Cycling Holidays in Mallorca: Everything You Need to Know From a Local Cyclist

If you are researching cycling holidays in Mallorca and wondering whether the island really lives up to the hype, hopefully this will help. I have been living and cycling in Mallorca for over eight years, and during that time I have ridden all over the island and now run organised Mallorca cycling holidays through Velocamp Mallorca. I get asked the same questions all the time. Where should I stay? When should I come? How fit do I need to be? Which climbs do I absolutely need to ride? And should I organise everything myself or book an organised cycling holiday in Mallorca? So I thought I would put everything together in one place and give you my personal opinion, based on actually living here and riding these roads week in and week out.

Why Mallorca? Is the Cycling Really as Good as Everyone Says?

I've been living and cycling in Mallorca now for over eight years, and I can completely understand why this place is the absolute epicenter of cycling in Europe. You see, this island has absolutely everything for all different levels of rider. Are there steeper climbs? Absolutely. Are there more dramatic cliffs? Of course. But here's the big differentiating factor, Mallorca suits all levels of rider. It doesn't matter if you're brand new or Tadej Pogačar. You can find your place in Mallorca. It has something for everybody, challenging climbs, sweeping descents, world class switchbacks, breathtaking panoramic coastal views, beautiful fishing villages, mountain top retreats, greenery, blue ocean and mountain cliffs. But here's the best thing: it's the infrastructure that this island has. It's almost impossible to find a road on Mallorca that's further than a 15 to 20 minute ride away from an awesome coffee shop where you can get a coffee, a slice of cake and consistently good phone signal. For me, this combination is one of the biggest reasons why cycling holidays in Mallorca work so well for so many different types of rider.

We have the option to do a one hour loop that can still see you ride 1,000 meters of elevation. You could do a four to five hour inland ride that sees you navigate all of the tiny, beautiful, cobbled streets, cultural, authentic Mallorcan villages with minimal elevation and nothing but tiny caminos, where you see nothing but chickens and the occasional local villager. Or you could do an all day epic Gran Fondo where you can cover 200 kilometers of mountain passes, racking up four or five thousand meters of elevation gain. So you can literally take your pick. That's one of the things that makes Mallorca cycling holidays so unique. You can come back year after year and have a completely different type of cycling holiday each time.

I recently went to the Pyrenees and, as incredible as the long 20 to 25 kilometer mountain passes were, it was so vast, so sparse. There was absolutely no way of doing any shorter loops, and there wasn't a single café or coffee shop in sight. If you're by yourself and you have a mechanical, you've got a problem. If you're by yourself and you run out of fluids, you've got an issue. Really, the only way to ride somewhere like this is more bikepacking style or with a support driver. It's just not feasible. Then, when you think about other places like Calpe or Girona, you need to navigate really busy city center traffic before you can even find some of the good roads. In Mallorca, it's right there on your doorstep. Really, it doesn't matter where you're staying. You're going to be able to hit the climbs within 10 to 15 minutes from your front door. That's rare. That's unique.

And when you couple all that with the safety of Mallorca, it just becomes an unbeatable destination for a cycling holiday. The car drivers respect you. There's almost zero crime. The roads are generally fantastic. And if you come at the right time of year, the climate is absolutely perfectly suited. There's nowhere like Mallorca, and that's why it's one of the most popular destinations in Europe to cycle. And please ignore these clickbait content creators online saying that Mallorca is too busy. They go out and film those scenes on purpose just to get clicks. You've got to be a complete idiot to come to Mallorca in mid April and start your ride at 10:30 and then be surprised that you see other riders on the road. It's just simple common sense. So there are almost zero negatives to riding here, and that's why I live here and have chosen to call Mallorca my home. And I strongly suggest you come and see why as well.

Where Should You Base Yourself for a Cycling Holiday in Mallorca?

This is a topic that's quite close to my heart, and one that, quite honestly, bugs me on a daily basis. There has been an old, ancient Chinese whisper passed down through the generations ever since people have been cycling in Mallorca that is continuing to grow year on year. That's passed on through various Facebook groups and people who think they're the cycling gods of Mallorca, who visit six times a year and potentially own a small timeshare here. You know the kind of person I'm talking about. They're the leader of their local group back home. They've got the best bike, all the gear, but normally always get dropped. You all know who I'm talking about, and you all know that person.

