Headed to Majorca any tips

[rec head]

My wife and I are headed there and I'm looking for any tips, advice, etc on riding there. I know it is popular and more than one salonista has been there so I bet there is some great advice. We won't be "training" or looking for the hardest climbs to conquer, just riding and checking out the scenery. Our hotel is in the south of the island. I have never ridden in Spain at all so any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[holliscx]

You definitely want to spend all of your time in the north / northwest which is the prettiest part of the island.

Rides I would do are at the far end to Cap de Formentor which is a lighthouse - beautiful twisty seaside road to/from.

Sa Calobra is an epic climb! I drove it with my kids and got so excited I considered running up it for I didn't have my bike. It's an out/back down to a cala or small cove. Tough, but beautiful climb.

This site should have you covered but do ride in the north / northwest and you pretty much can't go wrong.

The Climbs | Mallorca Cycling

Enjoy your trip

[0nelove]

I lived there for about 5 years.

When are you going? If it is in the spring or early summer, you will be amongst the literally tens of thousands of cycle tourists (mainly German and English) that deluge upon the island.

Unfortunately the South is not the best riding since it is flat and often windy. There are nice backcountry roads though. A simple google will also bring up tons of routes, but for me-

The don't miss rides are:

Sa Colabra
Col de Sóller
The road from Es Capdella to Esporles (or vica versa), my personal favorite.
Anywhere on MA-10 (though from roughly around Escorca to Pollença the road is super narrow and a decent amount of traffic.) I prefer the West side more.
Bunyola to Orient
The road up to Cap de Formentor


General things:

This is a very bike friendly place (as is all of Spain). Drivers and people are very respectful. They are extremely accustomed to visiting cyclists, probably more so than anywhere else in the world.

I'd recommend a GPS. Best to ask one of the other cyclists if you get lost. Roads and signs are frequently not labeled well and asking a Mallorquin is right out. Worst direction givers in the universe.

Feel free to explore. There are so many thousands of little roads with no traffic that you could spend 10 years just exploring. You might hit some the dead ends or something, but the scenery is beautiful and it is quite safe.


Anyhow, if you want any advice on other non-cycling stuff, just let me know. I lived in Palma and Puerto de Sóller, so my knowledge is more around those areas, but would be happy to help.

[rec head]

Thanks, just to sum it up for anyone searching in the future:

We went in January which is the slow season and lots of businesses were closed for the season - this is on top of crazy Spanish business hours.

Not all the riding is awesomely beautiful and scenic. BUT as said above you can ride everywhere and drivers are cool about it. The roads are in great shape and the cycling infrastructure is the best I've ever seen. It can't really be overstated how easy it is to ride all over.

Google Maps works well for navigating on and off the bike.

Garmin maps work pretty good too.

The island was very tourist friendly even if you don't speak Spanish.

It is true about the pro's training there. We saw several men and women's teams. I don't really follow pro cycling so I only recognized Team Sky which had a caravan and you couldn't really miss them.