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The Torrent de Pareis gorge in Sa Calobra is a popular destination on Mallorca - and the road there is probably one of the most spectacular on the island!
It is essential to arrive in Sa Calobra before 10 a.m., says every guide book, so that you don’t find yourself in the middle of the big avalanche of coaches. Be sure to go again after 3 pm, otherwise you will experience the same thing back. Sa Calobra and the famous gorge Torrent de Pareis are well visited. All the more so in high summer, when Mallorca is bursting at the seams. Nevertheless, the Torrent de Pareis is always worth a trip during a Mallorca road trip! If you don’t want to drive, save yourself the journey through the Tramuntana and start with a boat trip from Port de Sóller to the bay of Sa Calobra.
On an island like Mallorca, the beach of Sa Calobra Bay is not particularly noteworthy: the pebbles do make a beach day there a bit uncomfortable. But that’s not why you come here! Because the Torrent de Pareis is a torrent that flows right here through a deep gorge from the Tramuntana Mountains into the sea. However, only during the colder and rainier seasons – in summer the Torrent de Pareis is dry. Then you can also walk through the gorge of Torrent de Pareis. However, you need good hiking equipment and a guide who knows the area!
Hey, I’m Tatiana and I’m the blogger behind The Happy Jetlagger. Since 2014, I’ve been sharing my personal travel stories on this blog. I don’t have a big team behind me, so I’m pretty much a one-person show: I’ve researched and tested all recommendations myself!
Tip: On my Mallorca blog you can find even more travel inspiration for my absolute favorite island!
The spacious area at the end of Torrent de Pareis often hosts concerts in the summer, with shuttle service to Palma. The sound: Bose couldn’t do it better. Without a concert, the Torrent de Pareis is rather inconspicuous. If you arrive without hiking equipment and a local guide, the more exciting part of the gorge (where it gets narrow and steep and bumpy) is impassable. So there you are, standing on heated pebbles, between rocks and what feels like two hundred and fifty busloads of tourists from all over the world, who actually don’t know what they’re supposed to find so great about a parched spot between the mountains.
Tip: If you want to explore Torrent de Pareis, don’t do it without a guide!
And yet, it’s spectacular. Not only the gorge Torrent de Pareis, not only Sa Calobra and not even the turquoise blue water in the Cala de Sa Calobra.
The real adventure is getting there! Coming by car from Inca, you shimmy through various mountain villages, up, down, up, down, and winding through dense forest. Until your foot cramps on the clutch from constantly shifting up and down. Until you get dizzy from the many curves and long for at least twenty meters of dead straight asphalt. Actually, that would be enough excitement, but then the last wild descent begins.
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In hairpin curves it goes up the last hill and then …steeply downhill. In curves, tight, tightest. No guardrails. Slopes into the deep void. No view of what’s waiting around the bend. Nothing? Oncoming traffic? A giant tour bus that fills the entire width of the street?
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The serpentine road to Sa Calobra is not fun for every driver. But an adventure it is all the same! And once down in Sa Calobra, the Torrent de Pareis looks a lot more spectacular. You suddenly feel tiny in the face of the huge gorge.
The winding road above is really the only way to get to Sa Calobra by land. However, if you are not so adventurous, you can take a boat from Soller. Round trip costs 30 euros together.
If you don’t dare to go down to Sa Calobra by car, then join a bus tour! There are some operators who include Sa Calobra in really nice day trips and where you get to know many other beautiful corners of the island in just one day.
This tour, for example, also includes a ride on the legendary Red Lightning, the historic wooden train from Palma to Sóller! This ticket alone normally costs 18 euros, so the price of the tour is worth it!
Book here a day trip across the island from Palma via Sóller to Sa Calobra and further*
There are also some organized boat tours that go to the bay of Sa Calobra from surrounding ports. There you also have the opportunity to see the Torrent de Pareis during a short stay.
➜ Timetable & prices to Sa Calobra from Port de Sóller
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More tips for excursions in Mallorca:
