Mallorca, Spain was our favorite stop of the cruise! Here’s the recap of our day, including visits to Palma, Port de Sóller, swimming at Port de Valldemossa, and Valldemossa. Check out my Explora II cruise post here, and previous port stop in Carloforte, Sardinia.
Mallorca, Spain
Mallorca is at the top of my list of places to return to! It was stunningly beautiful. I haven’t been to Hawaii, but it’s how I imagine Hawaii to look: gorgeous cliffs, lush landscapes, and water the most perfect shade of azure blue. It’s famous with celebrities, too: apparently Steven Spielberg’s yacht was in the area, and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have a house near where we were.
Breakfast as we docked
Both my sister and my friend Ellen had recently been to Mallorca, so I consulted them on an itinerary. Our port stop was Palma, which is a bigger city, and we wanted to get outside of the city. Ellen recommended we spend the day in the town of Valldemossa and get there via Uber, but the high that day was in the high 90s, so we really wanted to do some swimming, too. I was also worried about getting an Uber back to the ship since we unfortunately didn’t have the longest port day here.
At the last minute, we pivoted and asked my sister if she could arrange for a day trip through her company, and while this was definitely our biggest splurge of the trip, it was worth it. She was able to help us (thanks Larbs!) and we had Daniel from LifeXperiences as a fantastic tour guide for five hours. We’re so glad we got to see and do more since this ended up being such a gorgeous location!
Palma
We started the day in Palma and drove up to the highest point to see the views.
Port de Sóller
From there, we drove to Port de Sóller where both Laura and Ellen stayed. I would love to come back here! This is the view of the cove from the lighthouse top point!
Deià
We drove from Port de Sóller to Deià, along incredible cliffs and stopped to take in the views.
This view was just absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!!!
Port de Valldemossa
You can see the tiny town near the water – that was our lunch and swimming destination. I would not recommend driving down there yourself – the hairpin turns felt impossible, but Daniel was a pro!
We had lunch here where I got a marinated salmon salad, and Thomas had a local cod special. Spanish wine FTW!
Swimming at the Cove
Daniel was kind enough to loan us some of his personal snorkeling gear, and we got to swim for about 30 minutes in the cool water. It was refreshingly magical.
Valldemossa
Our final stop of the day was Valldemossa where we explored cobblestone streets, had lavender gelato, and walked through Chopin’s gardens. I definitely could have spent half a day there and would love to go back!
We think Mallorca would be a good first European visit for the boys because of all the water activities, and next time we’d love to rent a boat!
We said goodbye as we sailed away from our ship at sunset.
Marketplace Meal
For dinner that night, we decided to go to the Marketplace which we felt had some of the best food, including great salads and wood-fired pizza. I always attacked the cheese board, too, because cheese is my favorite food : )
This was our final evening aboard Explora II, and we enjoyed drinks on the Skybar deck.
elle says
I love these posts!
Terry says
“cheese is my favorite food”, loved that, it all looks so good on your trip!