Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
GETTING AROUND
Bicycle
British Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and co have really put Mallorca on the
map for cycling in recent years, and the island has become one of Europe's most popular
destinations for road cycling. Although the uphill slog can be tough in mountainous areas,
particularly along the island's western and northwestern coasts, much of the island is
reasonably flat and can be easily explored by bike. You can take your own or hire one
once you arrive.
For an overview of cycling on the island, visit
www.illesbalears.es
and click on 'Sport
Tourism'. It has numerous routes across the island. Another recommended website with
routes graded according to difficulty is
http://mallorcacycling.co.uk
.
Signposts have been put up across much of rural Mallorca indicating cycling routes
(usually secondary roads between towns and villages).
Hire
Bike-hire places are scattered around the main resorts of the island, including Palma, and
are usually highly professional. Prices vary widely, but on average you can reckon on pay-
ing between €10 and €15 per day for a city bike, and €15 to €30 per day for a mountain
bike. The longer you hire the bike, the cheaper daily rates get.
Bus
The island is roughly divided into five zones radiating from Palma.
Bus-line numbers in the 100s cover the southwest, the 200s the west (as far as Sóller),
the 300s the north and much of the centre, the 400s a wedge of the centre and east coast
and the 500s the south. These services are run by a phalanx of small bus companies, but
you can get route and timetable information for all by contacting
Transport de les Illes
Balears
(TIB; 971 17 77 77;
www.tib.org
)
.
Most of the island is accessible by bus from Palma. All buses depart from (or near)
Palma's
Estació Intermodal
( 971 17 77 77;
www.tib.org
;
Plaça d'Espanya). Not all
lines are especially frequent, and services slow to a trickle on weekends. Frequency to
many coastal areas also drops from November to April and some lines are cut altogether
(such as those between Ca'n Picafort and Sa Calobra or Sóller).
Although services in most parts of the island are adequate, out-of-the-way places can
be tedious to reach and getting around the Serra de Tramuntana by bus, while possible,
isn't always easy. Bus 200 from Palma runs to Estellencs via Banyalbufar for example,
while bus 210 runs to Valldemossa and then, less frequently, on to Deià and Sóller. Noth-
