⛰️ Discover GR221 Mallorca 🇪🇸 map 🗺️ route guide 🥾🏖️

How to GR221 Mallorca trail with the least possible strain on your back, your wallet and maybe even your calendar? Want to know where is water, accommodation, what to do upon arrival and other tips’n’tricks? Including a unique map where you will find all the important points marked.

costs

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– flights 42 €
– transportation around Mallorca 17,35 €
– food 62,1€
– one night in hostel 35 €
– insurance 6 €

days

– 1,5 days of transport (1 + 0,5)
– 4,5 days on trail
– 1 day chill, sightseeing (0,5 + 0,5)

Table of Contents

GR221 Mallorca guide - what and how

Gear on GR221 Mallorca

For the whole trip, only hand luggage (cabin) is sufficient. Therefore, we have to adapt our equipment a little to the airline rules and restrictions.
– Ultralight alcohol stove, we buy alcohol on place in Eroski shop
– plastic tent stakes
– instead of knife some multifunction key (without any problems on the airport)
– ultralight sandals + boots
– hammock is optional
– you really need hiking poles - you can buy them in Decatlon after arrival, it is not allowed in carry on
– orientation mapy.cz in phone (maps with points marked below) + powerbank(s)

GR221 wild camping

All along the GR221 trail are paid overnight huts called Refugi for 15€ per night. You have to register long in advance and in my opinios it is unnecessary, because all along the trails are a lot of places suitable to spend a night with or without tent and lots of them with roof, I never saw a lot of places anywhere before. Most of them are marked in the map below. So on GR221 Wild camping is not allowed officially but it is tolerated..

Water on the GR221 route

There are not many water sources , do not rely on officially marked water sources you can see in the map. I suggest 3l. I have marked all the sources that were in operation on my map below.

Summary of tips and tricks

– if you are on GR221 alone, you can walk from 8 to 17-18 hours and it gets dark until about 9. I recommend to take for example some reader.
– you can make the trail even in 3 days, absolutely for 4, but I had to be lighter or have better knees (hiking poles)
– at railway station is luggage storage for 4€
– beware of siesta (1 and 4 p.m.) when everything is closed. I've never had a problem with that.
– bus schedule
– I had whole trip for 9 days, but I didn't know what I was going to do after finishing GR221 so on the third day I bought a ticket 2 days earlier for 18€

Mallorca GR221 map

I marked most of spots to spend a night (in the map marked as cmp), water sources and other things worth mentioning.

length

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days

climb

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descent

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Going to cross the Serra de Tramuntana - GR 221

I leave in the morning by Regiojet to Vienna from where I fly to Palma de Mallorca.

After arrival

Right at the airport there are outlets and toilets with big taps to fill water at the C45 entrance, but the water was pretty nasty.

The bus from the airport to the main station (Estacione Intermodal) costs 5€, there were quite a few people waiting and it was quite crowded, in a more crowded situation a taxi might have been more convenient.
On arrival at the station it doesn’t look like the main station, or rather I don’t see a station anywhere.

I’m going to buy cooking alcohol at a Vietnamese convenience store so I can find out later that they have it in a normal store for half the price. For polenta from the Czech Republic I buy local classics like olive oil, cheese, tuna, salami and water. For lunch, I get kebabs.

Then I find out that the main station is underground, you can get there via the underpass which is just across the street from the main station bus stop.

At the bottom of the staircase there is an Eroski shop on the left where you can also buy cooking alcohol. To the right (passing the train) you go to the bus still following the signs one floor down, where you will find your connection on the information boards. By the time I figured it out I had missed the first bus, I take the next one at 4pm. I still have one more change in Andratx, where I look for the right stop, and by 18:30 I’m at the westernmost tip of the island in the town of Sant Elm (6€).

Description of the whole trail GR 221

Day by day description. I mention sleeping, water, interesting places, difficulty.

There’s a ruin a mile outside of town with a luxurious sleeping quarters, so ideal.

In the morning I “breakfast” cocoa mixture with coconut oil. I have quite a bit of water, but I decide to take a chance, I won’t go back for it.

The trail initially skirts the coast and gently winds up into the mountains.

Before the climb I buy 2l of water (2€) at the guesthouse Finca Ses Fontanelles, just off the main road. It’s outside, so you just take a bottle and drop a coin in the cash box.

I give the top of Mola de l’Esclop (927 m). There’s a lot of huffing and puffing.

Another source of water is up in Estellences, a large flowing spring under the roof a short distance from the centre, but I didn’t know that and bought two apples (2,78€) earlier in the shop.

