediterranean ingredients, like olive oil, garlic and tomatoes, which form the basis of most meat and seafood dishes. Meat usually means pork and all its variations. The local pig is a black variety and you’ll find it served as meatballs, suasages and chops. Mallorcan lamb is another popular meat, which is often served roasted, with garlic and olive oil, in chunks. Seafood is enormously popular. The classic dish is caldereta de llagosta. This is a simple but rich and flavoursome spiny lobster stew, made with tomatoes and onion. Meanwhile, local fish include sea bass, sea bream, monkfish, grouper, gilthead and red scorpion fish, which you’ll find served in a variety of ways, the most popular of which is simply grilled with a splash of olive oil, garlic and parsley.

    Though most local Mallorcan wines cannot match the body or flavour of an established Rioja from the mainland, they have enjoyed something of a Renaissance lately. Some of the best include Original Muscat, Miquel Gelabert Chardonnay and Ribas de Cabrera.