Palma packs a remarkable amount into a walkable, sun-washed capital — a colossal Gothic cathedral rising from the sea wall, a labyrinth of medieval lanes and palaces, a circular hilltop castle, world-class art museums and a vintage mountain railway that carries you into the UNESCO Serra de Tramuntana. Here are the attractions worth building your Palma trip around, with prices, opening hours and tips to beat the crowds.
€10La Seu Cathedral
Area
Old Town
Category
Cathedral
“Visit between 10:00 and 11:15 in early February or November to catch the 'figure eight' light show.”
€7Royal Palace of La Almudaina
Area
Old Town
Category
Palace
“Your ticket also covers the Arab-era courtyards — go straight up to the terrace for cathedral and bay views.”
€4Bellver Castle
Area
Es Terreno
Category
Castle · Views
“Take bus 46 or 50 up the hill and walk down through the pine woods for the best panoramas.”
FreePalma Old Town & La Lonja
Area
La Llotja
Category
Historic Quarter
“Lose the map after dark around La Lonja — the lamplit lanes are where Palma's best tapas bars hide.”
FreePasseig del Born
Area
Centre
Category
Boulevard
“Grab a coffee at one of the shaded café terraces and watch the world go by — it's the city's catwalk.”
€6Es Baluard Museum
Area
Sant Pere
Category
Modern Art Museum
“The rooftop terrace café has knockout cathedral-and-sea views — and it's free with a drink.”
€3Arab Baths (Banys Àrabs)
Area
Old Town
Category
Historic Site
“It's tiny — five minutes inside — but the garden is a lovely shaded pause between old-town sights.”
€9Fundació Miró Mallorca
Area
Cala Major
Category
Art Museum
“Book the studio visit — Miró's paint-splattered workshop is left exactly as it was the day he died.”
€25Palma Aquarium
Area
Playa de Palma
Category
Aquarium
“Go early; the shark tank 'Big Blue' — one of Europe's deepest — is calmest before the tour groups arrive.”
FreeMercat de l'Olivar
Area
Centre
Category
Food Market
“Buy fresh fish or oysters at a stall, then hand them to the market bar next door to cook on the spot.”
FreePlaça Major
Area
Centre
Category
Square
“Skip the touristy square cafés — the craft and antique market under the arches (Fri–Sat) is the real draw.”
FreePlaça de Cort & the Olive Tree
Area
Old Town
Category
Square
“The gnarled olive tree is said to be over 800 years old — the classic Palma photo with the town hall behind.”
FreePort de Palma & Paseo Marítimo
Area
Paseo Marítimo
Category
Waterfront
“Hire a bike and ride the flat seafront path west past the marinas towards Cala Major at sunset.”
€25Sóller Vintage Railway
Area
Plaça d'Espanya
Category
Historic Train · Scenic
“Buy the combined train-and-tram ticket and sit on the left leaving Palma for the best orchard-and-mountain views.”
FreeSerra de Tramuntana Viewpoints
Area
West of Palma
Category
Mountains · Nature
“Drive the MA-10 to the Mirador de Sa Foradada around sunset — the pierced-rock headland is unforgettable.”
€6Poble Espanyol Palma
Area
Son Espanyolet
Category
Open-Air Museum
“A quick, kid-friendly stop — combine it with Bellver Castle, which is just up the road.”
Palma attractions in detail
1.La Seu Cathedral
La Seu is one of the most spectacular Gothic cathedrals in the Mediterranean, begun in the 13th century and taking almost four hundred years to complete. It towers above the old sea wall so that, from the harbour, it seems to float over its own reflection in the Parc de la Mar lake. Inside, the nave is one of the tallest in Europe, lit by 87 stained-glass windows including the vast rose window locals call the 'Gothic eye' — at 12 metres across, one of the largest in the world. Antoni Gaudí reworked the sanctuary in the early 1900s, and contemporary artist Miquel Barceló covered the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament in a dramatic ceramic mural of loaves, fishes and sea life. Twice a year the morning sun projects the rose window onto the wall beneath its twin, a much-photographed spectacle. Buy timed tickets online, and consider the rooftop terrace tour for close-up views of the buttresses and the bay.
Hours
Mon–Sat 10:00–18:15 (seasonal); closed Sun to tourists
Price
€10 adult; under-10s free; rooftop tours ~€22
Getting there
5-minute walk from Plaça de la Reina; EMT buses 1, 3, 20, 25 stop nearby
Insider tip: Visit between 10:00 and 11:15 in early February or November to catch the 'figure eight' light show.
