Mallorca - Route advice!

Hi all,

My first cycling holiday abroad coming up at the end of March.

Myself and a mate are staying in Pollensa, Mallorca and looking to plan some routes. If you've been and have any must-rides or even a GPX file knocking about, please do let me know.

Thanks,
T

Sa Calobra is a must. You’re close to Cap Formentor which is beautiful

https://lovevelo.co.uk/blogs/cycling-in-mallorca-routes-tips-and-gpx-files

Pick up one of the cyclo tourist maps at the airport, there are loads of routes that keep you away from main roads.

If you are renting a bike, the bike shops usually have files which you can download.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nJYe3pHA_c

There are 2 other videos riding around Mallorca as well.

Awesome - thanks all, will let you know how it goes!

Sa Calobra and Formentor are the big names and absolutely wonderful. From Pollenca, Sa Batalla is a little closer, a fantastic climb and can be reached on some lovely quiet roads. The rolling ground between the top of Col de Femenia and the top of Sa Batalla is also great in either direction.

Hi everyone, thank you for the advice on these - was a great trip (even if the weather got a bit rough towards the end of the week). For any looking in future, a couple of must rides:

Sa Calobra - the best descent I've ever ridden. The climb is also epic...it just takes a while.
Port De Soller - huge climb with a mega long descent. The port has a load of great cafés too.
Coll De Femenia - great orientation climb (cat 2), 7.6km at 6%. Busy coffee shop at the top too!
Randa - just over 5k at 6% ~10-15mins, with flatlands all around it. One for those missing the surrey hills.

Also found this vid on good coffee spots quite useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U0DUWrTk2Q&ab_channel=BrodieVissers

Anyone have experience of wild camping in the North of Mallorca? I know camping on the island is a bit tricky with few official sites available and apparently the police come down quite hard on wild campers. I've looked at a handful of refuges but the reviews are mixed and would like to have freedom to not have to reach a specific destination.

I'll be travelling light and on my own and won't be taking any cooking equipment so I wont be posing any fire hazards. Also hoping sea swims will be ok instead of showers.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Funny, I just came to this thread to ask what night temps I might experience in March and what I might be packing for some bivvying.

Did you end up wild camping there?

Dunno about March, but it never got below 12 degrees at night when I was there during the Christmas week.

Interesting. Websites say 5C at night in March. But that means when I'm there it will be -5C because the universe hates me.

It was unseasonably warm - 21 degrees and sunny every day.

Yeah, there's lots of this kind of thing going on. I was just in my home town in Oz and people were wearing hoodies, in fucking December! It did then get up to the hottest day they'd had in 5 years, but hoodies in Dec in Oz is fucking bonkers.

Didn't end up wild camping but I still carried all my gear back and forth across the island. I'm sure it'd be doable in terms of finding a decent spot, it's just everything is so spiky out there you'd have to watch your gear for damage.

Not quite on topic, but anyone recommend a specific car hire at Palma airport?
Hate hiring cars, always assume I'm going to get rinsed for something.

I'd go online and do comparison sites for the best deals. And they are usually a minibus ride away from the airport, which is a minor inconvenience but not too much of a ballache. Did this at Christmas and got a Fiat 500 for crazy cheap for the week.

I know that feeling about car rentals. When in Spain, I'd go with Cicar. My gf and I have been to the canaries a bunch of times and had fantastic experiences with Cicar there. Apparently they also have a Mallorca dependance, which we've used once as well. It wasn't as cheap as on the canaries, but that's probably a tax thing.

Centauro were always very good for me. 👍

Thanks all. Centauro no cars available for my dates and Cicar looks quite a bit more expensive. I’ve gone for one with Wibur via booking.com. Mostly decent reviews so hopefully fine. Cheers again.

That's who I went with. Wiber, isn't it?

That’s it, meant Wiber. Cool, good to know. Dials my car hire anxiety down a notch 👍

I’m gonna be doing an extended trip in Mallorca in April - will be there for a month. I’m travelling with my wife and two small kids. It seems that adding bikes to the amount of stuff that we will need will be hard, especially in relation to cars from the airport etc. Anyone have any tips for this or ways round it? The cost for renting a bike for that period is basically the same as buying one!

Never used a service like this myself but could be ideal

https://sendbike.com/