The most charming hour in Mallorca — the Ferrocarril de Sóller, an electric wooden train from 1912 that runs from Palma's Estació Intermodal through the Tramuntana tunnels and orange-grove valley to the modernist Plaça de la Constitució in Sóller, continuing by vintage tram from 1913 to the harbor at Port de Sóller — a journey that has been operating almost unchanged for over 110 years and remains the best way to arrive anywhere in Mallorca.
Why It’s Worth Your Time
The Sóller railway was built in 1912 to connect the orange and lemon producers of the Sóller valley to Palma's port — a private commercial line funded by the growers whose citrus was being exported to France. The wooden carriages (original, maintained, with mahogany and brass fittings), the tunnels through the Tramuntana (the main mountain tunnel, 3km, was the longest railway tunnel in Spain when built), and the opening of the valley (the train emerges from the mountain into the Sóller valley surrounded by citrus groves and backed by the Tramuntana's western wall) constitute a 50-minute journey that is more beautiful than most things that people travel to Mallorca to see. The connecting tram (vintage open-sided cars from 1913, 5km from Sóller town to the harbor) is the secondary delight. For visitors with limited time who want a concentrated Tramuntana experience, the train-tram combination with lunch at Ca's Patró March or in Sóller's plaça provides it. Departs Palma multiple times daily; the open observation car provides the most photogenic experience.
What Stands Out
- Operating since 1912 — one of the longest continuously running tourist railways in Europe, in original carriages
- Tunnel emergence into the orange-grove Sóller valley: the most cinematic arrival experience in Mallorca
- Vintage tram from Sóller to Port de Sóller (1913): the 5km seaside extension that extends the delight
- Ca's Patró March at Cala Deià (reached by taxi from Sóller): the perfect lunch after the train arrives
- €20 return: the best value experience in Mallorca — 110 years of operation unchanged