2.Royal Palace of La Almudaina
Facing the cathedral across a palm-lined square, the Palau de l'Almudaina began life as a Moorish alcázar and was remodelled into a Gothic royal palace after the Christian conquest of 1229. Today it is one of King Felipe VI's official residences and hosts state ceremonies each summer, which gives the visit a living, working feel absent from most museum-palaces. Inside you tour grand halls hung with Flemish tapestries, the Gothic Chapel of St Anne with its Romanesque doorway, and rooms furnished with royal antiques. The real surprises are the Arab bones of the building — horseshoe arches, a preserved hammam and the tranquil King's Garden that reveal its Islamic origins. From the ramparts and terraces you look straight across to La Seu and down over the harbour, making this one of the best-value viewpoints in the old town. Audio guides explain the layered history well; allow about an hour, ideally paired with the cathedral next door.
Hours
Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00 (Apr–Sep), 10:00–14:00 (Oct–Mar); closed Mon
Price
€7; free Wed/Thu evenings for EU citizens
Getting there
Directly beside La Seu on Carrer del Palau Reial; walkable from the port
Insider tip: Your ticket also covers the Arab-era courtyards — go straight up to the terrace for cathedral and bay views.
3.Bellver Castle
Castell de Bellver ('lovely view' in old Catalan) crowns a wooded hill three kilometres west of the centre and is one of the very few circular castles in Europe. Built in the early 14th century for the kings of Mallorca, it wraps a perfectly round courtyard of two tiered arcades, guarded by a moat and a detached keep — a design as elegant as it is defensive. Over the centuries it served as a royal summer residence and, for much longer, as a prison. Today it houses the city's history museum, but most visitors come for the roof: a full 360-degree sweep over Palma, its cathedral, the harbour full of yachts and the mountains beyond. The surrounding Bosc de Bellver pine forest is a favourite local walking and jogging spot, free to roam. Entry to the castle itself is a bargain €4 and free on Sundays. Come towards late afternoon for softer light and cooler air on the climb.
Hours
Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00/19:00, Sun 10:00–15:00; closed Mon
Price
€4; free Sun; grounds free
Getting there
EMT bus 46/50 towards Bellver, then a short uphill walk; ~3 km west of centre
Insider tip: Take bus 46 or 50 up the hill and walk down through the pine woods for the best panoramas.
4.Palma Old Town & La Lonja
Palma's old town is a wonderfully intact tangle of medieval and Renaissance streets, patrician mansions and hidden patios that reward slow, aimless wandering. Its architectural jewel is La Llotja (La Lonja), a 15th-century Gothic merchants' exchange with a soaring hall of spiralling palm-like columns, built when Palma was a Mediterranean trading power; it now hosts free art exhibitions. Around it, the La Llotja and Sa Gerreria districts hide some of the city's liveliest tapas bars and cocktail dens. Elsewhere the quarter is famous for its can — grand townhouses whose ornate stone staircases and shaded courtyards you can glimpse through open doorways. Squares like Plaça de Cort, with its thousand-year-old olive tree and elegant town hall, and the arcaded Plaça Major anchor the wandering. It is all free and entirely walkable, best explored early morning before the cruise crowds or in the evening when the sandstone glows and the bars fill. A guided old-town walk (from about €15) helps decode the layers.
Hours
Streets always open; La Llotja building open for exhibitions (free)
Price
Free to explore
Getting there
Walkable from the Passeig del Born and the port; EMT bus 1 from the airport to the centre
Insider tip: Lose the map after dark around La Lonja — the lamplit lanes are where Palma's best tapas bars hide.
5.Passeig del Born
The Passeig del Born is Palma's showpiece boulevard, a graceful pedestrian ramble laid out along a former riverbed and shaded by tall plane trees. Once the site of medieval jousts (the name comes from the tournaments held here), it is now the city's smartest strolling and shopping street, lined with the international fashion houses — Louis Vuitton, Rialto Living, Mulberry — as well as long-established cafés with terrace tables perfect for people-watching. Stone benches, sculpted sphinxes and a central fountain punctuate the promenade, and at its top it opens onto the busy Plaça del Rei Joan Carles I, a hub of the city's café life. The Born links the cathedral end of the old town with the newer commercial centre and Avinguda Jaume III, making it the natural spine of a first walk around Palma. It is at its best in the early evening paseo, when locals dress up and drift along it, and during the Christmas lights and spring flower displays. Free, central and always animated.
Hours
Always open
Price
Free
Getting there
Runs from Plaça de la Reina up to Plaça del Rei Joan Carles I; fully walkable from the port
Insider tip: Grab a coffee at one of the shaded café terraces and watch the world go by — it's the city's catwalk.
