Boat trips in the Bay of Palma: catamaran, cruise, snorkelling or sunset

A boat trip in Palma de Mallorca can be a 55-minute loop to see the cathedral from the water, a five-hour catamaran with a barbecue and a swim in a cove, a glass-bottom boat or a sunset with a drink in hand. What hardly anyone tells you: there are two different quays, nearly all the catamarans head for the same stretch of coast, and in the afternoon the wind whips up a chop. Here are each company's direct prices so you can choose in five minutes.

Which Palma boat trip to choose: types and prices

The useful question is how much time you have and whether you want to swim. Adult prices on each company's own website:

Our default recommendation: a five-hour catamaran in the morning. It leaves at 10:00, the sea is flatter and lunch is included. With Magic Catamarans, under-sevens travel free.

Our pick of boat trips in Palma

1

First-timers and families

Magic Catamarans' 5-hour catamaran: barbecue, soft drinks and sangria or wine with lunch, swims at Cova Verda and Cala Vella. Same price as on its own website.

GetYourGuide5 hours

Sea· Palma city

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

4.6 (12,441)

from €59Check availability

2

If you only have an hour

The Marco Polo cruise leaves every hour, Monday to Saturday, from the Escala Real below the cathedral. No swim: it is for looking.

GetYourGuide50 minutes

Sea· Palma city

Mallorca: Palma City Cruise with Iconic Sights

4.2 (331)

from €19Check availability

3

Cheap snorkelling with a drink

Two and a half hours with snorkelling in the marine reserve and one drink. Today it is cheaper here than the €39 direct price.

GetYourGuide2.5 hours

Sea· Palma city

Mallorca: Palma Boat Tour & Snorkelling with Drink Included

4.4 (2,726)

from €35.10Check availability

4

A premium catamaran

Route to Cueva Verde and Cala Vella with food on board, rated 4.7 out of 5.

GetYourGuide4 - 5.5 hours

Sea· Palma city

Palma: Premium Catamaran to Cueva Verde & Cala Vella

4.7 (1,698)

from €82Check availability

Where the boats leave from: Palma's two quays

The most common mistake is going to the wrong quay. Palma has two boarding areas about 1.5 km apart along the seafront:

• Muelle de las Golondrinas, on the Paseo Marítimo (Av. Gabriel Roca), opposite the Auditòrium. Magic Catamarans, Oasis (Oasis II and Oasis Blue), Attraction Catamarans, Barca Samba and Palma Cruises leave from here. Handy if you are staying in the Paseo Marítimo hotels.
• Escala Real (or Moll de la Llotja), next to the Moll Vell and below the cathedral. The Marco Polo cruise, the Oasis Lux catamaran and Sa Calma Boats' Saona board here. It is the only quay you can walk to from the old town.

Oasis uses both depending on the boat: check your ticket.

Outside the centre, Can Pastilla (yacht club entrance, Carrer de les Nanses 7) is the base of Sa Calma Boats and some Life & Sea tours; take bus 31, 32, 35 or A2 to the "Cala Estancia" stop and walk five minutes. In S'Arenal, next to the Club Nàutic (already in the municipality of Llucmajor), Life & Sea boards across the sand: it is not wheelchair accessible.

Boat trips from Palmanova and Magaluf

From Calvià you do not need to go into Palma. Cruceros Costa de Calvià leaves from the beach landing stages at Magaluf, Son Matias and Palmanova: a 2-hour underwater-viewing boat (€30, children €20; from Magaluf at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00), a day at sea with lunch on Wednesdays and Sundays (€60) and a boat to Palma on Tuesdays and Saturdays (€32). Its website does not publish this year's season dates: confirm them at cruceroscostadecalvia.es. More in our Cruceros Costa de Calvià review. Palma Cruises also picks up from Calvià hotels for €10 extra.

Catamarans in the Bay of Palma: what each one includes

Every catamaran leaving Palma crosses the bay towards the Llucmajor coast and stops at Cova Verda (the "Green Cave"), Cap Rocat, Cala Vella or Cala Blava, inside the marine reserve. None goes to Portals Vells, whatever some adverts say. What changes is what the price covers and how many people are on board.

What the listings do not show:

1. Only Magic includes soft drinks and wine. On Oasis and Attraction you pay for everything except water; on Attraction a cocktail costs €15 and a beer €4–5.
2. Paddleboarding is only included on Oasis and Magic Plus. Magic asks for a €10 deposit on the snorkel mask (€20 on the Plus) and Oasis charges €20 for the kit: if you have a mask, bring it.
3. The child age band varies. Magic: half price from 7 to 14, free from 0 to 6. Attraction: 6 to 12. Oasis: 4 to 10. Life & Sea: half price from 3 to 12.

Prefer Illetes? Then it is not a catamaran: Life & Sea runs a 3-hour tour to Illetes from Can Pastilla or S'Arenal (€45, children €30).

