How to Spend a Day in Palma de Mallorca (From Cruise Port)

We found Palma de Mallorca as a port of call on our recent Mediterranean cruise and boy was she stunning! The Spanish island capital is full of stunning gothic architecture, dreamy alleyways just calling your name to get lost in, and plenty of crystal clear beaches to soak up the sun.

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With so much to see/do and limited time in port, here's how you should spend your day in Palma de Mallorca.

Unfortunately this isn't one of the cruise ports you can just get off the ship and walk right into town.. well I mean you can if you want to walk about an hour each way. No thank you! You will have to either take the cruise shuttle (ballpark $20pp in June 2024), an uber, or a taxi. The cruise ship shuttle has multiple buses going back and forth to the city center, so that is the option we ended up going with. You don't need to pre-book, you can book onboard.

We were dropped off right by the best known landmark in Palma aka the massive gothic Cathedral-Basilica de Santa Maria de Mallorca. It was absolutely gorgeous and sticks out like a sore thumb no matter where you are in town. You can't miss it!

We decided to check out the Cathedral from the outside, then get lost in the alleys of the surrounding Old Town. We were pleasantly surprised every which way we turned. The streets were full of gorgeous architecture and unique Gaudi-like buildings.

We then walked to Passeig del Borne, which is a tree lined pedestrian-only shopping street

It was still early, so it wasn't crowded yet, but I could see this area getting crowded in the afternoon. It would make for a great lunch or drink spot later in the day.

Since it was early though, we decided to walk to Ca'n Joan de S'Aigo, which is the oldest cafe in Palma and known for the island's famous pastry, ensaimada. This is an almost powdered sugar puff pastry meets brioche bun pastry, which was delish!

We then jumped on the hop on hop off bus and rode it to Bellver Castle enjoying the commentary and seeing sites along the way.

Note: the hop on hop off ticket includes either entry to Bellver Castle or Poble Espanyol. Your choice!

The unique Bellver Castle is the only circular castle in Spain and boasts incredible views of the city from above.

After the castle, we rode the hop on hop off bus back to the stop near the Cathedral. At this point it was later in the afternoon and more markets were set up, so we took the time to explore some of those. They had everything from fake designer bags and hats, to food and handmade jewelry.

Then we headed back on the shuttle bus to the cruise port.

Note: They did stop near some gorgeous beaches on the hop on hop off buses, it would have been fun to wear your bathing suit under your clothes and maybe pop off for a dip