Mallorca and the GR221

The island of Mallorca was the destination for the first holiday I ever had outside of the UK (in 1973, if I remember correctly). I recall a sunny but scruffy place, surprisingly different to home, with food that was quite an eye-opener to our conservative British tastes at that time. But I also recall mountains; beautiful, craggy, impossibly steep mountains, and always wanted to go back and explore more. So, in April 2011, I set off to walk half of the GR221, through the beautiful Serra de Tramuntana in northern Mallorca.

Costs. Flight £86. Car parking £18.99. Palma hotel (B&B) £43 (pre-paid from UK). Tossal Verds hostel (B&B) €15. Lluc room €61.50. Pollensa hotel (B&B) €65. Palma–Airport bus €2 each way. Palma–Soller bus €2.55. Pollensa–Palma bus €4.55. Typical evening meal with drinks €8–€24. Travel insurance £6. Total cost of trip £390.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Costa Azul, Palma de Mallorca (Day 1, Read my review); Tossals Verds refugi (Day 2, Read my review); Santuari de Lluc, Lluc (Day 3, Read my review); L’Hostal-Hotel D’Interior, Pollensa (Day 4, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Mallorca & Menorca (Rough Guides, 8th revised edition).

Maps. Mallorca North & Mountains Tour & Trail, 1:40,000, Discovery Walking Guides.

Day 1: Travel to Palma de Mallorca. Left work at 2.30 pm, drove to Prestwick, and caught 5.05 pm flight to Palma, arriving 8.35 pm local time. Caught 9 pm bus (Line 1) from airport down to harbour and found seafront hotel (pre-booked), arriving 9.20 pm. Went out for beer and pizza.

Day 2: Travel to Soller; walk to Tossal Verds refugi. Left hotel, walked to Palma bus station, and caught 10.15 am bus (Line 211, 30 min) to Soller, arriving 10.46 am. Started walking at 11 am along well-signposted GR221. Path was an old mule track of very high quality and I climbed up over the Coll de l’Ofre and down to Cúber lake, discovering several Viperine Water Snakes in the ponds and cisterns on the way. I stayed on the main GR221 and arrived, rather footsore, at the excellent Tossal Verds refugi (pre-booked) at 7 pm (so 8 h walking) and had a good dinner in the company of five friendly walkers from Newcastle-Gateshead.

Day 3: Walk to Lluc. Left hostel at 9.15 am and, retracing my steps for a while on the main GR221 (not the “alt” path), met up with the Geordie boys again for the hike to Lluc. After a couple of hours, we arrived at the Coll des Prat at 1126 m and there paused for a long interval while Dr Clive led some of his more fanatical followers in an assault on Puig Massanella (1382 m), the second highest summit on the island. After sitting an hour or so at the Coll in the very strong sunshine, it was suggested I could wait no longer for the others and I started the spectacular descent towards the spectacular monastery at Lluc (pre-booked), arriving about 4.30 pm (so 7 h 15 min walking). I found my room and had dinner.

Day 4: Walk to Pollensa. Left my room at about 9.30 am but then spent the first hour of the day looking around Lluc monastery. Was pleased to meet up with the Geordie boys again, of course, and we started our walk on the GR221 towards Pollensa about 10.30 am. This was at first an attractive mountain walk over the Coll de sa Font but, nearing Pollensa, it become something of a dull trudge parallel to the main road into the town. Once we had gathered in one of the main squares, the lads decided to head on to Puerto Pollensa where accommodation was cheaper. So I said my farewells, headed for my Pollensa hotel (pre-booked), arriving 5 pm (so 6 h 30 min walking) and had dinner.

Day 5: Travel home. Left hotel at 7.25 am, caught bus (Line 340, 1 h) to Palma, and then 11.20 am flight to Prestwick. Landed 1.15 pm and was back in work at 2.30 pm.

Wildlife seen. Viperine Water Snake, Iberian Water Frog, Eurasian Black Vulture, Brimstone.

Other useful links. Palma airport bus

Soller bus (211)

Pollensa bus (340)

GR221, including all the refugis

Reflections. A superb location for a short walking trip. Where else in Europe can one take a 30-min public bus trip from the main city and be at the start of a high-quality mountain hike? And the refugis (although I only used one) are of very, very high quality and are well placed along the GR221 route for the average hiker. When I did this hike, the weather was unseasonably hot (my gloves and fleece remained unused!), yet there seemed to be little wildlife about, perhaps because it was still too early in the season.

© 2014 The Untravelled World