My Mallorca Coast to Coast Experience

This is the first time we have ridden the Mallorca Coast to Coast from Port Pollença all the way to Andratx or Sant Elm. Normally we take the Mallorca Cycle Shuttle down to Andratx and ride back from there. But, this time we fancied a change and wanted to complete a full Mallorca coast to coast.

Would we get there on time?

Our first concern was that there may not be enough time to reach our scheduled minibus at 17:30 in Sant Elm. However after a group discussion we concluded that maintaining an average speed of 20km/hr and total stops limited to two hours, we figured that we would be fine 🙂

So, with these targets in mind, we set off from the hotel after a leisurely breakfast @ 08:30 on our Mallorca Coast to Coast and reached Sant Elm in the afternoon.  Approximately 8 hours later at just after 16:30 we rolled onto the beach. Our actual moving time was 6 hours and 11 minutes with an average speed on just under 20 km/hr.

The restaurant at the collection point in Sant Elm was a welcome sight – although we had to take the bikes onto the beach to complete the full coast to coast before sitting down for another meal and a well earned couple of cold beers.

Distances on the Mallorca Coast to Coast

Repsol garage café 26km
Puig Major summit 42km
Sóller 57km
Deia 67km
Valldemossa 76km
Banyalbufar 91km
Estellencs 98km
Andratx 115km
Sant Elm 122km

Is the Mallorca Coast to Coast worth doing?

Hell yes! It was a great feeling to start on one beach and finish on another after having conquered the whole of the Tramuntana mountain range.

Better than starting in Andratx?

The general consensus amongst our group was that riding the best cycle route in Mallorca this way round as a coast to coast ride was probably even better than starting in Andratx. But it is a very close run thing

• Leaving a little later after a leisurely breakfast got the day off to a relaxed start
• It was pleasant not having to climb the long side of Puig Major, 14km up from Sóller
• We loved descending the 14km down Puig Major into Sóller!
• Being closer to the sea made the coastal views more dramatic (as we were riding on the right hand side of the road).
• Bus out and bike back or bike out and bus back? We felt a little anxious we may miss the pickup time, but with correct pacing and half an eye on the clock it was easy in the end.

Additional things to know about the Mallorca Coast to Coast

• Be aware that there are no toilet facilities on the minibus and because the return route is via the motorway, the driver will not be stopping. So I would advise limiting the recovery beverages until you get back to the Port.
• We think it is worth having Mallorca Bicycle Rescue cover when riding far from home base.
• All return tickets must be pre booked so the bus service knows how many seats to bring. This is not a daily service yet.
• We made the mistake on a previous trip of leaving the best ride of our visit to Mallorca to the penultimate day. Bad weather forced a cancellation so now we always book it early in the trip so we have a spare day.

Conclusion

We all come cycling in Mallorca specifically to ride this coastal route between Andratx and Pollença as it is always the highlight of our trip. The new scheduled afternoon pickup from Sant Elm offers the choice of completing the ride in a direction which was also (if not slightly more) brilliant. Next time we may fit in either the Port Valldemossa or Port des Canonge climb now we know that we can easily get to the pickup bus on time. Not Sa Calobra though, that would be too much for me to add onto this route.

Mallorca Coast to Coast cycle route completed 1st September 2018. Doug Richards.