6.Es Baluard Museum
Es Baluard is Palma's museum of modern and contemporary art, cleverly inserted into the 16th-century Renaissance walls that once defended the harbour. The bold concrete-and-glass architecture threads through and over the old bastion, and the collection focuses on Balearic, Spanish and Mediterranean artists of the 20th and 21st centuries — expect works connected to the island by Miró, Picasso, Barceló, Rusiñol and Sorolla, alongside changing temporary shows. As much as the art, people come for the setting: the ramparts double as sculpture terraces and the rooftop offers one of the finest free-with-entry panoramas in the city, sweeping from La Seu across the marina to the Serra de Tramuntana. There is a stylish terrace café-restaurant up top, popular for sunset drinks. The museum sits at the edge of the buzzy Santa Catalina district, so it pairs naturally with a wander through that neighbourhood's market and bars. Entry is an affordable €6, with reduced Fridays and a free first weekend each month.
Hours
Tue–Sat 10:00–20:00, Sun 10:00–15:00; closed Mon
Price
€6; €2 Fridays; free first weekend of month
Getting there
Short walk from the Passeig del Born and the port, at Porta de Santa Catalina
Insider tip: The rooftop terrace café has knockout cathedral-and-sea views — and it's free with a drink.
7.Arab Baths (Banys Àrabs)
The Banys Àrabs are among the only standing monuments left from Madina Mayurqa, the Muslim city that preceded Christian Palma, and one of the most complete pieces of domestic Moorish architecture in Spain. Dating from around the 10th–12th centuries, the small brick-domed caldarium (hot room) is the highlight: a low, square chamber roofed by a shallow cupola pierced with two dozen little skylights, supported by a dozen mismatched columns evidently salvaged from earlier Roman and Byzantine buildings, so no two capitals are alike. It is genuinely modest in scale — the visit itself takes only a few minutes — but its rarity and atmosphere make it a worthwhile stop, and it comes wrapped in a peaceful walled garden of palms, cacti and orange trees that offers welcome shade and a quiet bench between the busier old-town monuments. Entry is just €3. Combine it with the nearby cathedral, Almudaina and the Museu de Mallorca for a compact morning of the city's layered history.
Hours
Daily 09:00–19:00 (Apr–Nov), 09:00–18:00 (Dec–Mar)
Price
€3
Getting there
In the old town on Carrer de Can Serra, a few minutes' walk east of the cathedral
Insider tip: It's tiny — five minutes inside — but the garden is a lovely shaded pause between old-town sights.
8.Fundació Miró Mallorca
Set on a hillside above Cala Major, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró preserves the place where the great Catalan surrealist lived and worked for the last decades of his life. The heart of the visit is the Sert Studio — a light-filled workshop designed by architect Josep Lluís Sert and left just as Miró abandoned it, canvases half-finished and the floor spattered with paint — and the adjacent Son Boter farmhouse, its walls covered in the artist's charcoal sketches. A sculptural modern gallery by Rafael Moneo displays a deep collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints, along with temporary exhibitions. Together they give an unusually intimate sense of how Miró actually made his art, surrounded by the Mediterranean light and landscape that inspired his stars, birds and bold primary shapes. The gardens and terraces enjoy sea views, and the site is quieter than the city-centre attractions. Entry is €9. Reach it by bus towards Cala Major, and allow around 90 minutes.
Hours
Tue–Sat 10:00–18:00/19:00, Sun 10:00–15:00; closed Mon
Price
€9; reductions for students and seniors
Getting there
EMT bus 3, 46 or 50 towards Cala Major/Gènova; ~4 km west of the centre
Insider tip: Book the studio visit — Miró's paint-splattered workshop is left exactly as it was the day he died.
9.Palma Aquarium
Out towards the resort strip of Playa de Palma, the Palma Aquarium is one of the island's most popular family attractions and a solid rainy-day option. It holds around 8,000 marine creatures across 55 tanks arranged as a journey through the world's seas, from Mediterranean rays and Mallorcan species to coral-reef fish and seahorses. The showpiece is 'Big Blue', a 3.5-million-litre tank that is among the deepest shark aquariums in Europe, viewed through a huge acrylic window and a walk-through tunnel where you stand beneath cruising sand tiger and bull sharks. Outside, subtropical gardens, a jungle house and a toddler play area spread the visit across a couple of hours, and there are daily talks and feeding sessions. Older children can even book a supervised shark-tank snorkel or dive. Buy tickets online for a useful discount and to skip the queue. It is easily reached by EMT bus from the centre, and pairs well with a beach afternoon on the same stretch of coast.
