I am registered to do Mallorca 70.3 as a few friends from Europe are heading over and I am trying to corral up a group of Canadiana who want to spend money over in Europe next spring as we don’t have that many early race options in Canada (it’s too cold).
So the roughly plan is 5 days of mainly cycling Sat-Wed and then dial back Thu/Fri , race Sat and fly back Sun.
Here are my questions
Where do you recommend I stay if I don’t get a rental car and want to get around by walking/bike to race week stuff
Is race venue close to all the good riding or is that another part of the island
Would I be better off getting a rental car to my have flex to explore
I understand there is a 50m outdoor pool which is enticing
I am leaning towards renting to maximize flexibility so if I do that where should I stay. I am not really worried about my placement in the race. It’s probably the worst race in Europe to try to place in due to depth of field so rough plan is that the vacation and training camp aspect is more important than the race so feel free to suggest both hard and long rides.
Port Pollensa, Pollensa or Alcudia. We always stayed here. Good food and a 25m pool as well as the sea being across the road.
Where ever you stay ask the hotel if they do a transfer service. I know PortBlue do one and the place in Alcudia that sponsored Mario Mola does one. Palma is South of the Island. I would be reluctant to hire a car, they rip you off with add on’s and claim you return it damaged.
If you want to be close, stay in Port d’Alcudia. I actually first saw a live triathlon by accident when we visited there in 2014, staying in a place currently called Olive Beach Apartments which turned out to be something like 300 meters from transition.
Yes, it’s a popular base for triathletes. Also, “all the good riding” can be found almost anywhere but PdA is just 50-60k from famous climbs like Sa Calobra and Puig Major, and much closer to the scenic Cap Formentor. Makes for a nice 4-5 hour loop.
Yes, a rental car is definitely super helpful. The bus connections in Mallorca are pretty slow. You’d be burning through precious time. Many of the attractions are a little far from PdA for a bike ride plus the sightseeing (in sweaty kit). On the other hand, rentals could be a tad pricey in October. Commercial day trips maybe?
No idea about the pool but I’d try to maximise open water swimming opportunities.
Good pick for a camp. Mallorca could be the #1 triathlon destination in the world. You’ve got everything there - flats, rollers, mountains with serious categorized climbs, gravel runs, sea swims, pools, amazing food, beaches, sightseeing and parties. Been there three times so far (said family trip in 2014, camps in 2023 and 2024). I envy you!!
People who are “ripped off with add-ons” typically don’t read the small print which says the rental company needs to be able to block a deposit on your credit card (not a debit card), or else you must buy their excess insurance.
Have read horror stories about rental companies pinning damage on people but with what must by now have been over a dozen rentals (including 3 in Mallorca) it’s never happened to me.
I just did a rental in France and they put something like 400 Euros deposit on the rental car because I declined their insurance. What I should have done is take picture all around the car at the walk around (I did not), but returned it undamaged and they lifted the deposit.
Thanks for the links so far. I’ll look into some of the options.
Great you’re racing Mallorca 70.3 in May! Renting a car is not a hassle nor is driving on the island. This year I stayed in the Alcudia Garden Aparthotel which is crawling distance from the start and finish. The sea water temperature is comfortable enough that I never felt the need for a pool. Personally I prefer Port de Pollenca over Port d’Alcudia, it feels a bit less touristic. The cycling routes are great and there are more than enough options if you’re located in the North-East. The roads are well maintained and the vast majority of car drivers take great care to make you feel safe on the road. I have rented a house for two weeks in that period (in the Port de Pollenca area) and will race Mallorca 70.3 for the 7th time, so see you on the start line!
You clearly haven’t hired a car in Spain recently. The rip offs are well known, charged for “tickets” that don’t exist, charged for damage that either existed before or was charged for when it didn’t happen (especially now with the AI damage calculations), charged for empty tank of fuel when receipts are provided to show it was filled up. Etc. etc. etc.
Anyone renting a car only do so from a main office, take video and mark every tiny spot on the car at both pick up and drop off, take photos of mileage at start and end. TBH don’t hire a car in Spain unless you take their full insurance.
My business partner was almost locked up for stealing a hire car. The truth was it was returned, booked in and then booked out again immediately. It wasn’t processed properly and they tried to say he had stolen it. Tried to charge his credit card for the full retail value of the car and about 3k of extras. Luckily his CC company blocked it. He took photos of the car in the airport car park with location co-ordinates and date/time stamped. I think he would have been arrested if he didn’t have that proof. Took 3 months to sort out.
I’ve been there several times in recent years – not for the 70.3, but for the Mallorca 312 (I did the 225 km) and for bike holidays/training with my wife.
I can fully recommend Viva Blue: excellent hotel, great food, and a well-equipped bike room with tools and a cleaning station. They even have a fridge with ready-to-grab ride bags – sandwich plus fruit and/or nuts with raisins.
Viva Eden is also very good in my opinion. No ride bags there, but the food is nearly the same quality.
Viva Sunrise has a smaller bike room, the food is slightly behind Eden, but it’s also the cheaper option.
