The GR 221 is a multi-day hike that traverses the beautiful northwestern side of Mallorca.
For our trip we did a 7 day trek, starting in Sant Elm and we planned on ending in Pollença, but we cut the last day short due to weather. When we planned the trip we didn’t even know about the extension beyond Port Pollença in the very north of Mallorca, and by the time we found out about it, we didn’t have the time to even consider hiking it.
Where to Stay
Like many places in Europe, camping is now allowed in Mallorca, however if you set up later in the evening, and leave right away in the morning and leave no trace, it’s usually ignored as long as you aren’t on private land. The northern half of the GR 221 seems much better for camping than the south. The south is mostly private land and has a lot less water. We saw no places to get water between Sant Elm and Estellencs (apparently the owner of Finca Ses Fontanelles used to sell water to hikers, but now he only sells to hikers who stay there), so if you do camp make sure you bring enough water for that section.
We don’t mind playing with unofficial camping, but camping on private land and the water issue isn’t something we wanted to take a chance on, so we chose to stay at refugis instead, which similar to camping is a lot easier in the north, with many options starting in Deia (although there are refugis in the south, but one was closed when we went, and the other was off the trail a bit). You have to get more creative in the southern part of the trail, so we stayed at Finca Ses Fontanelles, then hotels the next two nights (because one of the refugis had no availability on the third night). All refugis can be booked online here. As a bonus it was a lot of fun to hike with a small backpack with just lunch, water, layers, a change of clothes and a sheet/sleeping bag liner and pillow case. They also have “hot” showers (although they aren’t hot if someone else is using hot water, so check your expectations… think of them as not cold showers, but you might get lucky), and you can purchase meals there very inexpensively and even wine and beer.
Getting around
Our experience with the busses was fantastic, they were on time, very convenient, and connected many of the places we wanted to go. They even provided a backup plan if we were staying in a town where there wasn’t any place open to eat (early season issue), we could always bus to another town and then back again. Just be sure to double check and make sure you’re looking at the right schedule (weekends/holidays vs weekdays and one bus was seasonal only). It’s cheaper and easier to pay for all these busses by credit card, however we had to pay cash for one of the local busses in Palma (possibly because it’s a local bus?). To get to the bus station you’ll need to take the A1 bus from the airport to Estació Intermodal, where you can catch any of these busses or a train, depending on where you’re going.
When to go
We went the first week of March, so the crowds were lighter and there were a lot of discounts on accommodation and flights were probably much cheaper than usual as well. That being said there was one night where we ended up in a town with only one place to eat open and they had no free tables. The weather was colder than we expected, when I planned the trip I didn’t realize the trail was going to spend as much time high up as it does, and the wind made it feel much colder. On the flip side I can’t imagine hiking it in the full heat of summer either, so the best time is probably late March through May.
Maps
I like to have paper maps as well as digital, but with access to electricity to change our phones every night I didn’t feel it was as necessary (also we both had maps loaded onto our phones). Here is the GPS file I used. Why is it in CSV format? Unfortunately WordPress doesn’t allow GPS file types, so I had to convert it to CSV to share it. You can convert it using any free online converter (google CSV to KMZ converter, there are many free ones to choose from, for example this one). The coordinates in this file are the official GR 221 sections which I stitched into one layer. I used Google my maps to import this file then add other layers with the places we stayed and store locations (particularly ones that had Sunday hours), then I exported those to Organic Maps on our phones so the maps are available even when there’s no service.
A Shorter Hike
If you don’t have seven or so days, or would just rather spend some of your vacation doing something else, the stretch from Valldemosa to Lluc is probably the most scenic part of the hike in my opinion, and is the part I wouldn’t want to miss, although I think each part was beautiful and worth doing if you can. Or you could even just hike two days from Soller to Lluc.
General Tips
- Give yourself extra time to hike each section. We found the estimated times to be extremely variable, sometimes it took much longer than expected, and other times we arrived much earlier than expected.
- Bring warmer layers than you think. I found the mountains to be higher and windier than I expected.
- Bring earplugs if you’re staying at a refugi. The question isn’t if someone snores, it’s how loud and how many people.