Hours
Daily 10:00–17:00/18:00 (seasonal)
Price
From €25 adult, ~€17 child (cheaper online)
Getting there
EMT bus 25 or 35 to Platja de Palma, then a short walk; ~10 km east of the centre
Insider tip: Go early; the shark tank 'Big Blue' — one of Europe's deepest — is calmest before the tour groups arrive.
10.Mercat de l'Olivar
Mercat de l'Olivar is the beating culinary heart of Palma, a covered market hall dating from 1951 where locals still do their daily shopping. Under one roof you'll find gleaming counters of Mediterranean fish and shellfish, cured Mallorcan sobrassada and jamón, mountains of fruit and vegetables, cheeses, olives and flowers. In recent years it has become a food-lover's destination as well as a market: several stalls double as tapas and oyster bars where you perch on a stool for a plate of grilled prawns and a glass of chilled white, and one popular arrangement lets you buy fresh fish from a monger and have the adjacent bar cook it for you. There's also a supermarket and a small food court upstairs. It is authentic, affordable and refreshingly un-touristy compared with the cathedral quarter, and being open from early morning it makes a great start to the day or an easy lunch. Free to wander; go before 14:00, as most stalls wind down by mid-afternoon and it closes on Sundays.
Hours
Mon–Sat ~07:00–14:30 (some bars later); closed Sun
Price
Free entry
Getting there
Central, off Plaça de l'Olivar; a few minutes' walk from Plaça d'Espanya and the Sóller station
Insider tip: Buy fresh fish or oysters at a stall, then hand them to the market bar next door to cook on the spot.
11.Plaça Major
The Plaça Major is Palma's stately, symmetrical main square, laid out in the 19th century on the site of the former Inquisition headquarters. Enclosed on all four sides by uniform ochre-and-cream buildings with ground-floor arcades, it forms a handsome pedestrian space at the junction of the old town's main shopping streets. Café terraces spill out under the arches, street performers work the crowds, and several mornings a week an artisan and antiques market sets up beneath the colonnades, selling leatherwork, jewellery, ceramics and bric-a-brac. Beneath the square hides a small shopping gallery, and staircases lead down to the busy Carrer Sant Miquel, one of the city's best high streets. While the square's own restaurants are firmly aimed at tourists and priced accordingly, the plaza is a useful orientation point and a pleasant place to pause between sights, especially when the market is on. From here it's a short stroll to the Mercat de l'Olivar, the church of Sant Miquel and the Plaça d'Espanya transport hub. Free and always open.
Hours
Always open; craft market Mon/Fri/Sat mornings (seasonal)
Price
Free
Getting there
Central, a short walk up from the Passeig del Born; near Carrer Sant Miquel shopping street
Insider tip: Skip the touristy square cafés — the craft and antique market under the arches (Fri–Sat) is the real draw.
12.Plaça de Cort & the Olive Tree
Plaça de Cort is one of Palma's most photogenic small squares, tucked into the old town just north of the cathedral. Its two stars sit side by side: the Ajuntament, Palma's 17th-century town hall, with an ornate carved-wood eave overhang and a handsome Baroque-Renaissance facade, and the Olivera de Cort, a magnificently gnarled ancient olive tree whose twisting, hollowed trunk is thought to be several centuries old — some claims run to more than a thousand years. Brought from a farm in the Tramuntana and replanted here, it has become an unofficial city symbol, and there's almost always someone posing beneath its silvery branches. The square is small but central, ringed by cafés and shops, and it functions as a crossroads for the pedestrian lanes of the old town. It costs nothing and takes only a few minutes, but it's a lovely, characterful spot to fold into an old-town walk between the cathedral, Plaça Major and the Passeig del Born. Come early for the tree to yourself.
Hours
Always open
Price
Free
Getting there
In the heart of the old town, a couple of minutes from the cathedral and Passeig del Born
Insider tip: The gnarled olive tree is said to be over 800 years old — the classic Palma photo with the town hall behind.
13.Port de Palma & Paseo Marítimo
The Passeig Marítim (Paseo Marítimo) is Palma's sweeping waterfront, a palm-lined promenade that curves for several kilometres around the bay from the commercial port past a string of marinas packed with sailing boats and gleaming superyachts. It is the city's playground for walking, jogging and cycling, with a dedicated flat bike path running its full length and knockout views back to the illuminated cathedral after dark. Along the way you'll pass the Reial Club Nàutic and the Club de Mar marinas, the Auditòrium concert hall, the food market Mercat 1930, and much of Palma's nightlife — the big clubs Tito's and Pacha, plus a run of cocktail bars and seafood restaurants. Boat trips, sunset cruises and ferries to Ibiza and the mainland all leave from here. It's free to enjoy, best at golden hour when the light hits the yachts and the cathedral, and easily combined with the old town at one end or the Santa Catalina district just behind. Rent a bike to cover more of it towards Cala Major and Portitxol.
