The hop-on hop-off bus in Palma de Mallorca does something clever that walking and taxis cannot. It connects the three parts of the city that most visitors want to see — the Gothic old town around La Seu, the hillside fortress of Bellver Castle, and the long harbour loop from Porto Pi back to the centre — on a single looping route with 16 stops. You ride the open top deck, get off when something catches your eye, explore, and catch the next bus 20 minutes later.
I have spent enough time in Palma to know that the distances between the major sights are just annoying enough to kill a walking itinerary. The cathedral and old town are at one end. Bellver Castle sits on a hill two kilometres west, with no pleasant route to walk there. The Paseo Maritimo stretches even further along the water. You can spend half a day just getting between these three areas on foot, which leaves less time for actually being in them.
The bus solves this problem for about 30 dollars, which also happens to be less than a single taxi ride from the old town to Bellver Castle and back. Below is how the service works, which ticket to book, when to ride, and the practical details that the booking pages leave out.
In a Hurry? My Top Picks
- Best overall (from $32): Palma Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour (24h Ticket) — The standard 24-hour pass with 16 stops covering the cathedral, Bellver Castle, and the harbour loop. Audio guide in 16 languages. This is the one most people should get. Book this tour
- Best with boat combo (from $40): Hop-On Hop-Off with Boat Tour — Same bus route plus a harbour boat cruise included. Worth the extra eight dollars if you want the waterfront view from both above and sea level. Book this tour
- Budget alternative (from $32): City Sightseeing Palma via Viator — Same City Sightseeing bus, booked through Viator instead. Identical route and experience, sometimes with slightly different cancellation terms. Book this tour
- In a Hurry? My Top Picks
- How the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Works in Palma
- The 3 Best Hop-On Hop-Off Tickets for Palma
- 1. Palma Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour (24h Ticket) —
- 2. Hop-On Hop-Off with Boat Tour Combo —
- 3. City Sightseeing Palma via Viator —
- When to Ride the Bus
- Tips for Riding the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus
- More Mallorca Guides
How the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Works in Palma
The service in Palma is run by City Sightseeing, the same company that operates the red double-decker buses in Barcelona, Seville, Rome, and about 100 other cities worldwide. The buses are open-top, with an enclosed lower deck for when the sun gets too much or it rains (rare in summer, but it happens).
The route has 16 stops arranged in a single loop that takes roughly 80 minutes to complete without getting off. Buses run every 20 minutes in peak season, which means your maximum wait at any stop is 20 minutes. In practice, it is usually less.
Every seat has a plug-in audio guide with commentary in 16 languages. The quality is decent — it covers the history of the buildings you are passing, points out things you would miss, and gives enough context to make the ride more than just a scenic drive. You can also just ignore the audio and enjoy the view. Nobody is checking.
The loop starts and ends at Avinguda d’Antoni Maura, the wide boulevard that runs between the cathedral and the harbour. From there, the route heads west along the Paseo Maritimo (the harbour promenade), climbs to Bellver Castle, swings through the residential neighbourhoods on the hill, and loops back through the old town to the start. The full circuit covers approximately 14 kilometres.
Key stops along the route:
Avinguda d’Antoni Maura (Stop 1) is the main boarding point, sitting between La Seu Cathedral and the harbour. Most people start here because it is the closest stop to the cruise port and the old town.
Porto Pi (Stop 7) drops you at the commercial centre near the western end of the harbour. Not the most exciting stop on the route, but useful if you want to access the Porto Pi shopping centre or the Club Nautic.
Bellver Castle (Stop 10) is the one most people hop off for. The circular Gothic castle sits on a forested hilltop with panoramic views over Palma, the harbour, and the Tramuntana mountains. The bus gets you up the hill without the steep walk, and the castle itself is worth a good 45 minutes to an hour exploring.
Placa d’Espanya (Stop 14) is the transport hub of Palma, connecting to local buses, the Metro, and the Soller train. Useful if you want to connect to other parts of the island after your bus loop.
