Valldemossa

A village built around a monastery

Valldemossa grew up beside the Carthusian monastery, and the monastery still decides its shape. The old village climbs away from the monastery square in narrow lanes of stone, potted geraniums and green shutters, with terraces of olives and almonds falling away below. Mountains close in around the valley, and the air up here is noticeably cooler than in Palma, half an hour below.

Most day visitors come for Chopin: they see the monastery, buy a pastry and leave. Stay longer and the place changes. The lanes around the parish church of Sant Bartomeu empty out, the gardens below the monastery come into view, and the village returns to its own unhurried business.

Inside the Royal Carthusian Monastery

The Real Cartuja began as a royal residence and was handed to Carthusian monks at the end of the fourteenth century. They stayed until the 1830s, when the Spanish state confiscated church property and the cells were let to private tenants. Among the first were Chopin and George Sand, who arrived with her two children for the winter. The weather was wet, Chopin was ill, and the islanders distrusted the unmarried couple. Even so, he worked on his Preludes here, and Sand later wrote A Winter in Majorca, a sharp and not always fair portrait of the island.

Each cell has its own small walled garden, and from their parapets the view drops straight down the valley over terraces of olives. Inside, look for:

• The cells associated with Chopin and Sand, with a piano and documents from their stay
• The old monastery pharmacy, its shelves lined with painted jars
• The neoclassical church, with frescoes by the monk and painter Manuel Bayeu
• The rooms that survive from the king’s medieval palace

Santa Catalina Thomàs and the painted tiles

Valldemossa is also the birthplace of Santa Catalina Thomàs, Mallorca’s own saint, who was born here in the sixteenth century and is known locally as the Beata. Walk the lanes and you will see small painted tiles beside almost every front door, each showing a scene from her life and asking for her protection over the house. The house where she was born, in the old part of the village, is kept as a modest oratory.

Her feast in late July brings a procession and a decorated float, and the whole village turns out. On ordinary days the best plan is simply to wander: up towards the parish church, down the stepped lanes towards the gardens, and out to the edge of the village where the terraces begin.

Miramar, the Archduke and the coast

Beyond the village the Ma-10 runs along the cliffs towards Deià, through land that the Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator bought up piece by piece in the late nineteenth century. He came to study the Balearics, stayed for decades and kept this coast free of felling and building at a time when few people thought of doing so. His estates include Miramar, where Ramon Llull had founded a school for missionaries to learn Arabic in the thirteenth century. The paths and stone viewpoints the Archduke laid out still frame the sea.

The Camí de s’Arxiduc, a ridge path he built above Valldemossa, is one of the classic walks of the Tramuntana, with long views over the sea; it needs a full morning, good shoes and settled weather. For something gentler, follow the GR 221 out of the village through holm oak woods.

Port de Valldemossa lies far below, reached by a narrow road of tight bends that drops through pines to a pebbly cove and a handful of houses. It is steep, slow and not for nervous drivers, but the water at the bottom is clear and often refreshingly cool.

Coca de patata and the Sunday market

Valldemossa’s gift to the island table is the coca de patata, a light, round bun made with potato in the dough and dusted with sugar. Bakeries along the main street sell them warm in the morning, and locals eat them with a cup of hot chocolate. Look out too for local olive oil and for ensaïmadas, the spiral pastries found all over the island.

The weekly market fills the streets on Sunday morning with produce, cheese, sobrassada and crafts. It is small and pleasant but adds to the Sunday crowds; our market days tool will help if you would rather pair a quiet weekday visit with a market elsewhere.

Getting there and what to combine

Valldemossa is about 30 minutes’ drive from Palma airport outside peak traffic, up the Ma-1110 through olive groves; drive times gives the alternatives. Public buses run from Palma, so check the current timetable. The car parks at the entrance to the village fill by late morning, especially on Sundays and in high season, when coaches arrive from the resorts.

The village pairs naturally with the rest of the coast road. Deià is a short drive on, and Sóller lies beyond it; together they make a full and rewarding day. For Chopin, Sand and the painters and poets who followed them, see our guide to artists and writers.