Palma's Arab Baths and a walk through the old town

The Arab Baths in Palma (Banys Àrabs in Catalan) are what still stands of the public baths of Madina Mayurqa, Muslim Palma of the 10th–11th centuries. You enter through the garden of an old manor house, Can Fontirroig, among palms and orange trees, and the visit is short: a square domed hall, two further rooms and the garden.

My advice is not to treat it as an outing in its own right but as the first stop on a walk round the old town. Within a few minutes you have the cathedral, the Palau de l'Almudaina, the noble courtyards of Can Vivot, Ramon Llull's tomb in Sant Francesc and the Passeig del Born. Below you'll find the route, what each stop costs and which days to avoid.

Arab Baths Palma: tickets and prices

Admission is €3.50 per adult; children aged 10 or under go free and groups of 10 or more pay €1.50 each. You pay at the door and cash only: no cards, so bring coins.

There is no official website and no online sales, and you don't need them. It's a small site with no queueing system, and I've never seen a reason to book. If you spot an "Arab Baths tour" on a booking platform, it's a walking tour of the old town; before paying, check the itinerary to see whether it goes inside or just walks past the door.

Entry is also included in the 48-hour "Bus + 9 Attractions" pass from the sightseeing bus, which only pays off if you really will go into four or five paid sights. I explain it in the guide to the Palma hop-on hop-off bus.

Arab Baths opening hours

They open every day, Sundays and Mondays included. Guides disagree on closing time: some say 18:00, others 18:30, and a few mention longer summer hours. Plan on 10:00 to 18:00 and, if you're going late in the day, ask at the door. There's no website to confirm it.

That "open daily" is handy: on Sundays the cathedral takes no sightseeing visits and on Mondays many museums close, but the Arab Baths stay open. There's a small toilet inside. No café.

What to see inside: the domed hall

Everything revolves around a square hall topped by a half-orange dome resting on 12 columns. Look at the capitals: no two are alike, because many columns were reused from older buildings. Light comes in through small round oculi in the dome.

To the sides you can make out the caldarium (the hot room) and the tepidarium (the warm room), and under the floor the hypocaust, the system that carried the hot air. It is often called the best-preserved building of Islamic Palma, and it has been protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (listed heritage site) since 1931.

Half an hour is enough to see it at an easy pace. It works well with children precisely because it's short, and the garden gives shade at midday in summer.

Getting to Palma old town

The baths are in the Sa Calatrava quarter, on the eastern side of the old town, about 5 minutes' walk from the cathedral. From Parc de la Mar you climb the lanes behind La Seu (the cathedral).

• From the airport: EMT bus A1 to Plaça d'Espanya, then walk down towards the cathedral. Details in airport transfers.
• From the cruise port: EMT line 30 stops at "Parc de la Mar – Catedral" (roughly once an hour, so check the time); EMT 1 drops you at Passeig Mallorca / Plaça d'Espanya, 10–15 minutes from the cathedral. More in the cruise port guide.
• By car: don't drive in. La Calatrava is one of the old town's 12 ACIRE zones, enforced by cameras, and the fine follows you home. The municipal car park at Antoni Maura / Parc de la Mar, next to the cathedral, costs €3 an hour from 10:00 to 18:00, up to a maximum of €28.48 a day.

A walking route round Palma old town

This is the circular route I do with visiting friends. It starts at the Arab Baths, heads west through the old commercial centre and ends beside the cathedral, from where you return along the city walls. It all lies inside the walled town and the stops are a few minutes apart.

1. Banys Àrabs

Start here first thing, at 10:00, while the garden is still quiet.

2. Santa Eulàlia and Can Vivot

Walking up towards the centre you reach the church of Santa Eulàlia. Its rooftop terraces can be visited from April to October with the €6 ticket from Spiritual Mallorca, the diocese's network of monuments.

