What to Do in Palma de Mallorca in One Day: A Full-Day Itinerary

Palma de Mallorca is one of the few Mediterranean cities where a single day covers a Gothic cathedral, a royal palace, a Moorish bathhouse, a modern art museum on the city walls, a round medieval castle and a sunset on the seafront. Most of it is within a 20-minute walk of the Cathedral, and the few stops that are not are reached by a €2 bus. With an early start, one day in Palma de Mallorca can take in almost all of the city’s main sights, a long Mallorcan lunch and an evening in the Old Town below La Seu Cathedral.

This itinerary starts and ends in the Old Town, which is where we would stay for a short visit: Casa Roca is on Carrer dels Hostals, about a 10-minute walk from the Cathedral. It runs from 9am to around 10pm, with time built in for queues, a proper lunch and a sunset drink. If you are arriving by ship with fewer hours ashore, our Palma de Mallorca cruise port guide has a shorter six-hour walking route from the terminals.

The one thing to check before you plan anything is the day of the week. Palma’s sights close on different days: on a Sunday the Cathedral is closed to tourist visits and the Olivar market is shut, and on a Monday the Royal Palace, Es Baluard and Bellver Castle are all closed. Either day still works, with the order of the stops changed.

One Day in Palma de Mallorca: The Timetable

The day follows the city’s own rhythm. The big sights open at 10am, so the first hour goes on breakfast and a walk to the sea walls. Lunch is at the Olivar market, which closes in the mid-afternoon, and the late afternoon is for the one stop outside the centre, Bellver Castle, before heading to the seafront for sunset.

Time	What to do in Palma	Adult cost
9:00	Breakfast, then walk to the Parc de la Mar and the sea walls	Free
10:00	La Seu Cathedral (or the guided rooftop terraces tour)	€10 (terraces €25)
11:15	Royal Palace of La Almudaina	€8
12:15	Old Town lanes and the Arab Baths	€2.50
13:15	Plaça Major and lunch at the Mercat de l’Olivar	Pay as you go
14:45	Passeig des Born, La Llotja and Es Baluard museum	€8
16:45	Bus to Bellver Castle for the views over the bay	€4 + €2 bus each way
18:45	Sunset on the seafront at Portixol or the Es Baluard terrace	Free
20:30	Dinner, tapas and a glass of Mallorcan wine in the Old Town	Pay as you go

Entry tickets and two bus fares add up to about €36 per adult, or €51 if you choose the Cathedral rooftop terraces tour instead of a standard Cathedral ticket. Everything except Bellver Castle and Portixol is within walking distance of the Old Town, and the route runs in a loop so you never double back.

From late October, when the clocks go back, sunset moves to around 6pm and Bellver Castle closes at 6pm, so swap the late afternoon: go to Bellver after lunch and keep the museum for later. In summer, when sunset is after 8pm, there is time for both at a slower pace.

Morning in Palma: La Seu Cathedral and the Royal Palace

The morning covers the two landmarks that define the Palma skyline, La Seu Cathedral and the Royal Palace of La Almudaina, which face each other across a terrace above the sea walls. Both are best seen early, before the day’s tour groups arrive.

Start with breakfast, then walk down to the Parc de la Mar, the seafront park with a long reflecting lake directly below the walls. It gives the classic view of the Cathedral and the palace side by side, and the steps up from the lake bring you out beside the Cathedral entrance.

Allow two and a quarter hours for the two visits together. If you only have time for one, choose the Cathedral, and see the palace from the outside on the way past.

10:00 La Seu, Palma Cathedral

Palma Cathedral was begun in 1229, after the Christian conquest of Mallorca, and completed in 1601. Its nave is one of the tallest in any Gothic church in Europe, and in the early 20th century Antoni Gaudí reworked the interior, adding the wrought-iron canopy that still hangs over the main altar. An hour is enough for the nave, the chapels and the museum rooms.

From April to November the Cathedral is open to visitors from 10am to 5.15pm Monday to Friday and from 10am to 2.15pm on Saturday, and it is closed to tourist visits on Sundays. Adult tickets were €10 in 2025, and buying online before you go saves time in the entrance queue.

For the best view in the city, book the guided tour of the Cathedral’s rooftop terraces, which runs until November. Tours leave every half hour and last an hour, from 10am to 4.30pm on weekdays and until 1.30pm on Saturdays, and the €25 ticket also covers the Cathedral and its museum.

