From our base in Palma, we did a couple of day trips through the western part of Mallorca. The north/western shore of Mallorca is rugged and this mountainous area (known as the Serra de Tramuntana), is Mallorca’s “backbone”, with narrow winding roads, steep hills, dramatic coastline and several quaint medieval villages. As mentioned in my Overview of Mallorca, bicyclists are everywhere – some are just out for fun while others do serious training here.
Andraxt was our first stop along the southwest coast from Palma. We skipped the touristy and trendy Magaluf area, (a short distance from Palma), and decided to check out the quieter southwestern end of the island. As with a number of coastal towns on Mallorca, the town of Andraxt and its port share the same name and are just a few kilometers apart. Hundreds of years ago, the inland town separated from the port provided some protection against raids by pirates. Andraxt and Port Andraxt is one such example. It was interesting to see the difference between the two – Port Andraxt is the modern tourist hub with sleek yachts in the harbor and the old town of Andraxt is nestled in the hills and feels like it’s from a completely different era.
Not far from Andraxt was St. Elm Beach, about a 45 minute drive from Palma. St. Elm is a small resort town at the very tip of southwestern Mallorca. We spent a couple hours enjoying the scenery and beach here. There was a small car park just across the street from the main beach and behind the beach is a line of restaurants and shops facing the beautiful bay, with the uninhabited islet of El Pantaleu just offshore.
North and east along the coast from St. Elm is the municipality of Banyalbufar, with dramatic coastline as shown above in this post and with one of the many scenic medieval towers in Mallorca keeping watch over the coast.
Situated between Valldemossa and Deia, this 13th century monastery is worth a visit – the views from its terraces are lovely. There’s not much left of the original monastery, but there are a few buildings, a small museum and gardens to provide an idea of what life was like for the early inhabitants – monks who were learning Eastern languages in order to take the gospel to the Moors.
Not far from the Miramar Monastery is this little village, perched on a hilltop on the western coast of Mallorca, which has an outsized reputation as a real hot spot. In fact, it’s so busy that we could not find any place to park as we drove by the town. Deia is known for its scenic setting, quaint streets, magnetic star power (lots of music and movie stars have hung out here), and beautiful cove and beach. Traffic was stop and go along the road passing near the town, everyone was looking for a parking spot, just like us. We really wanted to stop and I did a couple passes by the town, but the tiny car parks were continually full. The road is so narrow with cliffs on both sides that you cannot pull off the side of the road. We gave up and just took this picture out of the car window! Maybe you’ll have better luck. Perhaps later in the season or another time of day would have been better (we were there in early September).
In my next post, we’ll explore the villages of Valldemossa and Sóller, two other very beautiful and historic towns on Mallorca’s western coast.