People book the flights first and ask about the weather afterwards, so here is the version we give friends. The key thing to hold onto is that the Serra de Tramuntana is a real mountain range, and it writes its own forecast. It runs a few degrees cooler than the coast, banks shade in its ravines and pine woods, and keeps water in its springs long after the lowlands have turned brown. In a single afternoon you can be too hot on a terrace path and grateful for a warm layer on a col an hour later.
So there is no single best time to come. It depends entirely on what you want to walk.
December to February — quiet, and often perfect
Short days; the light is gone by half past five. But when a high-pressure spell sets in, the mornings are still and glass-clear and about as good as walking gets here. From late January the almond blossom breaks and whole valleys go pink and white — brief, and lovely. Snow sits on Puig Major and Massanella, and paths above 800 metres can be iced, so the high summits are out. The lower walks, though, are at their very best and you will have them almost to yourself — Deià to Sóller, the Sóller villages loop, Sant Elm, Alaró castle. Pack a warm layer and something that stops wind: the tramuntana has teeth in winter.
March to May — the window everyone wants
If there is a peak season for walking here, this is it, and deservedly. The days lengthen, the temperature sits in the kind middle, the springs run hard, and the hillsides fill: spikes of asphodel, wild gladiolus, bee orchids in the terrace grass, the deep-pink Mallorcan peony on shaded ledges, Hypericum balearicum yellowing the tops. Everything is green, before summer bleaches it. Every route on our list is in condition — which is also why guides and refuges book out first. Plan a few weeks ahead.
June — still good if you’re out early
Workable, but the clock rules. By eleven the exposed climbs are hot and the light goes hard and flat. We start earlier, lean toward the shaded and coastal routes, and try to finish somewhere you can swim — by now the sea is warm enough to be a reward rather than a shock.
Planning walks for your specific travel dates?
Tell us when you are arriving and our guides will tailor the day to the routes in prime condition for that exact month.
July and August — coast, shade and first light
No point pretending otherwise: the mountains in high summer are hot, and midday is no time to be on a treeless stony climb. We keep running walks, but short, shaded and close to the sea, meeting at first light — and we will tell you plainly when a route simply isn’t sensible in the heat. This is the season the Banyalbufar Walk & Wine earns its place: an easy, tree-shaded old path, a breeze off the water on the terraces, a cold Malvasia at the end. Drink more than you think you need.
September to November — arguably the best of the lot
From about mid-September the heat lets go, and what follows beats spring for a lot of walkers: the sea still warm, the weather settled, the summer crowds gone, the afternoon light long and gold. Prime time for the GR221 and the big days. The first real rains usually arrive in late October or November, and when they do the torrents fill and the Torrent de Pareis country comes alive — spectacular, and a wholly different kind of walking.
A word on wind and cloud
Two local things worth carrying in your head. The tramuntana is the cold north wind the range is named for; it can turn a col into a place you don’t want to stand. And on humid days the summits cap in cloud while Palma sits in full sun — which is why, reading a forecast for you, we are watching the humidity and the wind at least as closely as the rain.
Private Guide · Just your party
Circuit out of Valldemossa & the Archduke's Bridleway
A panoramic circuit through ancient olive terraces and the restored Archduke’s Bridleway with sweeping sea vistas.