11:15 The Royal Palace of La Almudaina, Palma

The Almudaina stands across the terrace from the Cathedral. It began as the fortress of Moorish Madina Mayurqa, became the palace of the medieval kings of Mallorca, and is still an official residence of the Spanish royal family.

Inside are the great Gothic hall, the royal apartments and the chapel of Santa Anna, and 45 minutes covers the visit at an easy pace. The palace is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 7pm between April and September and until 6pm from October to March, and it is closed on Mondays.

General admission is €8. EU citizens and residents can visit free on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons from 3pm, with tickets from the ticket office only, which is worth knowing if your day falls on one of those afternoons.

Midday in Palma Old Town: Arab Baths and the Olivar Market

The middle of the day is for the oldest streets in the city and a long Mallorcan lunch. Behind the Cathedral, the lanes of the Portella and Calatrava quarters are quiet, shaded and lined with stone mansions whose courtyards are often open to look into.

From there the route turns north through Plaça de Cort, past the town hall and its old olive tree, to Plaça Major, the arcaded square at the top of the Old Town. The Mercat de l’Olivar is a few minutes further on.

This part of the day is flexible. If the morning ran long, go straight to the market for lunch and see the Arab Baths on the way back down in the afternoon.

12:15 The Arab Baths and the Palma Old Town Lanes

The Banys Àrabs on Carrer de Can Serra are one of the few buildings in Palma that survive from the Islamic city. The bathhouse is a single domed room held up by columns with horseshoe arches, set in a small shaded garden.

Entry is €2.50 and the baths open daily from 10am. Twenty minutes is plenty, and the garden is one of the few places in the Old Town to sit in the shade at midday.

If you want a sit-down meal instead of the market, our guide to the best restaurants in Palma lists places to eat along this route, from quick tapas bars to long lunches.

13:15 Lunch at the Mercat de l’Olivar, Palma

The Mercat de l’Olivar is Palma’s main covered market and the best place for a quick lunch that is still properly Mallorcan. The counters sell fish and seafood, jamón, cheese and sobrassada, and the market’s bars serve tapas and plates to eat standing or at the counter.

The market is open Monday to Saturday from 7am until around 3pm and is closed on Sundays, so on this timing you arrive at its busiest point. On a Sunday, have lunch in one of the restaurants around Plaça Major instead.

If you would rather sit down, the streets around Plaça Major and Carrer de Sant Miquel have plenty of restaurants with set lunch menus on weekdays. Allow an hour and a half either way: lunch in Palma is not rushed.

Afternoon in Palma: The Born, La Llotja and Es Baluard

After lunch, walk down Carrer de Sant Miquel and through Plaça del Mercat to the Passeig des Born, the tree-lined boulevard that runs from the heart of the city down to the sea. It is Palma’s main promenade, lined with townhouses, shops and café terraces.

At the bottom of the Born, La Llotja is the 15th-century Gothic merchants’ exchange, one of the finest civil buildings in the city, and the lanes around it become Palma’s main bar quarter in the evening.

From La Llotja, a short walk west along the old walls leads to Es Baluard, the city’s modern art museum. It is the natural stop for the hottest part of the afternoon.

14:45 Es Baluard Museum on the Palma City Walls

Es Baluard is Palma’s museum of modern and contemporary art, built into a Renaissance bastion on the old city walls. The collection covers Balearic and international art, and the building itself, with its walkways along the top of the walls, is part of the visit.

It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 8pm and on Sunday from 10am to 3pm, and it is closed on Mondays. General admission is €8, and on Fridays visitors pay what they like.

The museum’s café-restaurant sits on a terrace with views over the port, the bay and the Cathedral, and it makes a good place for a coffee before the bus to Bellver.

Late Afternoon at Bellver Castle, Palma

Bellver Castle is one of the few round Gothic castles in Europe, built in the 14th century on a wooded hill west of the centre. From its battlements the whole Bay of Palma spreads out below, with the Cathedral on one side and the port on the other.

EMT buses 4, 20 and 46 stop at Plaça Gomila, below the castle, from where the walk up takes about 20 minutes, including a stair of 463 steps. The hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus also stops at the castle itself, with a 24-hour ticket from €27, which suits anyone who would rather avoid the climb.

From April to September the castle is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm, and from October to March until 6pm; on Sundays and public holidays it opens from 10am to 3pm. It is closed on Mondays. Entry is €4, and free on Sundays. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

Sunset and Evening in Palma de Mallorca

Palma faces south-west across its bay, so the sun sets over the water beyond Bellver and the port. In late September it goes down at about 7.45pm, by late October at about 7pm, and after the clocks change on the last Sunday of October at around 6pm.

