Spotlight on Soller | Soller Tourist Information | Soller Expat Directory
Welcome to the Mallorca Live the Dream, "Spotlight on Sóller" section. Sóller is a very special part of the island of Majorca and because of it's unique charms and character deserves it's very own section on our website. Within this Soller mini-site, we have provided you with detailed information about Sóller the tourist resort (what to see, where to go, what to do) plus a detailed expat directory for those lucky people who live in this beautiful location.
Sóller is a town located on the north west coast of Mallorca. It is set in a green valley surrounded by Mallorca's highest mountains. Much of the town is residential and agricultural: it is full of orange, lemon and olive groves. The resort area of Port de Sóller is four kilometres away and is much more tourist oriented. The combined population of Sóller and Port de Sóller is 12 000. The town has a beautiful square and many of the buildings are of architectural interest.
Sóller is twenty kilometres drive north of Palma de Mallorca on route MA-11. You can either drive through the toll tunnel or go over the top of the Coll de Soller. Once you arrive in Soller, park your car and continue on foot, as the town's narrow streets are not conducive to driving.
The Ferrocarril de Sóller train service runs between Palma's Plaza d'Espanya and Sóller six times a day between 8am and 7pm. Tickets are €10,00 single and €17 return and can be purchased at the station half an hour before the train leaves. The train journey is slow, taking over an hour, but is scenic, with marvellous views of the mountains on both sides of the tunnel. Note that even in the lower seasons the train can be very crowded. The trains are very old-fashioned with outside viewing platforms at the front and rear of each coach. The line is narrow gauge.
TIB operates several bus services to Port de Sóller. The IB-09 service operates between Palma and Port de Sóller; the IB-12 service operates between Peguera, Valldemossa and Port de Sóller; and the IB-15 service operates, except in winter, between Port de Pollença, Lluc, and Port de Sóller.
A tram service operates between the Sóller train station and Port de Sóller approximately every half hour between 7am and 8:30pm. Tickets are €4 per journey and are available on board. Like the train service from Palma, the tram service is very crowded, especially before the last train to Palma leaves in the evening.
For bike lovers there are great tracks for both roadbiking and mountain biking. Please note that mountain biking is in rocky terrain so one needs to be experienced and ride a full suspension bike. The old road to the Sóller Pass (since the tunnel opened there are only a few cars on the road) is a magnificent ride on a road bike. There are approximately 50 hairpin bends if you cross the pass to the other end of the tunnel.
SOLLER SPOTLIGHT
SOLLER TOP PICKS
The Orange Express
The Orange Express links the town to the Port and this is a must do ride for anyone visiting the town. The highlight of the journey is the trip through the middle of Plaça Constitució, the main square and focal point of Sóller town. At times, the tram passes so close to people eating their meals in one of the numerous restaurants or cafés that you feel that you could reach out and grab something from the table! The tram itself is an import from San Francisco and the trip to the Port is very scenic as journey takes you through orange & lemon groves. A little expensive at 4 Euros for a single journey, but in our opinion, worth every cent!
Plaça Constitució
The main meeting point within Sóller and the place to "people watch" is the main square called the Plaça Constitució which is surrounded by cafés and has a fountain in its centre. On a beautiful sunny day, this really is somewhere where you can sit down, relax and watch the world go by. Facing the East side of the square is the church of Sant Bartomeu and the ajuntament (Town Hall) and the Banco de Sóller, all of these being very impressive buildings in their own right. From the Plaça, you can take any of the numerous cobbled and narrow streets to explore the town, which has some fantastic shops to explore.
Serra de Tramuntana
The Serra de Tramuntana is a mountain range running southwest-northeast which forms the northern backbone of the Spanish island of Majorca. Its highest peak is the Puig Major, which, at its 1,445 metres is the highest mountain in the Balearic Islands. The climate in the Tramuntana Range is markedly wetter than the rest of the island. It is also cooler due to the height and a few days of snow are not unusual during winter. It might surpise those who are used to walk across other mountain ranges, that over 90% of the Serra de Tramuntana is privately owned. The great estates of mallorca - which includes entire mountains - go back originally to the "share out" made by King Jaume I to the catalan feudal lords and knights who took part in the re-conquest of the island from the Moors in 1229.
Ferrocarril de Sóller
Ever since 1912 the Sóller railway has been running a daily train service along the 27.3 km route between Palma de Mallorca and Sóller, without interruption. The Sóller railway also stands out for the special, attractive route it runs along, overcoming the natural barrier of the Sierra de Alfàbia mountain range which is 2.8 km wide and 496 metres high. To do so, in just seven kilometres, the railway rises up 199 metres with an inclination of 23 millimetres, runs through thirteen longitudinal tunnels ranging in length from 33 to 2,876 metres, crosses over several bridges, the "cinc-ponts" viaduct which has five arches with spans 8 metres high and a great many bends, some with radii below 190 metres.