Your ticket is valid for 24 hours from first use, not from the time of purchase. So if you buy online on Monday but first scan it boarding the bus on Wednesday at 10:00, it expires Thursday at 10:00. This is useful — you can buy in advance and activate when your itinerary makes sense.
The 3 Best Hop-On Hop-Off Tickets for Palma
Three ticket options cover the same bus route. The difference is what comes bundled with the bus pass. I have picked the three that make sense and ignored the rest of the search results that are just resellers of the same product at the same price.
1. Palma Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour (24h Ticket) — $32
Duration: 24 hours | Price: From $32 per person | Includes: Unlimited hop-on hop-off, audio guide in 16 languages, 16 stops
This is the straightforward option and the one I would recommend for most visitors. You get a 24-hour pass for the City Sightseeing bus, which lets you ride the entire loop as many times as you want, hopping on and off at any of the 16 stops.
The route covers every major sight in Palma that you can reasonably see from a bus — the cathedral and Royal Palace from the harbour side, the Paseo Maritimo with its yacht-filled marina, the climb up to Bellver Castle through pine-scented residential streets, and the loop back through Placa d’Espanya and the old town.
The audio commentary is the usual City Sightseeing fare — informative enough to give you context, not so detailed that it becomes a lecture. You will learn when La Seu was built, why Bellver Castle is circular (one of only a few in Europe), and what the old harbour looked like before the marina took over. Useful background for understanding what you are looking at without needing to research everything yourself.
At $32, this is cheaper than a taxi shuttle between the three main sightseeing areas (cathedral, castle, harbour) and infinitely cheaper than a private car tour. For a first visit to Palma where you want to orient yourself and see the main sights, this does the job cleanly.
2. Hop-On Hop-Off with Boat Tour Combo — $40
Duration: 24 hours (bus) + 30 min boat | Price: From $40 per person | Includes: 24h bus pass, harbour boat cruise, audio guide
Same bus, same route, same 16 stops — but with a harbour boat cruise thrown in for an extra eight dollars. The boat departs from the harbour near the cathedral and does a loop around Palma Bay, giving you a sea-level perspective on the waterfront that looks completely different from the one you get on the bus.
The boat portion takes about 30 minutes and covers the stretch from the old fishing harbour past the commercial port, with the cathedral, Almudaina Palace, and the old town skyline rising from the waterfront. It is not a deep-sea adventure, but seeing Palma from the water puts the city’s geography into perspective in a way that streets and buses cannot. The harbour is massive — much bigger than you realise on land — and the scale of La Seu from the water is genuinely impressive.
The eight-dollar premium over the standard bus ticket is worth it if you are a first-time visitor who wants the complete picture of Palma. The boat ride adds maybe 45 minutes to your day (including waiting for the departure) but gives you something that the bus alone misses. If you have already seen Palma from the water — say, arriving by cruise ship — the standard bus ticket is enough.
3. City Sightseeing Palma via Viator — $32
Duration: 24 hours | Price: From $32 per person | Includes: Unlimited hop-on hop-off, audio guide, 16 stops
This is the same City Sightseeing bus booked through Viator instead of GetYourGuide. Same red double-decker, same route, same audio guide, same 16 stops. The experience on the day is identical — you board with a voucher, get your earpiece, and ride.
Why list it separately? Two reasons. First, cancellation policies differ between platforms. Viator sometimes offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before, while GetYourGuide may have different terms depending on the operator. Check both if flexibility matters to you. Second, pricing occasionally diverges by a dollar or two during promotional periods. Neither platform consistently beats the other, but it takes 30 seconds to compare.
If you already have an account on one platform and not the other, or if you have loyalty credits or vouchers with Viator, this is the same product. Do not overthink the choice — the bus does not know or care which website you booked through.
When to Ride the Bus
The bus runs year-round, but the schedule and experience vary by season. Getting the timing right makes a meaningful difference.
