Dolphin watching in Mallorca from Palma: boats, times and what to expect

Dolphin watching in Palma de Mallorca is a three-hour boat trip around the bay, starring bottlenose and striped dolphins, with the odd common dolphin now and then. They are free animals: nobody can promise you they will show up, and the law stops the boat from chasing them. What you do control is the operator, the time, the quay and the price.

Two companies run it from the Bay of Palma: Palma Cruises, which leaves from the centre, and Life & Sea, which leaves from S'Arenal and Can Pastilla at the eastern end of the bay. If you read somewhere that the trip lasts four to five and a half hours, it does not: both last 3 hours.

Palma Cruises or Life & Sea: which to choose

Our pick for most people: Palma Cruises. It is cheaper, leaves from the Paseo Marítimo (on foot or by bus from almost any hotel in the centre) and booking on its website saves you 10%. Life & Sea makes sense if you are staying in Playa de Palma or S'Arenal, or if you want the bay's only sunrise departure. You pay €25 more per adult than at Palma Cruises' quay, but the cancellation policy is more flexible.

Reviews of each company, with their other trips, are in our Palma Cruises review and our Life & Sea review.

Dolphin tour prices: at the quay, online or on a platform

Palma Cruises' pricing is worth understanding before you pay. The base price is €55 per adult if you make your own way to the quay and €65 if you want the pick-up coach from your hotel. Buying on its official website (palmacruises.com) gets you 10% off: €49.50 without transfer and €58.50 with transfer. Children €35, babies €15, seniors €45.

On GetYourGuide the same trip costs from €55 (rated 4.4 from 395 reviews when we checked), and on Tiqets there is a 3-hour Palma trip with a swim and snorkelling from €55, without the provider's name on the listing. The platform matches the quay price; the operator's website is cheaper. The platform's advantage is cancellation: Palma Cruises keeps 20% if you cancel less than 3 days before departure (it only refunds 100% with a medical certificate), whereas on a platform the listing's own policy applies. If your plans might change, compare both sets of terms before paying.

Life & Sea sells direct at lifeandsea.com for €80 per adult and €70 per child aged 3 to 12, with a 2.5% surcharge when paying by card online. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

GetYourGuide4 - 5.5 hours

Sea· Palma city

PALMA CRUISES Dolphin Watch morning

4.4 (395)

from €55Check availability

Tiqets

Sea· Bay and beaches

Mallorca: Dolphin Watching Cruise from Paguera

4.2 (23)

from €45Check availability

GetYourGuide2 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

Alcudia: Sunrise Dolphin Watching with Free Hotel Pick-up

4.9 (953)

from €79Check availability

GetYourGuide3 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

Can Picafort: Dolphin Watching Boat Tour, Swimming Stop

4.8 (822)

from €70Check availability

See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

Times and boarding point

Palma Cruises leaves from the Muelle de las Golondrinas, on the Paseo Marítimo (Av. Gabriel Roca), right opposite the Auditòrium de Palma. There is a morning departure and an early-afternoon one. The website says 10:00 and 14:00, but its booking system has shown the morning trip at 10:30: the time that counts is the one on your ticket. Boarding starts about 15 minutes before.

The most common mistake is going to the wrong quay. Palma has two boarding areas 1.5 km apart: the Golondrinas (opposite the Auditòrium) and the Escala Real, below the cathedral, where other boats leave from. The dolphin trip does not leave from the cathedral. If you come by car, the nearest pay car park recommended by the quay's operators is Marquès de la Sènia. EMT bus line 1 runs along the Paseo Marítimo.

With hotel pick-up, Palma Cruises runs two coach routes. The Calvià route starts in Camp de Mar at 08:15 and passes through Peguera, Santa Ponsa, Magaluf, Palmanova, Portals Nous, Illetes and Cala Major to Club de Mar (10:05). The Arenal route starts at El Dorado/Tolleric at 09:00 and runs through S'Arenal and Playa de Palma to Can Pastilla (09:45). For the afternoon trip, the Calvià coach starts at 11:45.

Life & Sea boards in two places:

• S'Arenal: office on c/ Balneario, at the end of the beach next to the Club Nàutic S'Arenal (already in the municipality of Llucmajor). You reach it across the sand, so it is not wheelchair accessible. Departures at 06:00, 09:15 and 12:45. For parking, the operator suggests the Son Veri Nou area. Arrive 15 minutes early.
• Can Pastilla: yacht club entrance, Carrer de les Nanses 7. Departure at 09:30. EMT buses 31, 32, 35 and A2 to the "Cala Estancia" stop, then a 5-minute walk. It is the easiest boarding point by public transport.

Dolphins at sunrise: the 06:00 departure

Life & Sea's 06:00 departure from S'Arenal is the only one in the bay that sets off in the dark and watches the sun come up at sea. Same price as the others (€80), the same 3 hours and the same swim stop in a cove at the end. Bring a jacket: the operator itself recommends it at that hour.

If the early start is not for you, bear in mind that in the bay the sea is usually flatter in the morning, advice local operators repeat for anyone prone to seasickness. For delicate stomachs, the morning trip beats the afternoon one.