There is a nice view of the sea. Around seven o’clock a Czech couple I met on a bus going to the western tip of the island arrives. They could have had a beautiful sunset romance here, but unfortunately there was probably someone extra…

Soon I’m in front of Banyalbulfar, where I use the abundant spring, there is also a ruin next to it for overnight. Behind the town there is a clear waterfall where one could even “take a shower”, but the access is not great.

It is followed by a slight climb, which I probably wouldn’t have had to do if I’d taken the route out of town (if there was enough water).
The road to Esporles is probably along an old trade route, it’s paved and there are a couple of good places to stay.

After a quick passage through town towards Valdemossa, I climb again to a random plateau. There are old coal sheds here. Then up to the top of Mola de sa Comuna, where again there are plenty of places to sleep with a fire.

Valdemossa looks like a nice historic town, there are lots of cyclists, I buy water (0,5€). It’s supposed to rain tonight so I don’t stick around and want to get over the mountains to Valdemossa and spend the night just outside Deia.
However, due to the steep climb and the coming fatigue, it won’t work.

So today I choose Refugi des Cairats as my destination, a hut where you can sleep on a covered terrace with a fireplace, but the stone floor is quite cold.

Here again I meet other compatriots who have lost the map on the way, just like one grandfather behind Esporles. A paper map in 2019? I don’t get it.

It’s getting pretty unseasonable, I’m putting food and comfort away. Just when I think I’m going to be alone, some Germans come along.

Fog and light rain in the morning on GR221. I climb straight up to the plateau, where I leave the red trail and wander – watch out for the turn after Es Caragoli, I recommend sticking exclusively to the red mark.

There’s no water in Deia so I’m going straight to Soller where I want to spend some time at the beach.
After a while I realized that I can’t make it, so I am heading straight into town.

In Soller, I indulge in restaurant next to roundabout (Do de Pit) juicy burger (10€).

While eating I’m thinking about sleeping, at night it’s supposed to rain again so I’d like a roof so I don’t have to build a tarp.
That morning, a friend replies to me on instagram stories and I get a tip about a cave cova de ses Alfàbies behind Soller. So the instagram is for something after all.

More like a half-cave. I’m alone here, I’m not too keen on waiting for darkness, next time I’d definitely take at least a reader.

It’s worth noting the ancient pitcher that holds water dripping from above.

Today was definitely the most challenging stage and if it was clear it would be the most beautiful. From the cave I climb above Soller to the plateau where there are two beautiful turquoise lakes and the highest mountains in Mallorca. At the top I put on a hat and a down jacket, unfortunately it’s not really for swimming.

Since the highest mountain is a military area, you can only reach the second highest Puig de Massanella (1365 m), which is also on the GR221 route.
However, due to my swollen knee and fog I leave it for next time.

After a full day on a random plateau, there is an endless descent to the Lluc crater, which didn’t impress me, but there is water.
I move on, pass the Son Amer refugio and finishing between four walls in the forest behind the monastery. Today, for the first and last time, I’m building a tarp, out of compassion.

In the morning in Pollence light sightseeing. I bought only cheese and popsicles (all in one piece) for 7€, which didn’t please me at all. However, my mood was improved by the following purchase in Lidl outside the town towards the port. This time for 10€ a pack of six popsicles, some cheese, bread, cucumbers,… in short, everything you need for a proper beach picnic after crossing the GR221, definitely recommended. Some things are even cheaper than here.

Finally, I still have one last crossing to do, which means about an hour of easy walking with shopping on the hot flat pavement by the main road. Then I’m off to a really well-deserved beach bastion. Although by the fifth popsicle it wasn’t so good.

After relaxing, sunbathing, eating and listening to songs from the bus driver’s playlist, I need to take a few kitschy insta-photos (too bad I don’t have them).

I walk the beach and take the bus to Palma to the hostel (6,35€).
I end the day with an evening walk in the harbour, around the cathedral and back to the hostel.
The combination of five other overnight guests, the price of 35€, the lights at night, the soft beds and the not-quite-fresh air make this the worst night of this stay. It’s a bit of a paradox, but what does one really need for a good night’s sleep?

Breakfast at the hostel certainly did not improve the impression of last night. Since I’m flying at 16:00 I decide to walk 10 km along the beach to the airport. My knees are sore and one is swollen, but walking on the beach shouldn’t be as much of a problem as it was back in Normandy in ’45. Three hours later I’m at the airport with no problems, and there’s even a footbridge across the motorway, so it’s easy. From Vienna I take the same bus to Brno as the Czechs I met in Valdemossa.

And I’m ending the whole stay with an evening chat over a beer in Brno.