Hours
Always open
Price
Free; boat trips from ~€15
Getting there
Runs west from the cathedral along the bay; EMT bus 1 and the seafront cycle path follow it
Insider tip: Hire a bike and ride the flat seafront path west past the marinas towards Cala Major at sunset.
14.Sóller Vintage Railway
The Ferrocarril de Sóller is a beloved piece of living history: a narrow-gauge railway opened in 1912 to carry the orange harvest, still running its original polished-wood carriages from the centre of Palma up and over the Serra de Tramuntana to the mountain town of Sóller. The 27-kilometre, roughly one-hour journey is the attraction in itself, climbing through almond and citrus groves, threading a series of tunnels and crossing a spectacular five-arch viaduct as the mountains close in, before descending into the pretty valley of Sóller. Many visitors continue on the equally vintage open-sided tram that rattles the last few kilometres down to the seaside at Port de Sóller. The trains leave from a charming old station on Plaça d'Espanya, right by Palma's transport hub. It's touristy and not cheap, but genuinely atmospheric and a wonderful way to reach the mountains without a car. Book ahead in summer, aim for a morning departure, and give yourself the whole day to explore Sóller and its port.
Hours
Several departures daily from Plaça d'Espanya (~10:10 first train)
Price
~€25 one way, ~€32 return; +€8 for the Sóller–Port tram
Getting there
Departs the historic Ferrocarril de Sóller station on Plaça d'Espanya, next to the bus and metro hub
Insider tip: Buy the combined train-and-tram ticket and sit on the left leaving Palma for the best orchard-and-mountain views.
15.Serra de Tramuntana Viewpoints
The Serra de Tramuntana is Mallorca's great mountain wall, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape running the length of the island's northwest coast, and it begins barely half an hour from Palma. This is the wild, dramatic Mallorca of guidebook covers: pine-clad peaks plunging to a cobalt sea, terraced olive groves built by centuries of hand-laid dry-stone walls, and honey-coloured villages like Valldemossa, Deià and Fornalutx clinging to the slopes. The MA-10 coast road strings together a series of spectacular miradors (viewpoints) — Sa Foradada with its sea-pierced rock, the hairpin descent to Sa Calobra, and the cliffs above Banyalbufar — while walkers tackle stretches of the long-distance GR221 'dry-stone route'. You can experience it by hire car, on an organised coach or jeep excursion from Palma, or partly by the Sóller train. It's free to enjoy and endlessly photogenic. Sunset from a west-facing mirador, with the light raking across the terraces and the Mediterranean below, is one of the island's defining experiences — bring a jacket, as it cools quickly up high.
Hours
Always open
Price
Free (car or coach tour recommended)
Getting there
By hire car on the MA-10 coast road, or organised excursions from Palma; ~30–60 min to the main miradors
Insider tip: Drive the MA-10 to the Mirador de Sa Foradada around sunset — the pierced-rock headland is unforgettable.
16.Poble Espanyol Palma
Palma's Poble Espanyol is a 1960s open-air museum that gathers scaled reproductions of famous Spanish buildings into one walkable 'village', letting you stroll from an Andalusian patio to a Castilian plaza and past echoes of Granada's Alhambra and Toledo's synagogues in an afternoon. It's frankly a period piece rather than a must-see, but it works well as a low-key, shaded outing with children or on a hot day, and its craft workshops — glass-blowing, ceramics, leather and jewellery — give it a bit of life, with pieces for sale. The complex also functions as an events and congress venue, so parts may occasionally be in use. Entry is a modest €6, and the whole circuit takes an hour or two at a gentle pace. Its location on the western edge of the city puts it close to Bellver Castle, so the two combine neatly into a half-day away from the busier centre. Manage expectations — it's more curiosity than headline attraction — but it's inexpensive, easy and pleasantly relaxed.
Hours
Daily 10:00–18:00 (seasonal, reduced winter hours)
Price
€6 adult, ~€4 child
Getting there
EMT bus 5 or 46 towards Son Espanyolet; ~2.5 km west of the old town
Insider tip: A quick, kid-friendly stop — combine it with Bellver Castle, which is just up the road.