Are you sure to see dolphins? What the law says

Palma Cruises says it finds dolphins on 90% of its trips, but that is its own figure, not externally audited, and the company adds that it cannot guarantee it 100%. Life & Sea talks about "very high" chances without giving numbers.

Some platform listings promise a "100% guaranteed" sighting. Nobody controls a wild animal: treat those words with scepticism and read the terms before you pay.

In Spain, whale and dolphin watching is regulated by Real Decreto 1727/2007, which applies to every boat, commercial or private:

• There is a 500 m protection zone around the dolphins. No boat may come closer than 60 m.
• Between 60 and 300 m, a maximum of two boats at a time, and none if there is a mother alone with her calf.
• Maximum speed 4 knots, approaching at an angle of about 30°, never head-on or from behind, with no reversing or circling them.
• Feeding them, attracting them with noise and swimming or diving with them inside the exclusion zone are all banned.
• If the dolphins approach the boat themselves, it may keep its course and speed.

Dolphin trips from Palmanova, Magaluf and other areas

If you are looking for a dolphin boat trip from Palma Nova or Magaluf, you have two options, and they are nothing alike:

1. Palma Cruises' coach, which picks up in Magaluf, Palmanova and the rest of the Calvià coast and takes you to the Muelle de las Golondrinas. This is real dolphin watching: €65 (€58.50 online).
2. Cruceros Costa de Calvià's "Dolphin", which leaves Magaluf beach at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 (Son Matias 10 minutes later, Palmanova 15). It is the semi-submersible Esmeralda Dos, a glass-bottom boat that runs along the west side of the bay for 2 hours for €30 (children €20). "Dolphin" is the boat's name, not a promise: it is a coastal trip to look at the seabed, not an outing to find dolphins. We review it in our Cruceros Costa de Calvià review.

GetYourGuide and Tiqets also list trips from Santa Ponsa and Peguera (from €40–45, some in glass-bottom boats) and, above all, from the north of the island: Alcúdia, Can Picafort and Cala d'Or, with high ratings and prices from €59 to €90. If you are staying there, they are your natural choice. From Palma they do not pay off: Port d'Alcúdia is about 45 minutes away by car, and then you have to drive back.

GetYourGuide2 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

Wild Dolphin Watching & Sea Cave Tour by Speedboat

4.9 (425)

from €80Check availability

Tiqets

Sea· Bay and beaches

Mallorca: Dolphin Watching Glass-Bottom Boat Tour from Paguera

4.2 (22)

from €45Check availability

GetYourGuide3 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

Can Picafort: Dolphin Watching Boat Tour with Swimming & Caves

4.9 (110)

from €67.15Check availability

GetYourGuide2.5 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

Semi-private PREMIUM boat: Dolphin watching (100% guaranteed) and cave

4.6 (134)

from €72Check availability

GetYourGuide3 hours

Sea· Rest of the island

North Coast Dolphin Sunrise Adventure Tour

4.8 (43)

from €80Check availability

GetYourGuide1 hour

Sea· Rest of the island

Cala d'Or: Dolphin sightseeing tour with viewing

4.7 (42)

from €60.06Check availability

See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

Dolphinarium in Palma: Marineland, not the Aquarium

If you are thinking of a dolphinarium, Palma Aquarium is not one: there are no dolphins there and no dolphin show: it is an aquarium with fish, sharks and jellyfish. If that is what you are after, see our Palma Aquarium guide.

The island's captive dolphins are at Marineland Mallorca, in Costa d'en Blanes (Calvià), about 10 minutes by car from Palma along the Andratx motorway, served by TIB buses 104, 106 and 107. It is still open and its dolphin shows still run: Spain's animal welfare law (Ley 7/2023) bans breeding cetaceans for shows, but lets the animals already there stay in the park.

• Entry: €32 adult (ages 11–65), €23 for children aged 5 to 10 and over-65s, €15 for ages 3 to 4; under-3s free. Same price at the desk and online; the 2+2 family pack (€90) is only sold online.
• Dolphin show: 12:20 and 16:20 until 1 November, with the park open daily 10:00–17:00. From November it opens only at weekends and on public holidays, 10:00–15:00, with a single dolphin show at 12:50.

Confirm times on the Marineland website. More family ideas in Palma with kids.

Tips for the trip

• Palma Cruises audio guide: it is digital and plays on your phone. Bring earphones and a charged battery.
• Bar on board with Palma Cruises, with vegan options. Life & Sea does not allow you to bring your own drinks.
• Swimsuit on: the swim stop depends on sea conditions, and with Life & Sea it comes after the dolphin watching, in a cove.
• Palma Cruises bookings: must be made by an adult aged 18 or over.
• Season: neither operator publishes an end-of-season date. Outside summer, check availability on their website before planning your day.

For more time at sea, combine it with a boat trip around the bay, a sunset catamaran or, with a whole day, the Cabrera boat trip, which Life & Sea also runs from the bay. If you arrive on a cruise ship, Palma Cruises' 14:00 departure fits well after a morning ashore: we explain it in the cruise port guide.

Frequently asked questions