Palma Airport to Anywhere in Mallorca (for under €10)

 

Airport to Palma City Center

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If you’re staying in Palma, then getting from the airport to the city center is super easy.  Just step out of airport and jump on the Bus 1.  It arrives every 15 minutes throughout the day, and every 30 minutes during later hours.  Costs only €3.  Drop off is at Plaza de España (the heart of Palma).

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Public Transportation Anywhere Else (a nightmare)

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If you’re planning on going anywhere outside of Palma, then public transportation (especially with a few big bags) is an absolute nightmare!

For example, for me to get to Porto Cristo from the airport via public transportation after 8pm, I would have to take a bus from the airport to Palma, take a train from Palma to Inca, transfer trains or take a different bus to Manacor, and then from Manacor to Porto Cristo take a taxi – which, according to Google Maps, is a 9 hour journey (F’ that!)  Or a direct taxi ride would be the most convenient, but will cost at least €90 (again, F’ that!)

 

So how do get from the Palma airport to anywhere on the island, under 2 hours, for under €10??

Easy. And why this is kept such a secret is beyond me…

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Airport to Anywhere on the Island, DIRECTLY

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If you plan on going directly from the airport to anywhere else on the island, I recommend that you book a shuttle transfer in advance. ResortHoppa provides reliable shuttle transfers to anywhere you want to go! Book and reserve your shuttle in advance online – worrying about transportation and where to go the second you arrive is not fun! Trust me. I wish I knew about this my first year and avoided all the local bus transfers that cost the same amount of money as a direct shuttle transfer!  Costs only about US$9!!

Booking Online:

• When filling out the form, it’ll ask where you’re going. If you’re staying in a hotel, great. If you’re staying at a private residence, just put in the closest hotel near by where you’re trying to go (shuttles don’t normally go to private residences).
• Pay with PayPal instead of a credit or debit card to avoid being charged a €1-€3 booking fee.

Tip: Google “ResortHoppa Promo Codes” for discount codes at checkout. I booked in August, and I found a promo code for 20% off for the month of August.  I ended up paying only about US$7 (which is cheaper than the public bus)!

At the Airport:

• Find the small office that says “Shuttle” (it’s almost on the other side from where you’ll exit – near baggage claim #16)
• Give your name and the time that you reserved.
• Then they’ll give you a small piece of paper with a bus letter.
• All the buses are towards the middle of baggage claim (towards where you just came from).  If you walk outside, you’ll see a ton of buses lined up near the main walkway (walking towards the parking garage) – that is where you want to be.
• Find your letter bus (mine was “M”), and tell the bus driver where you want to go so he/she can map out the best route to get everyone where they need to go.

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Helpful Apps & Tricks

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Google Maps is what I use because I find it the easiest.

Transport Mallorca is if you want a complete bus schedule between specific locations (PDF files of all schedules)

Tip: What I actually found the most useful and quickest way to always know the bus times, is to take a picture of the bus schedule at the bus stop. This is more accurate then Google Maps and doesn’t require WiFi.

For example, in the summer time, I take the bus from Porto Cristo to Cala Bona every night – so I just keep this image on my phone so that I always know when the buses are supposed to arrive.

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Save Money with a Bus Pass

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Once you establish yourself in Mallorca, the next step is to get a bus pass to save money overall throughout the year. There are two different bus passes you can get, which I’ll go into in another post :)

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