Mallorca has a beach for every mood, but it is the calas — the small coves tucked into the island's rocky coastline — that people fall for. Backed by pines, floored with pale sand and lapped by impossibly clear water, the best of them look more Caribbean than Mediterranean. A few you can drive to; the prettiest sometimes need a short walk, which is exactly why they stay beautiful.
The wild south: Es Trenc and Es Caló des Moro
Es Trenc, on the south coast, is the island's great undeveloped beach — a long sweep of white sand and turquoise shallows backed by dunes rather than hotels. A little further round, Caló des Moro is the postcard cove, a tiny scoop of sand between cliffs reached by a scramble down a rocky path; go early, as it fills fast and small.
The southeast: Cala Mondragó and the Cala d'Or coves
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Around Santanyí, the Mondragó natural park protects two gorgeous sandy coves with shallow water that is ideal for families. Nearby Cala d'Or strings together a series of pretty marina coves — Cala Gran, Cala Esmeralda — that are more developed but easy to reach and lovely for a swim.
The north: Formentor and Sa Calobra
Up north the scenery turns dramatic. Platja de Formentor sits beneath the mountains at the island's northern tip, and the hair-raising road down to Sa Calobra ends at a cove squeezed between towering cliffs. Both are spectacular and both reward an early start.
Getting around
Palma de Mallorca airport (PMI) is one of Europe's busiest in summer, and many of these coves are an hour or more from it, scattered around the coast. A private transfer to your resort or villa means you arrive without a hire-car queue, and a driver who knows the island can save you a lot of wrong turns on the narrow back roads. Book a Mallorca transfer or see our private transfers in Palma.