And those Chinese whispers are the ones that tell everybody online that if you're coming to Mallorca to cycle, you need to go and stay in Port de Pollença. To this day, after living here for eight years and cycling all over the island, I honestly don't understand why people want to go and stay in Port de Pollença to cycle. The only thing I can come up with is because it's dirt cheap, which, of course, I understand. If you're trying to ride Mallorca on a shoestring, yes, go and stay in Port de Pollença, grab yourself a two or three star all inclusive buffet hotel and go cycling. That's fine.

But if you want to ride the best roads in Mallorca and the best routes and the best climbs, then unless you're prepared to put in regular 200 kilometer days or pay out on annoying shuttles and transfers, meaning more money and eating into valuable ride time, then personally I wouldn't even consider Port de Pollença as a location. It's stuffed right up on the northeast coast of the island, and there's a reason why anyone who stays in Port de Pollença ends up riding Cap de Formentor six times during the week, because that's pretty much one of the only handful of good climbs and beautiful locations that they have. For anyone researching Mallorca cycling holidays, I think your choice of base is one of the most important decisions you will make because it dictates how much of the island you can realistically experience during your week. All of the other stuff, like the MA 10 coast road all the way down to Andratx, all of the westerly part of the island, and all of the great climbs through Calvià, Puigpunyent and Es Capdellà in the southwest, is going to be a real hike to get to from Port de Pollença. So unless you're a really strong rider, you're going to end up missing it. Plus, there's tons of amazing stuff to the south of the island as well, but again, it's going to be almost inaccessible.

I have the same conversation all the time. I speak to someone who's on the last day of their week in Mallorca, and they've based themselves in Port de Pollença. I ask them, “Oh wow, so how's it been? Where have you been? Have you done all the most iconic routes?” And they say, “Oh yeah, we did Cap de Formentor four times. We did Coll de Femenia eight times. We went up and down Coll de sa Batalla 16 times. It was amazing!.”

It's that old ancient saying, you don't know what you don't know. So many thousands of people leave Mallorca every single year having missed out on 75% of the best riding Mallorca has to offer. But they don't even know it because they've based their entire trip on the advice from that guy on Facebook who does the same trip over and over and over again each year. That guy with the tiny little timeshare in Port de Pollença.

So where would I stay? Well, I'm based in Palma, and the good thing about Palma is that you have literally a limitless amount of fantastic two hour loops right from your front door. You can do climbs, you can do flats, you can go inland, you can go to the coast, and of course those two hour rides can turn into four or six hour rides and longer if you want. I can get to Sóller within half an hour. I can do the entire coast road. I've got Valldemossa on my doorstep. I can go down to the very westerly point of the island and do St Elm. I've also got great beaches, an endless amount of restaurants and nightlife if I want that too. Culture, shopping, everything is here. Are you going to pay a little bit more than Pollença? Yes. A little bit more, but you get so much more for it, and you get to see the real Mallorca, in my opinion.

The only better choice than Palma is where Velocamp Mallorca is based, which is in Alaró, 20 to 25 minutes northeast of Palma. It's about as central as it gets, nestled at the foothills of the Tramuntana mountain range, which means you can get to every single point of the island within a couple of hours without needing any transport, shuttles or taxis. If you're purely looking to cycle and nothing else, Alaró would be my number one pick. If you're looking to do a little bit more in your spare time and want great restaurants and options for maybe some nightlife, as well as checking out all of the local history, museums, churches and the cathedral, Palma would be my second choice. But like I said, unless you're trying to do it on a shoestring, I wouldn't follow the sheep up to Port de Pollença. You'd just be another one of the herd, riding miles of dead straight, busy roads to begin every single ride before you start to see the good stuff. What's the point?

When Is the Best Time for Mallorca Cycling Holidays?

There are two really well known popular seasons in Mallorca. We've obviously got the autumn time, which is what we're just coming into now, and then we've got the springtime. Admittedly, they're both awesome times to come and ride Mallorca, mostly due to the perfect climate. If someone asks me when they should book their Mallorca cycling holiday, these are normally the first two periods I talk about.

So really, beginning in September through to mid November, we're going to see blue skies, consistent sunshine and pretty quiet roads, as most of the kids have gone back to school, meaning all of the family tourists have left the island. So all those annoying rental cars are gone. Most of the buses and coaches are starting to leave the roads as well, leaving the mountain roads just for us crazy cyclists. We've got fantastic temperatures as well, sitting around 22 to 26 degrees Celsius, or roughly 72 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit. Very rarely do we get any rain.

