Activities in Palma de Mallorca: sea, land, food, nightlife and wellbeing

Activities in Palma de Mallorca fall into four worlds: the sea in the bay, the island's interior on wheels or in the air, food and nightlife, and a couple of wellbeing options to slow the pace. This guide tells you what's worth it in each, where it really starts (many activities "in Palma" begin in S'Arenal, Magaluf or next to the airport), what it costs direct and on a platform, and which rules can spoil your plans. Each section links to its full guide.

Palma de Mallorca activities: how to choose in a minute

If you only have one day, the combination that works best is the sea in the morning or at midday and flamenco or tapas in the evening. With three days or more, add a land activity and save the hammam for the day the sun gets to you.

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Sea· Palma city

Palma de Mallorca: 5-Hour Catamaran Cruise with Lunch & Swim

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Food and nights· Palma city

Palma de Mallorca: Gourmet Tapas and Wine Tour

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Sea· Palma city

Palma: Deluxe Catamaran with Snacks, Drink, SUP & Snorkelling

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Sea· Palma city

Palma de Mallorca: Jetski Tour to Palma Cathedral

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Adventure· Palma city

Mallorca: ATV/Quad Tour: Optional + Cliff Jumping + Snorkeling

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Sea· Rest of the island

Mallorca: Kayak and Paddle Board trip through caves with crystal-clear water

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See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

Water activities in Palma: boats, catamarans and snorkelling

Before booking any boat, check the boarding point. Palma has two piers 1.5 km apart: the Muelle de las Golondrinas, on the Passeig Marítim opposite the Auditòrium, where almost all the catamarans leave from, and the Escala Real, below the cathedral next to the Moll Vell. Going to the wrong pier is the most common mistake.

Day catamarans. The classic is Magic Catamarans: 5 hours with a barbecue, soft drinks and sangria or wine included for €59 on their website, and the same on GetYourGuide from €59, with more than 12,000 reviews. If you want paddleboards and kayaks on board, the Magic Plus costs €74; if something short with tapas will do, the Sea Tapas costs €39. All the bay catamarans head for the Llucmajor coast (Cova Verda, Cap Rocat, Cala Vella, Cala Blava), inside the marine reserve, where snorkelling is free.

Short and cheap. The cheapest boat with a swim stop leaving from the centre is the Palma Cruises Palma Boat Tour: 3 hours for €30, €27 if you buy online. Without a swim, the Mallorca City Boat panoramic cruise does a 55-minute loop of the harbour from the Escala Real for €19, Monday to Saturday.

Sunset and party boats. Magic's sunset sail costs €20. Barca Samba's sunset and night trips are over-18s only. Watch out with party boats: they can't pick up passengers in Playa de Palma, S'Arenal or Magaluf, nor come within one nautical mile of those coasts.

Dolphins and Cabrera. Palma Cruises goes out for 3 hours looking for dolphins for €55 at the pier (€65 with transfer, 10% less online); Life & Sea does it for €80, with a sunrise trip at 06:00. Boats to Cabrera leave from Colònia de Sant Jordi (Classic €58, Express €45); from the Bay of Palma only Life & Sea sails there, for €90.

Hiring a boat. Since 1 October 2026 you need a boating licence to rent any motorboat in Spain: licence-free rentals are over. Without a licence, your options are a skippered boat, a kayak, a paddleboard or a pedalo. The quickest licence is the Licencia de Navegación, a one-day course with no exam.

Every trip in detail: boat trips, sunset cruises, boat rental, dolphins and Cabrera trip.

Jet skis, parasailing, paddleboarding and diving

Jet skis. Trips "from Palma" leave from the Club Nàutic Cala Gamba or from S'Arenal. The short ride to the cathedral lasts 30 minutes and costs from €99 per jet ski with one or two people; on GetYourGuide you'll see it from €99, and the one-hour ride round Los Deltas from €169. Without a boating licence you can only go on a guided tour with an instructor or on a marked circuit; the driver must be 18 (16 with parental consent).

