Mallorca · Self-guided walk
Palma in one walk 8 sights, 55 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Palma Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.5 km loop, about 55 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.5 km, a loop
- Time
- about 55 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- La Seu
- Steps
- on Costa de la Seu, Plaça Pere Bonet "Bonet de San Pedro", Carrer de la Misericòrdia, Costa de Can Muntaner
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Palma walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Palma, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. La Seu
the start
The building every postcard of Palma is cropped around. To eat it I would need a few millennia, and I have them. Go inside when the sun is out. What the light does in there on two particular days of the year, I am not telling you.
Next: Palau de l'Almudaina, 40 m, about 1 min.
2. Palau de l'Almudaina
about 1 minute of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Sun 10:00–19:00, Mon closed
It is still the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain on the island, where they hold a reception every year, and an older fortress still shows in its shape. The walls look chewy. Look up at the top of the highest tower. What stands there, and what people say about it, I am not telling you.
Next: Parlament de les Illes Balears, 210 m, about 3 min, along Costa de la Seu, Carrer del Conquistador.
3. Parlament de les Illes Balears
about 4 minutes of walking from the start
Look at the front on Carrer del Conquistador: modernist, and in no hurry at all. The lawmakers inside sit in a room that was built for something much livelier. What, I am not telling you.
Next: Es Baluard, 690 m, about 10 min, along Carrer del Conquistador, Carrer dels Apuntadors, Carrer de Sant Pere, Bastió de Sant Pere.
4. Es Baluard
about 14 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Tue–Sat 10:00–20:00, Sun 10:00–15:00, Mon closed
A great corner of the old city wall, thick enough that art lives in it now. I would have gone for the wall. The odd part is below, and what it was used for once, I am not telling you.
Next: La Misericòrdia, 820 m, about 12 min, along Plaça de la Porta de Santa Catalina, Passeig Mallorca, Carrer de la Cerdanya, Carrer de la Misericòrdia.
5. La Misericòrdia
about 27 minutes of walking from the start
A long house that spent centuries taking in those nobody else looked after. Now it is a cultural centre, and the quiet comes free. There is a tree here worth the detour. How far it goes, I am not telling you.
Next: Mercat de l'Olivar, 730 m, about 11 min, along Carrer de la Misericòrdia, Carrer de Santa Magdalena, Carrer dels Horts, Costa de Can Muntaner, Carrer dels Caputxins.
Lunch break
Cafè Riutort, Carrer del Carme 25, about 40 m off the route, open Mon–Fri 08:00–16:00, Sat 09:00–13:00, Sun closed.
On Carrer del Carme, one street off La Rambla, and the room is locals eating local food. More on what to eat in Palma.
6. Mercat de l'Olivar
about 37 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Thu 07:00–14:30, Fri 07:00–20:00, Sat 07:00–15:00, Sun closed
The covered market, two floors of it, and the building in this town I respect most. Come hungry. What one of its bars will do with the shopping you just carried in, I am not telling you.
Next: Plaça Major, 460 m, about 7 min, along Carrer dels Caputxins, Plaça de l'Olivar, Carrer de Sant Miquel.
7. Plaça Major
about 44 minutes of walking from the start
A long, tidy rectangle with house fronts on every side: the most Castilian-looking square in this Mediterranean town, laid like a table. Stand in it and wonder what is under your shoes. Then come back in December. I am not telling you why on either count.
Next: Plaça de Cort, 280 m, about 4 min, along Plaça del Marquès del Palmer, Carrer de Colom, Plaça de Cort.
8. Plaça de Cort
about 49 minutes of walking from the start
The town hall square, and the point every main road on the island measures its kilometres from. I measure from lunch. Look at the long stone seat along the front of the town hall, and at the old tree in the square. Who sat on the one, and how old the other is, I am not telling you.
Back to the start: La Seu, 300 m, about 4 min, along Carrer del Palau Reial.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Palma.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 319 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Palma Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.