A few steps away, on Carrer Can Savellà, is Can Vivot, one of Palma's showiest baroque courtyards: red marble Corinthian columns and an imperial staircase, remodelled between the late 17th century and 1717. It is a private house where the family still lives, so you can't just walk in. The city's official tourism directory lists 30–45-minute guided visits for €12 (under-10s free): Tuesday to Thursday at 11:00, Wednesday to Friday at 17:00 and Saturdays at 10:30; closed Sunday and Monday. Book before you go. The history of the house is on Palma Virtual, the city council's website.

3. Basílica de Sant Francesc

A Gothic church begun in 1281, with a baroque façade finished in 1700. You enter through a two-storey Gothic cloister with orange trees and a well in the middle. Inside is the tomb of Ramon Llull, Mallorca's great medieval thinker, in the first chapel on the left. Hardly any tour stops to see it. The cloister is part of Spiritual Mallorca (€6).

4. Plaça de Cort and Plaça Major

Carry on to Plaça de Cort, with the town hall and its olive tree in front, then climb to Plaça Major. Both are public squares: nothing to pay here.

5. Passeig del Born and Casal Solleric

The Born is the old town's grand promenade. At number 27 stands Casal Solleric, an 18th-century palace (finished in 1775) that is now a contemporary art exhibition centre. Free entry, Tuesday to Saturday 10:00–20:00, Sundays and public holidays 11:00–14:30; closed Mondays. The ground floor, main floor and courtyard are wheelchair accessible, with an adapted toilet. It's the best free, air-conditioned stop on the whole route. Programme at casalsolleric.palma.es.

6. Sa Llotja

At the seaward end of the Born is the Llotja, the Gothic merchants' exchange. Today it is an exhibition hall run by the Balearic government: when there's an exhibition, entry is free; otherwise you'll see it from outside, which is worth the detour anyway. On 1 March, Balearic Islands Day, it holds an open day. See what's on at the Llotja website.

7. Almudaina, cathedral and Palau March

From the Llotja you head back towards the cathedral, where the final trio awaits:

• Palau de l'Almudaina: €8 (reduced €5); closed Mondays. Free on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons only for EU and Ibero-American citizens and EU residents, with ID. Everything in the Palau de l'Almudaina guide.
• Cathedral (La Seu): official ticket €10 including the Museu d'Art Sacre, or €25 if you add the rooftop terraces (March to November). Closed to sightseeing on Sundays and Saturday afternoons. There's a dress code: shoulders covered and nothing shorter than mid-thigh. Prices and hours in the cathedral guide.
• Palau March: the March family museum next to the cathedral, with a sculpture garden-terrace (Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Chillida, Rodin), a nativity scene of almost 2,000 pieces and a room painted by Josep Maria Sert. Open Monday to Saturday, 10:00–17:30; closed Sundays and public holidays. Check the price on the Palau March website.

To close the loop, go down to Parc de la Mar and walk back east along the Dalt Murada, the promenade on top of the sea walls.

Which day to walk it: Sunday and Monday

The old town never closes, but its monuments have bad days:

With that in hand: Tuesday to Friday everything is open. On Sunday the route still works for the Arab Baths, Solleric in the morning and a free Almudaina in the afternoon if you hold an EU passport, but you'll only see the cathedral from outside, or at Mass without sightseeing. On Monday the cathedral, Palau March and Arab Baths are open, but the Almudaina, Solleric and most museums close.

To combine with other plans in the city, there's the full list in things to do in Palma and all the official prices together in Palma tickets.

With a guide or on your own

The route above is easy to do on your own and costs only what you pay in admissions: cathedral €10, Almudaina €8 and Arab Baths €3.50 come to €21.50 for the three headline monuments. A guided tour adds something else: the stories behind each courtyard, the old Jewish quarter (the Call) and someone to steer you through the lanes without staring at your phone.

If you'd like a guide, have a look at these ("from" prices, updated daily):

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See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

To compare free, evening and tapas tours at leisure, see the guide to walking tours in Palma, and if you want to eat along the way, the one on tapas and local food.