Parasailing. There's no parasailing on the city beaches: it leaves from S'Arenal or Magaluf. In S'Arenal it costs €65 per person, you fly in pairs or threes, from age 10 and only if you can swim. A companion who isn't flying can ride in the boat for €25.

Kayaks and paddleboards. The cheapest rental near Palma is in Can Pastilla: €15 an hour for a stand-up paddleboard or a single kayak. The water is usually flatter in the morning. If you'd rather go guided, there's a kayak and paddleboard trip through sea caves from €50.

Diving. There's no dive centre on Palma's seafront. Try dives leave mainly from Santa Ponça, towards the Malgrats islands, inside the Illes del Ponent marine reserve, from €115, rising to €129.90 at Cap de Regana. The aquarium's shark dive is separate: over-18s only, €210.

More detail in jet skis and speedboats, parasailing and water sports and diving in Mallorca. For beach days without an activity, see Palma's beaches.

Land activities: buggies, bikes, Segways and helicopters

Buggies and quads. Buggies leave from Son Oms, next to the airport, not from the centre: €240 for a two-seater and €300 for a four-seater, per vehicle, about 3 hours up to Puig de Randa. The driver must be 21 and carry their original licence. At 18 to 20, the alternative is a quad from El Arenal or Santa Ponça. Details and requirements in buggy and quad.

Bikes, e-bikes and Segways. The seafront cycle lane runs from Porto Pi to Portixol (more than 5 km) and carries on to Can Pastilla and S'Arenal. Next to the cathedral, city bikes rent for €10–12 a day and e-bikes for €25–35. Guided bike tours start at €40, and Segway tours of the old town are also about €40. If you rent an e-scooter, remember that riding on the pavement is banned in Palma and that a helmet and insurance are compulsory. All of it in bike, Segway and scooter.

Sports cars and helicopters. There's no "sunset Ferrari tour" we can confirm. There is sports car hire in Palma, a guided drive with dinner from Puerto Portals (from €249) and F1-style trikes in Peguera (from €100). Helicopters take off from Son Bonet aerodrome in Marratxí, not from the airport: about €575–599 for a 30-minute flight for up to three people. We explain it in sports cars and helicopter flights.

On foot and by sightseeing bus. Free tours leave from the Parc de la Mar, opposite the tourist office, and are paid with a tip; the platform suggests €15 to €50 per person. The City Sightseeing bus has 19 stops and runs from 10:00 to 17:30. Guides: walking tours and sightseeing bus. To get out of the city, see excursions from Palma.

Parks and activities for kids

If you're travelling with children, the calendar matters more than the price. What's open changes a lot between summer and autumn:

The aquarium has one of the deepest shark tanks in Europe, 8.5 metres, and opens 365 days a year; it has no dolphins. Katmandu is almost all indoors, so it also works on a rainy day. At Marineland the dolphin shows are still running. For treetop courses, Jungle Parc in Santa Ponça only takes cash, and TirolinasGo Mallorca, the former Forestal Park, has zip lines of up to 250 m next to Playa de Palma.

Everything for families in Palma with kids and in the Palma Aquarium guide. If the day turns grey, there are ideas in what to do in Palma when it rains.

Food, tapas and nightlife

Markets. The Mercat de l'Olivar, between Plaça d'Espanya and Carrer de Sant Miquel, and the Mercat de Santa Catalina are the two for eating at the counter. Both close on Sundays. In Santa Catalina the bars run until 17:00 and the fishmongers close on Mondays, so seafood and oysters are a Tuesday-to-Saturday thing. Look for the PGI label on sobrassada (cured pork sausage with paprika) and on the ensaïmada (the island's spiral pastry).

Tapas routes. Guided tapas tours start at €47 on foot (Call & Ride, 3 hours from Plaça del Rosari); on the platforms there's an old town food tour from €65 and a wine and tapas tour from €55. The Ruta Martiana in the Sa Gerreria neighbourhood is a Tuesday-evening tradition of a tapa and a small beer for a small price: ask locally whether it's still running before you go. For wine without a tour bus, the José L. Ferrer winery in Binissalem offers visits with a tasting from €21.50. More in tapas and markets.