Then we go through the Christmas period, through the early part of winter, before we get into the springtime. I would say beginning around mid March and running through to the end of May. Again, fantastic temperatures, nice quiet roads before the crazy summertime begins, and consistent sunshine and blue skies. So these are the two main seasons for cycling holidays in Mallorca, although the caveat to that is that there are a lot of cyclists here, and sometimes that can even be more annoying than the cars.

However, the easy way to get around that is to simply get up earlier. At Velocamp, when we're riding during these peak times, we're always out nice and early to beat the crowds. We're down Sa Calobra and back up before the masses have even started their descent. Same with some of the other major climbs like Coll de sa Batalla. We're done before the Repsol garage even starts to get busy. It's one of those small pieces of local knowledge that can make an immense difference to your cycling holiday in Mallorca.

And then we've got the wintertime. There's a very common misconception amongst the cycling community that cycling in Mallorca throughout the winter months isn't great, and that can be so, so wrong. I'm not going to stand here and tell you that if you come in mid January, you're going to be lying on the beach after your ride, caking on the sunscreen. And yes, there's a chance we can get some inclement weather, like anywhere. But at the exact same time, we run Velocamp Mallorca all the way through the winter, and there have been more times than not where we've been on the coast road on a perfect bluebird, blue sky day, and we have ridden the MA-10 all the way from Banyalbufar to Andratx and not seen a single cyclist or a single car.

In fact, it was so crazy once that I actually did a live video and put it on my Instagram feed because I just couldn't believe how lucky we were. So if you hit it right, winter in Mallorca can be the best place to cycle in Europe. If quiet roads are high on your list when researching Mallorca cycling holidays, don't automatically discount the winter months. So come and see us. We run all the way from September to June.

How Fit Do You Actually Need to Be for a Cycling Holiday in Mallorca?

Again, I touched on this at the beginning of this blog. Mallorca is great because it caters for all different kinds of fitness levels. Now, of course, we have mountains. I suggest that anyone coming to ride Mallorca arrives with a really good base level of fitness, and that they've done either some cycling holidays before, or that they're riding regularly at home, either out on the road or on their indoor trainer. Because even though we do have a lot of flats going into the center of the island, it would be criminal to come here and not enjoy the mountain passes.

However, the mountains here aren't that steep. I mean, of course, that's all relative. If you're a new rider, you're going to find all of the mountains steep. But if you've done some cycling holidays before and you've got plenty of experience under your belt, then you will find the Mallorca mountains relatively easy to navigate. Gradients rarely exceed five or six percent, and our longest climb, Puig Major from Sóller, is 14 kilometers long. So when you compare that to the Pyrenees or the Alps, where all of their climbs, at a minimum, normally sit between 18 to 25 kilometers, with gradients of 7 to 10 percent, it's a completely different animal.

However, as we know with cycling, all you need to do is ride faster up those climbs, and you can still absolutely bury yourself. Of course, if you want to come here as a beginner, that's absolutely fine as well. And the best thing about cycling here as a beginner is knowing just how respectful the traffic and the local car drivers are. Cycling is such a huge part of the culture here in Mallorca that the locals have basically grown up with it. You'll actually find cars giving way to you at roundabouts, at tunnels and on small camí lanes. It's crazy.

Our American guests always comment on it after they've come here from New York or Chicago, and they're used to having huge trucks blast past them, leaning on the horn. It's simply not like that here, and it's one of the reasons why I love it so much. We also have brand new e-bikes available at Velocamp Mallorca, so for people who want that little bit of optional assistance on the mountains, it's just another way to enjoy your time here. It's also why organised Mallorca cycling holidays don't necessarily have to be reserved for elite cyclists. Come with a good base level of fitness, know your own ability and there are ways of making the island work for you. Come and see for yourself. You won't regret it.

Where Should You Ride and What Shouldn't You Miss on a Mallorca Cycling Holiday?

