Flights to Palma, Mallorca
Mallorca being a popular holiday destination has several airlines competing to take you there. By shopping around you can expect to pay around £50 to £100 per person for a return flight out of season and £200 return in the peak season including taxes and all the extras. Flight time from London is about 2 hours (tarmac to tarmac). Generally speaking the earlier you book the better deal you get, although out of peak season you can get some very good deals with Ryanair 3 to 6 weeks before your departure date. Please note that Mallorca's airport is called Palma. The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Location Identifier 3-letter code for Palma is PMI.
Airlines that my friends or I have successfully booked flights with are as follows:
Finally you can check www.skyscanner.net at any time and their search engine will check a number of airlines for you.
Getting to the apartment
By Taxi
When you arrive at Palma airport the easiest way to get to the apartment is by taxi. This will cost you (2018 prices) a standard (regulated) fair of about 80 euros (91 euros at night). There always seems to be plenty of taxis at the airport rank. Alternatively there is a local (to Puerto Pollensa) friendly taxi service who are slightly cheaper than the standard taxis. They also have a minibus, so if there are 5 or more of you it will be much cheaper than 2 taxis. You will need to book in advance with Alicia at zarzataxi@hotmail.com
By Shuttle Transfer
During the main holiday season (April to October) travelrepublic.co.uk and https://www.hoppa.com/en run a very good service from the airport for about £25 per person return. On their web site click on the "Transfers" link from the home page. They will only drop you off and pick you up at a recognised apartment block or hotel so when you fill out the web page you need to enter the arrival airport as "Palma (Majorca) PMI" and the arrival resort "Puerto Pollensa". On the next screen you enter the Hotel/Property name as "Apartamentos Habitat" and the Hotel/Property Address as "Calle Cap Roig 1, 07470 Port de Pollensa". The Habitat is only 200 metres from our apartment. When they take you back to the airport they will pick you from the Habitat main reception.
By Hire Car
Hiring a car is always my preferred option and the drive to the apartment is about 45 minutes. You should get a car for about £10 a day rental plus £10 a day collision damage waiver, rising to £20 + £20 in the peak season. Note: car hire prices have shot up since the pandemic, so you might be better using another option, particularly in peak season. Hopefully they will return to pre-pandemic levels. You can take out separate insurance for the collision damage waiver element at companies such as www.insurance4carhire.com for £45 for an annual policy. I would recommend www.holidayautos.co.uk for all your car hire options. They offer a multitude of difference car hire companies and different options for each. Be careful to check the fuel policy. For example if you are only going for a few days, you don't want to have to pay for a full tank of petrol. Some of the companies are at the terminal and with others there is a short shuttle bus ride. The only companies I would definitely avoid are OK rentacar who charged me € 150 for literally a pin prick damage and Drivalia who tried to do the same, but after the OK rentacar incident I had taken a 360 degree video of the car at pick up and was able to prove my innocence. I was able to claim the OK rentacar money back from insurance4carhire.com but I felt they were being dishonest.
The low cost hirers in the terminal building tend to have the biggest queues, so sometimes a short shuttle bus ride is quicker than a big queue. The big names like Avis and Europcar are in the terminal and generally there is no queue for these, but they are much more expensive than the others. Local car hire in Port de Pollensa can be even cheaper, but then you have to pay for the transport to and from the airport.
By Public Transport
If you are feeling brave it is possible to do the whole journey by public transport for about 11 Euros. The best way to pay is by contactless credit/debit card, cash is much more expensive. You need to tap your bank card on entry and exit from the bus. If you forget to tap on exit you'll get charged for the maximum journey plus 0.5 Euros. Alternatively you can order your ticket online and get a QR code to present when you get on the bus, this is same price as using a bank card. By the time you have paid for a return journey it's not much cheaper than Travel Republic's shuttle bus, but at least the buses run out of season and you don't have to book.
Option 1 via Palma city centre
Bus number A1 shuttles between Palma airport and Palma City, leaving every 15 minutes and costs 5 euros. Departures from the airport leave between 6.10am and 2.15am, every 15 minutes and the journey takes 20 minutes. Get off the shuttle airport bus at Plaza España (also the train station), which is the second stop after you see the large "El Corte Ingles" store on the right hand side. The stops are announced from the tannoy system, so listen out for "Plaza España". Then go underground to catch bus number 301 to Puerto Pollensa, timetable at: http://www.tib.org/portal/en/web/ctm/autobus/linia/301
As you can see from the timetable the second bus takes about 1 hour and
costs 5.40 Euros. Get off the second bus just before the first roundabout
you get to in Puerto Pollensa when you see the apartments Duva on your
left and the International Supermarket and Rosa Blanca on your right.
Ring the bell when you see Duva apartments on your left or the Gotmar
sign on your right. The apartment is only 150 metres from the bus stop.
If you miss the bus stop don't panic as the bus does a loop around the
centre of town and stops again at the bottom of our road. 400 metres walk
instead of 150 metres. There is a map showing the bus stops on the tib
website (link above) and our road "Carrer de la Cadernera" is
clearly marked inbetween two bus stops.
Option 2 via Alcudia (peak season only)
Bus number A32 takes you all the way from the airport to Alcudia (then onto Can Picafort if you fall asleep). The timetable is here: https://www.tib.org/en/linies-i-horaris/autobus/-/linia/A32 and the price is 8.10 Euros, the A32 only runs in the peak holiday season. Get off the bus at the first stop in Alcudia, then cross the road to catch the 322 bus to Port de Pollenca, which will cost you 2.70 Euros. The 322 is a regular service that runs about every half an hour, but you can access the timetable here: https://www.tib.org/en/linies-i-horaris/autobus/-/linia/322 . Get off the 322 bus at the bottom of our road (carrer de la Cadernara), this is the second stop after leaving the coastline (see the route map on the link). Don't worry if you miss the stop, the bus does a loop around the centre of town and stops again outside the Habitat apartments, which are at the top of our road. By the time you've reached Alcudia on the A32 bus, you're only about 10km (6 miles) from the apartment and to save the hassle of another bus and a bit of a walk, a taxi will cost you about 15 Euros.