Flamenco. Palma's only tablao is Tablao Flamenco Alma, at Avinguda de Portugal 5, five minutes from Plaça d'Espanya. There are shows every day at 17:30, 19:30 and 21:30; each lasts an hour. The ticket includes a drink, or a drink and tapas, but there's no dinner: eat before the 21:30 show or after the 17:30 and 19:30 ones. Son Amar, the old dinner show in Bunyola, is no longer open to the public. See the guide to flamenco in Palma.

Nightlife. To go out like the locals: Santa Catalina and Sa Gerreria for bars and cocktails, and the Passeig Marítim for clubs. The old Tito's no longer exists under that name: the building now houses another club. In Playa de Palma, S'Arenal and Magaluf special rules against excess tourism apply: no happy hours or open bars, pub crawls banned, no alcohol sales in shops from 21:30 to 08:00, and fines of €500 to €1,500 for drinking in the street. Megapark in Playa de Palma closes for the season in mid-October. It's all in nightlife and, for groups, in stag and hen dos in Mallorca.

Wellbeing: hammam and Arab baths

Hammam Al Ándalus. A modern spa at Carrer Costa i Llobera 20, next to El Corte Inglés, with cold, warm and hot pools, a steam bath and massage rooms. Sessions start every two hours from 10:00 to 22:00 and last 90 minutes in total; the massage is included in that time. Rules worth knowing: swimwear compulsory (underwear doesn't count), no photos, silence, and cancellation only up to 48 hours before. It isn't wheelchair accessible, as there are steps down to the pools and stairs to the massage area.

The official website doesn't publish fixed prices: the price changes with the day and the time. On the platforms you'll see it from €68 with a short massage. The 22:00 session, which ends at 23:30, is a perfect finish to a hot day. Full guide in hammam in Palma.

Banys Àrabs. Don't mix them up: the Banys Àrabs in the old town are a 10th–11th-century monument that you visit in 30–45 minutes for €3.50, cash only. You can't bathe there. We tell you when to go in Arab baths and the old town. For a romantic break with a hammam, flamenco and a sunset boat, see Palma for couples.

Free activities in Palma de Mallorca

Not everything costs money. Free or nearly free options:

• Castell de Bellver: free on Sundays (closes at 15:00) and for under-14s; €4 on other days. Closed on Mondays.
• Fundació Miró: free for under-16s, on Saturdays from 15:00 and on the first Sunday of every month.
• Museu Fundación Juan March: always free; open Monday to Saturday, Mondays included, when almost everything else closes.
• Es Baluard: on Fridays you pay what you like.
• Palau de l'Almudaina: free on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons only for EU and Latin American citizens and EU residents with ID; for everyone on 18 May and 12 October.
• Free tours of the old town: you pay what you think is fair at the end.
• Snorkelling in the bay's marine reserve: free, as long as you carry no fishing gear.
• The seafront cycle lane, on foot or by bike: the city's loveliest walk costs nothing.

When and how to book

Platform or direct. Many activities cost the same on the operator's website as on GetYourGuide; sometimes direct is cheaper (Palma Cruises online) and sometimes the platform gives you more flexibility. Look at three things:

• Cancellation. GetYourGuide refunds you if you cancel more than 24 hours before, unless the listing says otherwise. Some operators are stricter: the hammam asks for 48 hours and Palma Cruises only refunds in full more than three days ahead.
• "Reserve now, pay later" on GetYourGuide charges your card 72 hours before the activity, not on the day.
• Headout adds a service fee at the end of checkout: compare the total, not the listed price.

Season. Boats on the bay run mainly from April to October, as do the water parks, which close earlier. In autumn and winter the best bets are the aquarium, flamenco, the hammam, cycling and island excursions. If you're after the essential sights beyond activities, start with things to see in Palma.

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Sea· Bay and beaches

Santa Ponsa: Try Scuba Diving in a Marine Reserve

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See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026