GetYourGuide5 hours

Sea· Palma city

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

4.6 (12,441)

from €59Check availability

GetYourGuide4 hours

Sea· Palma city

Palma de Mallorca: Daytime Fun Cruise with Swim Stop & Music

4.5 (986)

from €50.92Check availability

GetYourGuide4 hours

Sea· Palma city

From Palma: Luxury Catamaran Tour with Tapas & Welcome Drink

4.7 (515)

from €99Check availability

GetYourGuide4.5 hours

Sea· Palma city

Luxury Catamaran Trip in Palma with Food & Paddle Boards

4.6 (551)

from €73.80Check availability

GetYourGuide1 hour

Sea· Palma city

Palma Bay: 1-Hour Speedboat Adventure

4.5 (543)

from €40Check availability

GetYourGuide4 hours

Sea· Bay and beaches

Can Pastilla: Sailboat Tour with Snorkelling, Tapas & Drinks

4.9 (309)

from €99Check availability

See everything on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 6 October 2026

Short, cheap boats: cathedral cruise, swim and snorkelling

55-minute cruise (€19). The Marco Polo boat, now sold as Mallorca City Boat and run by Sa Calma Boats, leaves the Escala Real every hour from 11:00 to 17:00, Monday to Saturday. It passes the Almudaina and the cathedral, shows you Bellver from the water, the Porto Pi lighthouse, the cruise terminal and Sant Carles Castle. A snack and water are included; it does not stop for a swim. It is the same boat City Sightseeing sells with its hop-on hop-off bus, cheaper at cityboatmallorca.com.

Three hours with a swim (€27 online). Palma Cruises' Palma Boat Tour leaves the Golondrinas at 11:00 and 14:00: €30 at the kiosk, €27 on its website, children €15. It is the cheapest trip with a swim from the centre. The catch: cancel less than three days ahead and they keep 20%.

Coast and snorkelling from Can Pastilla and S'Arenal (€29–39). Sa Calma Boats runs a 2-hour morning coastal trip (€29) and a 2.5-hour outing with snorkelling and one drink on the Super Delfín Verde (€39 direct). In S'Arenal, Life & Sea's "Superman" boat does 2 hours with snorkelling included for €33. If you want speed, see speedboats and jet skis.

Glass-bottom boats and dolphins: what you will really see

No glass-bottom boat leaves from central Palma. The well-known one is Cruceros Costa de Calvià's Esmeralda Dos, a semi-submersible catamaran that leaves Magaluf and Palmanova and runs along the west side of the bay. It is sold as "Dolphin", but the name is not a promise: it follows the coast, it does not look for dolphins.

For dolphins there are two dedicated trips: Palma Cruises' Dolphin Watch from the Golondrinas (3 h, €55 at the quay or €65 with transfer, 10% less online) and Life & Sea's from S'Arenal or Can Pastilla (€80, with a sunrise departure at 06:00). Neither guarantees sightings. Everything is in dolphin watching in Palma.

Sunset, party boats and private boats

The cheapest sunset on the water is Magic Catamarans' at €20, from 19:30 to 21:00, with a sangria, cava or soft drink and something to nibble; children are welcome. But by mid-October the sun sets around 19:10, so that departure is already sailing in the dark: in autumn, pick one at 17:00 or 18:30. Full comparison in sunset cruises.

Barca Samba takes up to 112 passengers from the Golondrinas with a DJ; its sunset (from €49.90) and night (from €39.90) trips are adults only (18+), and the sunset swim only happens from June to August. The port put the Golondrinas berths out to tender in a way that would leave party boats out; that was challenged in court and the tender is being reissued, so confirm your departure before you go. On top of that, party boats serving alcohol cannot pick up in Magaluf, Playa de Palma or S'Arenal, or come within one nautical mile of those areas.

For groups, a private boat with skipper pays off sooner than you would think: Oasis rents out the whole Oasis Blue (25 places) from €990. And note: since 1 October 2026 renting a motor boat requires a nautical qualification. Without one you are left with a skippered boat, a kayak, a paddleboard or a pedal boat; the Licencia de Navegación takes a day, with no exam. Details in boat rental.

Wind, seasickness and crowds

The embat. That is what Mallorcans call the sea breeze. In the bay it blows from the south-west, builds through the morning and is strongest around 14:00, especially in June and July. So in the morning the sea is flatter and in the afternoon there is more short chop. Sa Calma Boats recommends the morning to anyone who gets seasick: between the 10:00 and the 15:30 departure of the same catamaran, take the first.

If you get seasick: sit in the middle of the boat, on the lower deck, look at the horizon, stay off your phone and avoid alcohol and heavy food. Pharmacies sell tablets, including for children.

Cancellations. The captain decides; Sa Calma may call off trips with wind above force 4 or waves over a metre. Normally, if the company cancels for bad weather you get a refund or another date; if you cancel because of a few clouds, you do not.

Crowds. Attraction uses a 145-seat catamaran; Magic Plus caps at 35 and Oasis Blue at 22. If you do not want to share the deck with a hundred people, pay €15–50 more for a small group. In July and August book days ahead: Barca Samba warns that at short notice the platforms may show departures that are already full.

When to go: season, water and the best time of day

Most boats sail from April to October; the Marco Polo cruise, according to City Sightseeing, from April to November. Each company sets its own dates.

The water is around 21 °C in June, 24 °C in July, 26 °C in August and still 22 °C in October, the month with the most rainy days. If you arrive on a cruise ship, the 55-minute boat or Palma Cruises' 14:00 departure fit a port call: we cover it in cruise port.

How to book: the company's website or a platform

For boats, booking direct usually costs the same or less. Magic's 5-hour catamaran is €59 on its website and on the platform; the Marco Polo cruise is €19 on its website and a bit more as a City Sightseeing trip. Sometimes it is the other way round: Sa Calma's snorkelling trip appears on GetYourGuide today from €35.10, below its direct price.

The platform gives free cancellation up to 24 h before; with "reserve now, pay later" on GetYourGuide your card is charged 72 h before departure. Always check the company name on the listing: several sell the same boat under different names. Every option is in the list of boat trips from Palma.

See dates for the 5-hour catamaranfrom €59Affiliate link: if you book, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

More sea: the Cabrera boat trip.