Palma - Sa Calobra: The absolute route.

Binissalem, cortesía especial para el enoturista.

Every wine lover visiting Mallorca should make a stop in Binissalem. Binissalem is a small inland village that, together with the neighbouring villages of Santa Eugenia and Santa María, builds on a long winemaking tradition.

The wine route includes at least a dozen wineries whose wines have their own designation of origin (D.O. Binissalem). You can taste, at pleasure, the main local varieties: Manto Negro, Callet and Moll.

If you are planning your Mallorca holiday for spring (in May), you might have the opportunity to visit the Wine Days Mallorca, a multi-day event with various wine tastings taking place and open doors of the wineries. In September, when the heat subsides a little, you might assist to the local grape harvest festival ("Festes des Vermar").

Inca, leather and fur.

Before entering the Tramuntana Mountains "Serra de Tramuntana", and still in the plains, you reach Inca, the third populous city of Mallorca.

You could take the opportunity and have a snack before ascending the Tramuntana, because Inca is famous for its local gastronomy. Taste typical specialties and home cooking in the so-called "cellars". Inca is quite popular - also outside the country - due to its textile industry, especially leather goods focusing mainly on leather footwear. The good quality of majorcan shoes is internationally known. A wide range of stores, shops and outlets awaits you in Inca, and makes it an ideal place for shopping new tendencies.  Well worth taking a walk.

Selva and Caimari, a mountain paradise.

A route through the Sierra de Tramuntana, the mountain range that extends from north to south in the west of the island, is a unique experience. That is why it deserves a post on our website. Most of the excursions on Mallorca include part of the mountain routes. In order to access Sa Calobra it is necessary to pass the Tramuntana. It is fun, you will see.

On your today's car route, you will pass two small mountain villages at the foot of the Sierra: Selva and Caimari. Normally, we would point out the sights of each place, though we will not do so here. The reason is not because there is nothing to see (it would be too extensive to write here about the traditional olive oil production, or the old charcoal stoves and the charcoal burners, or its neighbouring holm oak forests). In this case, the pleasure consists in sitting in one of the Café-Terraces on a square, contemplating the Sierra de Tramuntana, without hurrying. Just that.

The idyllic Santuari de Lluc

You should ideally plan our route schedule the way that you arrive at the Monastery “Santuari de Lluc” around noon. You then have already started the ascent into the mountains. The monastery is at an altitude of 500 meters. It is worth recharging your batteries here for the onward journey on the road to Sa Calobra.

The church of Lluc was built in the 17th century in honour of the Black Virgin "La Moreneta". The entire building complex has been comfortably equipped. Highly frequented by pilgrims and tourists, there have been created restaurants, a museum, a botanical garden with native flora and various leisure areas. Overnight stays are possible in the comfortable rooms offered by the monastery, or in tents on the designated areas.

The views from Lluc are spectacular. A postcard motif.

Sa Calobra and Torrent de Pareis, the reward you deserve.

To get to the destination of our itinerary, the Bay of Sa Calobra, you have to take the MA-2141. This serpentine road almost deserves its own chapter of a guidebook. It is a special experience, which anybody should have lived. Over 14 kilometres, the road snakes through the mountains (Sa Calobra, actually means "snake") and overcomes almost 700 meters in altitude. The road leads downhill to the Coll des Reis at sea level. There are sections of the route with a 7% gradient, in addition, the road is relatively narrow and runs the entire route between cliffs.

Well, even if this road has strong turns (you will get to a turn, the so-called "tie knot", where the road crosses under itself in a 270 degree turn), it still guides you through the most beautiful rocky landscape you can imagine. The surroundings consist of gorges, outcrops and mountain torrents and occasionally let the glittering Mediterranean Sea shimmer in the distance.

If there is not too much traffic, you can do these 14 kilometres in about half an hour, and then should reach your destination: Sa Calobra.

            What to say about a place from where a single picture exceeds all expectations? At the end of the route, you will find yourselves in a small bay, surrounded by huge mountain ranges. The grey tones of the rocks, sprinkled occasionally with green vegetation, create a unique picture in front of the sea, in which the blue tones create their own play of colours of light blue, navy and turquoise.