Of course, like every major cycling destination, Mallorca has its routes and its climbs that you absolutely must see when you're here. The bucket list climbs, if you wish. For most people researching cycling holidays in Mallorca, these are the roads they've already seen in photos and videos long before they actually arrive on the island. I would say at the top of that list, and the most famous of all the climbs we have here, is a road called Sa Calobra. If you Google Sa Calobra, you'll find endless YouTube videos and photos of people coming here and pushing themselves to the limits trying to beat their time up Sa Calobra. Ten kilometers of relentless switchbacks that take you from the ocean up to the top of the mountain. It's very similar to an Alpe d'Huez that you would have watched on the Tour de France, just a little bit shorter. Average gradients of about 7 percent all the way up, meaning it's consistent, allowing you to really dig down and put in a good effort.

The other unique thing about Sa Calobra is that it's a simple down and up. There are no other routes that connect to the bottom of Sa Calobra, so you have to descend it before you can ascend it, meaning that psychologically, you've got that in your mind all the way down and know exactly what's in front of you on the way up. However, I'll be completely honest with you, it's not my favorite. It sometimes can get very busy in the peak season months. It's mental with tourist cars and buses, and during the quieter winter months, it rarely gets much sun, as it's at the highest point of the island. So it can be very slippery, and some sections of the road surface aren't the best. So really, it's not somewhere that I go regularly outside of our camp week. But all of our guests are always blown away by riding it.

The second most famous spot on the island, I would say, is Cap de Formentor, out to the famous lighthouse up on the northeast coast. This is a peninsula that sticks out like a finger, with a stone lighthouse at the end of it. Incredible coastal views all the way out, with undulating climbs that eventually see you arrive at some of the most iconic views you'll see anywhere in the world. Again, just Google it and you'll see what I mean. You can't miss this one while you're here.

The MA-10 coast road, whichever way you do it, is spectacular. Fifty five kilometers of perfectly smooth coastal tarmac takes you through a selection of stunning coastal villages, with climbs, descents and everything else you'd want from an epic route. Plenty of café stops along the way sees this as one of my favorite routes to ride and one that should be high on the list for anybody planning a cycling holiday in Mallorca.

Some of the other most popular climbs that come to mind that are definitely worth doing are Coll de sa Batalla, Galilea, Coll de Femenia, Randa, Sant Salvador and Es Grau in Puigpunyent. There's just too many to list. None of them are going to completely blow your legs off, but the views and the peacefulness of each of these mountain climbs make it pretty epic. Ride as many as you can during your week, or come and ride with Velocamp and we'll organise it all for you. Either way, you'll love it.

Some Useful Tidbits Nobody Tells You About Cycling in Mallorca

Mallorca is generally an incredibly safe and supportive place to ride, but there are accidents, and there are accidents that I believe are easy to avoid, so long as you know what to look out for. These are some of the basic key points that we include in all of our welcome briefings for our guests on day one at Velocamp, in order to keep you safe. If you're researching cycling holidays in Mallorca for the first time, these are also some of the little things you probably won't read about in the glossy travel guides.

Firstly, depending on when you come to visit the island, there's something worth looking out for on the road surface that can see you come unstuck on one of the many switchback bends that we have here on the mountain passes. If you're coming in some of the cooler, wetter winter months, you really want to look out for green moss, which can collect on some of the shaded areas. It's incredibly slippery, and no matter how slow you're going, you can lose the front wheel very easily. Also on the switchbacks, sometimes there's a lot of gravel that can collect as cars seem to kick it out. If you're coming in some of the warmer months, that green moss can be replaced by pine needles. You wouldn't think it, but these little buggers basically act like black ice and, again, just like the green moss, can see you lose the front wheel on the bends. So do take it easy.

Even outside of these months, when we've got absolutely perfect conditions and people like to unleash their inner Tom Pidcock and go bombing down the descents at 60, 70 or 80 kilometers an hour, you always need to consider in the back of your mind what is around that blind bend. Just because you're on the right side of the road and you're doing everything right, that doesn't mean that everybody else is doing the right thing as well. It is not uncommon to see tourists here from, let's say, the UK, who drive on the left, come around bends on the wrong side of the road, or groups of motorbikes that like to use some of our mountain roads like a racetrack but don't have the skills to match their confidence. Sometimes these then come around, again, on the wrong side of the road.

Even more common than both of those things combined is tearing around a bend on a long, sweeping descent, only to find a herd of goats standing there munching away. What are you going to do? You don't have many options. This is something to think about during all of your descents, where the vast majority of accidents happen.

