A tour of Palma’s old walls

Palma de Mallorca was an amazing city during the Middle Ages. A series of ramparts and towers linked by a spectacular system of walls surrounded and protected the city. Since Roman times, these walls have been expanded and rebuilt up to five times. You can still see remnants of the walls on an easy route with four essential stops. We recommend starting with the Es Princep bastion and finishing with a visit to Palma’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, located in the Sant Pere bastion. The order of the route does not matter, it still retains its charm.

So, we will start the route in the Es Princep bastion (1), a symbol of the city’s medieval defences, which at the end of the 19th century boasted a 6-kilometre-long wall and 10 bastions.  We continue our walk to the Dalt Murada (2), another visible section of the stone wall that surrounded Palma in medieval times, which joins Carrer Portella with the arch on Carrer de l’Almudaina. We are now very close to the cathedral. The third part of our route is the Muralla Ses Voltes section of the wall (3), which was the last section to be constructed and where the fortified enclosure of bastions finishes. It is currently a civic and exhibition area. And to finish the itinerary, the star attraction of not just this walk, but of any visit to Palma: the Sant Pere bastion (4), home to Palma’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art preserving sections of the wall and an impressive hidden feature: an ancient fresh water cistern with an area of more than 353 square metres, which is also used for cultural events.