There are two easy places to watch it. The Es Baluard terrace looks straight across the port and the bay, a short walk from La Llotja. The alternative is the seafront east of the Old Town at Portixol, a former fishing district a couple of kilometres from the Cathedral, reached along a traffic-free promenade by the sea.

Portixol and the neighbouring Es Molinar have small beaches, a marina and a string of seafood restaurants, so staying on there for dinner is an easy option. Otherwise, the walk back along the seafront brings you to the Old Town just as the evening gets going.

20:30 Dinner, Tapas and Wine in Palma Old Town

Palma eats late, and most restaurants fill from 8.30pm onwards. For a relaxed evening in the Old Town, the streets around La Llotja, the Born and Carrer de Sant Jaume have the highest concentration of tapas bars, restaurants and wine bars.

On Tuesday evenings, the bars of the Sa Gerreria quarter near Plaça Major have traditionally run the Ruta Martiana, a tapas route with a small tapa and a drink for a few euros at each bar. It is worth checking locally that it is running on the night you visit.

To finish the day, a glass of Mallorcan wine is the local way to end an evening. Casa Roca’s Capitulo café and wine bar is open daily until 11pm, with more than 40 Mallorcan labels by the glass, a few minutes from Plaça Major.

Getting Around Palma de Mallorca in One Day

Walking is the easiest way to see Palma in one day. The Old Town is compact and mostly pedestrianised, and every stop on this itinerary between the Parc de la Mar, Plaça Major, the Born and Es Baluard is within about a 20-minute walk of the next. The streets are paved with smooth stone that can be slippery, so flat shoes with some grip make a real difference by the end of the day.

For Bellver Castle and anything further out, the city’s EMT buses cost €2 for a single journey, paid in cash on board or by tapping a contactless bank card or phone at the door. Lines 4, 20 and 46 serve Plaça Gomila below Bellver, and one card can pay for up to five people travelling together, with a group discount applied automatically.

The hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus is the alternative for anyone who prefers not to walk far. A 24-hour ticket costs from €27, buses run from 10am to 5.30pm, every 30 minutes until 2.30pm and every 45 minutes after that, and the full loop of 19 stops takes about 90 minutes, including stops at Bellver Castle and the cruise terminals. Taxis wait at ranks around the Old Town and are the quickest way back from Portixol after dinner.

Stay the Night in Palma Old Town at Casa Roca

One day in Palma is easier to enjoy when you are sleeping in the middle of it. Casa Roca is a boutique wine hotel in a building on Carrer dels Hostals that dates from 1847, when the Roca family founded their business there, and it is about a 10-minute walk from the Cathedral and a few minutes from Plaça Major.

There are suites for two, one and two-bedroom residences with kitchens, and a three-bedroom penthouse with a private terrace. A daily-changing homemade breakfast is included in every rate, and guests have the rooftop terrace, the Art Deco Speakeasy bar and a personal Wine Pass for the wine machines.

Staying the night also means the Cathedral is a short walk away first thing, before the day visitors arrive. Our team is happy to adjust this itinerary to the day of the week and to book restaurants for the evening.

More Than One Day in Palma de Mallorca

With a second day, the most rewarding trip from Palma is the Sóller railway, a wooden train that has run over the Tramuntana mountains since the early 20th century. It leaves from Plaça d’Espanya and takes about an hour to Sóller, with a single ticket at €23 and a return at €30, and a tram continues to the port of Sóller.

Other easy trips without a car include Valldemossa, the Drach Caves at Porto Cristo, and the wine villages of Santa Maria and Binissalem on the train line to Inca. Our guide to day trips from Palma de Mallorca covers journey times and tickets for each.

A second day in the city itself leaves time for Santa Catalina, Palma’s market and restaurant neighbourhood west of the Old Town, where the Mercat de Santa Catalina is open Monday to Saturday, and for a morning on the beach at Portixol or Can Pere Antoni.

One Day in Palma de Mallorca FAQs

Photo credits: José Luis Filpo Cabana (Cathedral interior), CC BY 3.0; Diego Delso (Almudaina Palace) and Enric (Arab Baths), CC BY-SA 4.0; Dietmar Rabich (La Seu Cathedral), Kritzolina (Bellver Castle) and Rafael Ortega Díaz (Portixol), CC BY-SA 4.0; Martin Furtschegger (Passeig des Born) and Olaf Tausch (Es Baluard), CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.