Summer (June through September): Buses run every 20 minutes from around 09:30 to 19:00 or later. The open top deck is glorious in the morning and late afternoon, but between 12:00 and 15:00 the sun is punishing. There is no shade up top, and the metal seats absorb heat in a way that you feel through your clothes. If you ride in summer, do the full loop in the morning, hop off for lunch somewhere with air conditioning, and do your targeted stop visits in the late afternoon when the angle of the light is better for photographs anyway.
Spring and autumn (March through May, October through November): The sweet spot. Buses run every 25-30 minutes, the temperature on the top deck is comfortable all day, and you can photograph Palma without squinting into a midday sun that washes everything out. The lower frequency means slightly longer waits at stops, but you rarely wait the full 30 minutes.
Winter (December through February): The service still runs, but on a reduced schedule — buses every 30-40 minutes, and the last bus finishes earlier. The top deck can be genuinely cold when the tramontana wind blows through, so bring a jacket even if Palma looks sunny. On the upside, you might be the only person on the bus, which means a front-row seat for the entire loop.
Best strategy for a single day: Board at Avinguda d’Antoni Maura around 09:30 when the first buses start. Do one full loop without getting off — this takes 80 minutes and gives you the overview. Then get off at the stops that interested you most: Bellver Castle first (it opens at 10:00), then back on the bus to the old town for a walk through the streets around the cathedral and lunch, and finally the harbour stretch in the late afternoon. This uses about 5-6 hours of your 24-hour ticket and covers Palma’s highlights without the exhaustion of walking 15 kilometres in the heat.
Tips for Riding the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus
Sit on the right side going out, left side coming back. The route is a loop, so the sea-facing side switches. On the outbound leg toward Porto Pi and Bellver Castle, the right side of the bus gives you harbour and ocean views. On the return through the old town, the left side faces the interesting architecture. But honestly, the bus is rarely so full that you cannot move.
Bring sunscreen and a hat. The top deck has zero shade. In summer, you will burn in 20 minutes if you are not covered. This is not theoretical — I have seen lobster-red travelers stumbling off at the last stop having clearly forgotten that an open-top bus in the Mediterranean is essentially a slow-moving tanning bed.
Bellver Castle deserves at least 45 minutes. Some people hop off, take a photo at the entrance, and hop back on. The castle is better than that. Walk through the courtyard, climb to the roof terrace for the 360-degree view over Palma, and check the small museum inside. The circular design is unusual and the views from the top are the best in the city — better than anything you see from the bus.
The audio guide headphones are disposable but functional. If you have your own earbuds with a 3.5mm jack, bring them. The sound quality is noticeably better, and you are not wearing plastic headphones that 500 other people have sweated into. The audio jack is standard on every seat.
Book online, not at the stop. The price is the same, but buying online means you have a voucher on your phone and can board immediately. At busy stops in summer, a small queue forms for the ticket kiosk, and watching a bus depart while you are still in line is the kind of avoidable frustration that ruins a morning.
Do not try to see everything in one loop. The temptation is to stay on the bus for the full 80-minute circuit and then call it done. You will see Palma, but only from the road. The best use of the ticket is two or three targeted stops where you spend 45 minutes to an hour each, with the bus filling in the transit between them.
Combine with walking the old town. The bus covers the perimeter of the old town but cannot navigate the narrow streets inside. Hop off at the cathedral stop, walk through the old town to Placa Major, have a coffee, duck into a few side streets, then pick the bus up again at Placa d’Espanya. The 20 minutes between buses is about right for a quick coffee stop; give yourself two bus intervals (40 minutes) for any serious exploring.
Cruise ship visitors: start early. If you are in port for the day, the bus stop at Avinguda d’Antoni Maura is a 10-minute walk from the cruise terminal. Do not wait for the shuttle bus to the city centre — walk straight to the hop-on hop-off stop and start your loop immediately. You will gain 30-40 minutes on passengers who waited for the shuttle, and on busy cruise days those minutes matter.
