READER'S REVIEWS
Brendan and Veronica Sweeney's 2025 Self Guided Tour across Mallorca, Spain.
In early 2025 we departed from our home in Donegal, Ireland, for our fourth self guided cycling trip to Mallorca, Spain to escape our winter and based ourselves in the Platja de Muro area (in the north of the island). The reason we keep coming back to this part of the island, is because of the numerous bike rental shops in the area, but also because it’s where, in my view, the best cycling roads are.
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We decided to go to the Cap de Formentor lighthouse, as the weather was so nice (this is a 70km spin with almost 1,000m of climbing). This is one of the most iconic routes on the island and must be one of the most scenic routes there is. The climbs are not too steep (6 or 7% on average) and the sea views are breathtaking. Unfortunately, we encountered two road accidents along the way, one involving a cyclist and a car and the other was a lorry that lost control on one of the many hairpin corners enroute and hit a wall. No serious injuries thankfully, but it made us more aware of the traffic around us for the rest of the trip. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for a well-deserved gelato by the sea side in Port de Pollenca. It was just heaven.
Our second day took us on quieter roads (locally called Cami’s) through Campanet, Inca, Sineu and Petra before returning back to Platja de Muro. As with the first day, the weather was just perfect. We had a nice lunch in Sineu and decided to go for a lap or two in the local outdoor velodrome, before getting back on our road home. The Cami’s are just a dream to cycle on as the roads are less busy and most are well paved. They can be a little hilly, but it just makes you go a little slower and enjoy the sounds of nature and the birds singing. This route was 90km long with 750m of climbing.
Day three was a recovery cycle for us as we were saving ourselves for the last day. The weather took a bit of a turn for the worse and we got caught in a shower. It didn’t last long though and we dried out again quickly enough. As with our second day, we cycled as many Cami roads as we could doing a loop from Platja de Muro, Can Picafort, Santa Margalida, Sineu and back to Pollenca. It was just over 80km with 600m of climbing.
Our last day was the one we had been building up to. We did two amazing climbs (Coll de Sa Batalla – 7.88km and 400m of climbing and the famous Sa Calobra – Colls dels Reis – 9.41km and 660m of climbing). The first one took us up a beautiful winding road through a forest and the second one took us down the port at Sa Calobra and then climb back up it again. Once we got to the top, we stopped off for a bite to eat at the viaduct café which was just perfect. The descent back to Port de Pollenca was an amazing end to the day and our tip to Mallorca for this year. So, day four was 115km altogether with 2,000m of climbing.
Mallorca lived up to our expectations once again and we are looking forward to going back there probably around the same time next year. We were very lucky with the weather as we hadn’t cycled so early in the year there before, normally we go during the month of May. At the end of April each year, a major cycle event is run called the 312. This attracts in the region of 10,000 cyclists each year and starts around 7am covering three distances over closed roads (167km, 225km and 312km). Something to take note of, if booking a trip to the island if you want to avoid it, as the roads can get pretty busy before and after the event. The summer gets really hot and isn’t really suitable for cycling unless you go first thing in the morning. The peak season for cycling is March / April / May and then September / October. As I mentioned at the beginning, the area around Platja de Muro / Alcudia / Port de Pollenca, have an abundance of bike rental shops to cater for everyone, normal road bikes, e-bikes etc… Most hotels in the area are well set up to cater for cyclists with locked up bike sheds so you don’t have to keep them in your room.
Tour of Mallorca based between Platja de Muro and Alcudia, Mallorca,Balearic Islands, Spain submitted by: Brendan Sweeney from County Donegal, Ireland.
May 2023
Brendan and Veronica Sweeney with Steve, Derry, Northern Ireland 2023
Tour Length: One week with 5 consecutive days cycling.
Type of Event – This tour was self-guided and self-booked (flights, accommodation and bike hire) by individual members of our cycle club with routes decided beforehand for each of the five days of the trip. Because this was our club's third trip to Mallorca, we had a reasonably good knowledge of the routes we wanted to do.
Our cycling club trip to Mallorca this year was very much looked forward to by the eight of us that took part. This was our third time to visit this cycling paradise in the Mediterranean and won't be our last. We booked our usual hotel (Gruphotel Maritimo in Alcudia) and we weren't disappointed. The hotel is four star and everything about is just right for us. The location is in the north east corner of the island close to many classic cycling routes such as the climbs of Sa Colobra and Cap Formentor, but also loads of flatter roads as well.
We created routes on Strava and downloaded them before we arrived there. The best time of year to travel to Mallorca is probably from March to May and from September to October as the roads are less busy and the weather is not too hot.
We dealt with a german company called Huerzeler that rents out bikes and does guided tours. Their company link is: https://www.huerzeler.com/en. They hire all kinds of bikes including e road bikes from one of their cycle stations on Mallorca and they are great to deal with. This would be perfect for anyone new to the island.
Here is the first reader review that I received from Ray Cameron in 2021, who wrote:
"My wife and I were impressed with Steve's Canberra Pedal Power article in the Spring Edition 2021 magazine, #277. We are both now in our 70s and are fortunate to have stumbled on a cycling holiday system when we started in 2006 and it has worked really well for us, until COVID. We want to encourage your readers to consider trying some of our tours themselves.
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Our first adventure was in the Loire Valley in 2006, where we booked two bikes and panniers and planned our own tour. The panniers provided were very small "shopping panniers", yet we realised that we could each get by with less. We planned a circular tour over 10 nights, returning to the same hotel in Blois, and they were happy to store our bags until our return. Blois is the centre of one of the highest density of castles in Europe and the Tourist Information Centre had a very useful map of the local rides on specified routes to the castles.
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We subsequently have had 13 years of most satisfying and enjoyable self-guided 3-4 weeks cycling holidays. We packed very little, my travel bag fitted into my wife's bag for storage at our first b&b in the town where we hired the bikes, panniers and helmets. As a result we booked the first and last 2 night's b&b accommodation at the town with the bike shop for each subsequent tour.
Our 14 self-guided trips were in France (3), Netherlands (2) and England (9), cycling a total of around 16,500 kms.
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