GR221 Deia to Port de Soller, with the Cala Deia detour done early

Soller, Deia, Port de Soller

1. 8:20 am1

   Bus 203 out to DeiaSoller

   Ride the bus at the start of the day, not the end. Walking the stage north-east means you finish at the sea in Port de Soller with a tram home, instead of standing at a Deia roadside at six with everyone else.

   9 min by train or taxi · 5.7 km
2. 8:50 am2

   Coffee in the Deia square before dropping to the seaDeia

   Refugi Can Boi, the GR221 stage hut, is two minutes below the square if you are doing the route in stages - twenty-odd beds, booked through the Consell de Mallorca months ahead, never on the day.

   20 min walk · 1.5 km
3. 9:20 am3

   Down the cobbles to Cala DeiaDeia

   Thirty minutes down through olive terraces on a stepped cobbled path. Go now: the cove is empty before eleven and the water is glass. Ca's Patro March, the fish shack on the rocks, only opens for lunch from about one, so it is a reason to come back rather than a reason to wait.

   3 min walk · 50 m
4. 10:10 am4

   First swim of the tripDeia

   March water is around fifteen degrees and the shingle is punishing barefoot - the sandals are worth carrying for exactly this.

   19 min walk · 1.5 km
5. 10:40 am5

   Back up to the GR221 and on over LlucalcariDeia

   The climb out of the cala is the only real work of the day: 200 m in 25 minutes. After Llucalcari the path traverses high above the sea for two hours with no shade and no water, so carry two litres. Both places people go wrong are at the Llucalcari houses - keep the sea on your left and look for the red-and-white flash painted on the dry-stone wall.

   10 min by train or taxi · 6.1 km
6. 1:40 pm6

   Refugi Muleta and the Cap Gros lighthousePort de Soller

   The old army telegraph station, in use until 1956, now a forty-bed refugi. Its terrace is where the whole bay opens up in one go - the best five minutes of the stage and most people walk straight past it.

   17 min walk · 1.3 km
7. 2:20 pm7

   Late lunch on the Repic waterfrontPort de Soller

   The path drops you at the far, lighthouse end of the bay; the restaurants are twenty minutes round the water. Kitchens here stop at four sharp, which is the real reason not to linger at Muleta.

   3 min walk · 0 m
8. 3:45 pm8

   Wooden tram back to SollerPort de Soller

   Runs every half hour through the orange groves to Soller station, tickets bought on board. Sit on the right for the groves, stand on the back platform if it is full.