01
Castell de Bellver
Palma
3 km from the centre
A 14th-century hilltop fortress that is one of the very few completely circular castles in Europe — round walls, round towers, a moat, and island-wide views. It now houses Palma's History Museum.
You have one week and a rental car, and everyone has an opinion about what you must see. Here is the honest short list — the ten places that, between them, show you what Mallorca actually is: a Gothic capital on the sea, a UNESCO mountain range, an unspoiled south coast, and a few wonders hidden underground. **Start with La Seu**, the great sandstone cathedral on Palma's seafront — it is the one sight every first-timer should walk into, and the natural anchor for a first day before you head out to the mountains and the coast. The rest fan out across the island; tap any one to plan it.
02
Sóller Train & Tram
Palma → Sóller · ~1 h
A 1912 wooden train climbs from Palma through 13 tunnels and orange groves to the mountain town of Sóller, where a vintage tram rattles down to the port. The island's classic scenic ride.
03
Sa Calobra & Torrent de Pareis
Escorca · Serra de Tramuntana
A corkscrew mountain road drops to a tiny cove where the Torrent de Pareis gorge meets the sea between sheer cliffs — the most dramatic landscape in the UNESCO-listed Tramuntana.
04
Cap de Formentor
Pollença · northern tip
Mallorca's northernmost point, where an 1863 lighthouse crowns the cliffs and the Mirador des Colomer looks out over the Es Colomer islet. The drive out is half the experience.
05
Reial Cartoixa de Valldemossa
Valldemossa · Tramuntana foothills
A former royal charterhouse in a beautiful stone village, best known as the place where Frédéric Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 1838–39 — he composing, she later writing 'A Winter in Majorca'.
06
Caves of Drach (Coves del Drac)
Porto Cristo · east coast
A vast east-coast cave system around Lake Martel, one of the largest underground lakes in the world, where a live classical quartet plays from boats on the water before you cross it yourself.
07
Es Trenc
Campos · south coast
Often called 'Mallorca's Caribbean': over two kilometres of protected white sand and turquoise shallows, backed by dunes and salt flats — and, by law, no buildings on the beachfront.
08
Santuari de Lluc
Escorca · heart of the Tramuntana
The island's spiritual heart: a mountain monastery sheltering 'la Moreneta', Mallorca's Black Madonna, and home to Els Blauets, a boys' choir founded in 1531.
09
Palma Aquarium
Palma · Platja de Palma
Mediterranean and tropical tanks, Europe's deepest shark tank, and a rooftop rainforest garden — the island's reliable rainy-day and family stop, a short hop from the city beaches.
End of list.