Something else which can see you come off the bike through no fault of your own are tree roots that have started to grow up through the concrete. Sometimes, through the dappled sunlight as the sun breaks down through the trees, it's very hard to see, and you can be nice and relaxed on the bars taking in the views when all of a sudden you hit these tree roots and it's like going over a speed bump. This has happened to me more times than I can remember.

Lastly, one thing that I won't do in Mallorca, just as a personal preference, is ride in the rain or immediately after the rain. There's something about the roads here, and it's well known amongst people who cycle in Mallorca regularly, that sees the roads here literally turn into a sheet of ice, either during a rainstorm or immediately after it. I've heard from some locals that it's because they like to use glass in the asphalt here, which kind of makes sense from a recycling point of view and a cost point of view, but it can mean that the roads are incredibly slippery due to that. That may or may not be true. It's just what I've heard.

Either way, if you're here for a week on a Mallorca cycling holiday and it has rained, I understand you're not going to want to miss out, and you'll probably go out anyway, in which case halve your speed and literally roll around the switchbacks and down the descents, because if you need to make a quick stop, it's just not going to happen. It's just a few things to keep in mind when you're riding here to keep you safe. Don't be another statistic. It's pretty much always your fault.

DIY Versus an Organised Mallorca Cycling Holiday

If I only had a week and I was coming to Mallorca to ride, and time was my number one priority, if I didn't want to waste any time trying to find my way, knowing which coffee shops to go to, where I can get my fuel, or wanting to remove any concerns about having mechanicals out in the mountains, then I would quite simply book an organised Mallorca cycling holiday with a local tour company, just like Velocamp Mallorca. With us, from the minute you arrive at the airport, you'll be greeted by me, and from that minute on, you won't have to think about anything other than spinning the legs. You know that you're going to get the best guaranteed six days of riding that you can possibly have in Mallorca with the time available to you. You're going to see every climb, ride every one of the most iconic routes, and do it all fully supported while enjoying top level nutrition every day through your own private chef, getting your recovery taken care of with daily massage by a professional sports physiotherapist who's going to come to the villa and work on you every day.

You're going to get that private pool without all the noise of families and busy hotels, so you can relax and unwind with your book or a podcast, getting ready for the next day. All that support on the road with guides who know the island like the back of their hand, being able to throw everything in the van so you can ride light, knowing that it's there available for you if you should need it. It's just an absolute no brainer. So that's my first choice. For me, that's the real benefit of organised cycling holidays in Mallorca. It's not that you couldn't arrange all of these things yourself. Of course you could. It's that you don't have to waste any of your valuable time doing it.

If I wanted to come and do it all myself, what I would do leading up to my departure to Mallorca is I would obviously research the routes that I wanted to ride, and I would build them into Strava or Komoot, or whichever platform you personally like to use, so that I have a good game plan and know exactly where I'm going to be going and when, rather than waiting and trying to figure it all out once I arrive. I would do my research on which bike shop I was going to use and make sure that the bike was booked in and ready for collection. Again, with us at Velocamp, as soon as you arrive, your brand new Canyon is waiting for you, fully sized up and ready to go, with your computer mount locked in and your power meter fully charged, along with your electronic groupset.

And I would most importantly make sure that I'm based in the right place. Personally, I not only want to ride Mallorca, but I also want to feel Mallorca. And in my opinion, if you go and stay up in Port de Pollença with all the other tourists, you're basically in a man-made tourist trap with nothing but tacky souvenir shops and low end hotels. Stay in Palma or one of the beautiful, authentic, traditional villages and get the culture and the history as well as the epic cycling fix. And you can't go wrong.

However you do it, you're going to have a great time. I just think there are ways to make it better. Whether you're planning everything yourself or researching organised cycling holidays in Mallorca because you want somebody else to take care of the details, the important thing is making the most of the time you have here. If you've only got a week, you want that week packed with the best riding, the best climbs and the best experiences Mallorca has to offer.

If you've got any questions after this blog, shoot me an email at Team@velocampmallorca.com and if you're researching Mallorca cycling holidays, cycling holidays in Mallorca, or an organised Mallorca cycling holiday where everything is ready for you from the moment you arrive, visit the Velocamp Mallorca website to see all of our upcoming dates and pricing. If you've got any questions at all, I'm always available.

Cheers!
Alex

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