The Serra de Tramuntana: the back story

About The Serra de Tramuntana: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Mallorca Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Serra de Tramuntana is the mountain range that runs along Mallorca’s north-west coast. UNESCO inscribed its cultural landscape in 2011: terraces, dry-stone walls, water channels and mills, farms, villages, sanctuaries and lighthouses, shaped over centuries by farming in a land of scarce water.

The landscape

UNESCO inscribed the Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana on the World Heritage List in 2011, covering 30,745 hectares. It describes a network of agricultural terraces and water works, including water mills, dry-stone buildings and farms, that blends Arab irrigation with the farming of the Christian conquerors who took Mallorca in the 13th century (whc.unesco.org).

The villages

Valldemossa, with its Carthusian monastery; Deià, where the poet Robert Graves lived; Sóller and its port; and the Sanctuary of Lluc, high in the mountains, are the classic stops. The Govern de les Illes Balears protects the range as a Paraje Natural, with an interpretation centre, Ca s’Amitger, at Lluc (caib.es).

UNESCO calls it a landscape of terraces and “inter-connected water works”.

Getting there

The vintage train from Palma to Sóller crosses the range; from Sóller, the tram runs down to the port (trendesoller.com). TIB buses link the villages (tib.org).

Driving rules

The mountain roads are narrow and busy with cyclists. In summer, the road out to Cap de Formentor, at the north-eastern tip, is restricted: in 2026 private cars could only reach the Formentor beach car park until it was full, from 15 May to 18 October, 10am–10pm (DGT). Check dgt.es before you drive.

Our advice: take the train to Sóller in the morning, the tram to the port for lunch, and the bus or a taxi back over the mountains to Deià and Valldemossa.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The Serra de Tramuntana: the back story before you go.