Thanks guys, all of this is super helpful. I’ll get on it during the weekend and hone in on a spot and then get on my recruiting campaign to get a bunch of Canadians off their collective asses and cross the pond next spring, as we just tend to gravitate towards warm weather US races at that time of year (I know I have) often missing out on lots of interesting stuff in Europe (or Latin America). At some point once you have to pack your bike and get on a plane, its just a matter of a few more hours each way sitting inside a tin cup pressurized to 10,000 ft above sea level (on a plus side, maybe the long flight allows for some red blood cells to magically be generated in the equivalent of a brief detour to a virtual altitude tent haha)
I’m following / lurking this thread since Mallorca is on my bucket list – for both driving, and cycling.
Tangential question (sorry) re: the rental car shady biz practices – Is that with the local car rental outfits, or did that happen renting through global companies (Hertz, Avis, etc.)?
OK my trip to Mallorca is all set. I kind of need to start training. Tomorrow I have a 50km XC ski race in Quebec, and after that I really need to start running a bit more. Biking will come quickly off the XC ski legs (it seems each time I get on the trainer which is barely 1x per week, my watts are the same as before Marbella). Swimming is ready to go…it’s really the running that is iffy. What is the surface of the run course?
I am staying at an apartment 1.5km from Port D’Alcudia which turns out to be on the run course where i will be from 2-12 May
I’m late answering this thread. I just want to say I’ve rented pretty much every time I’ve been to Mallorca and Ibiza and I’ve never been ripped off.
I buy excess insurance cover separately (it’s pretty cheap and covers multiple trips over a year) and I’ve never had to use it.
I always rent at airports and I always say no to the additional insurance (which is just lowering or eliminating the excess). I also take photos of the car. But I’ve hardly ever had to use them. I usually rent through rentalcars.com and choose based on a mix of ratings with a preference of on airport companies vs those connected via shuttle (which are usually much cheaper but I’ve had bad experiences with waiting times).
It’s worth saying that if staying in Alcudia a car isn’t absolutely needed. But car rental is pretty cheap and transport to Alcudia from the airport is expensive unless getting a bus. And if you want to see anything on the island (which is worth doing) a car can be useful. Also, large supermarket chains (like Mercadona) are way cheaper and better stocked than any supermarket in Alcudia. If staying a few days I’d stock up at a big supermarket.
If I remember well, a lot of the surface is tarmac but sometimes its really not that good. For a long while you’re running on the walking path along the beach and it has a number of little bridges and awkward points. But it’s a very fast running course, very flat. If it gets hot on the day it can be quite hot, almost no shade.
That’s great to hear! My plans have changed slightly but I’m still racing this year. One tip, make sure you park your car in a correct place on race day. A couple of years ago my rental car was towed away (as were many other cars) which cost me around 200 euro (and a lot of time). There had been very small signs which I hadn’t seen (nor was I warned by the hotel).
What @marcoviappiani writes about the run is correct. The part along the beach has improved over the years, it’s now very much runnable. What always catches me is the sun, it much brighter than where I live so I need a cap and sunglasses during the run. Apart from the bridge the run course is flat as a pancake. Good luck with the final weeks of training!
Thanks guys. I just finished my 50km skate ski race, so today is day 1 for tranferring the ski fitness to triathlon specificity. Last year I did a 40km skate ski followed by a 7km run as my last major working one week before Puerto Rico 70.3. I got there Thu before the race and went out for an easy 3 hrs cruise on the bike just to get out there and get some sun exposure (the rest of my rides were 1-1.5 hrs hard on the trainer…race day was 2.5 hrs but it felt trying to stay aero for so long). Mallorca should have more breaks from aero, and I have more weeks to do some tri stuff. But last year I was running through the winter, whereas this year, I dialed back and focused on XC skiing as I felt I had a long stretch that started with St. George 70.3 May 2024, to Taupo Worlds Dec 2024, to Puerto Rico 70.3 in Mar 2025, all the way to Marbella Worlds Nov 2025. I felt like that was literally 1.5 years straight that I was in half IM race shape (for me) and should just focus on other stuff (swimming, weights, XC skiing). I had a good XC ski season with 1000km just completed yesterday and 2 50k races so now feel a bit motivated to switch back to tri focus (I have Mallorca, then Tremblant 70.3 Muskoka 70.3 and then Nice Worlds from May to Sep)…then I think I will do a bigger focus on XC ski racing next winter, as there will be a longer break from Sep to Dec this year.
Back to the logistics, I have booked a rental car for 10 days from Budget. It’s costing me $490 CAD (not bad) for an electric car. But I see an option for a place that has half board (breakfast and dinner) and it looks like that hotel has a 25m pool and it is walking distance to race, so I may skip the rental car entirely because then I don’t have to worry about parking it as it is hard to tell what local street parking is like on the non race days. But I see that taxis from Palma to Alducia are around 100 Euros, so two ways that’s literally the price of my rental car ($306 CAD)…at which point it is only around $200 CAD more to have access to a car, so not sure what to do)
You hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly why I always end up renting the car there. As an alternative, shared shuttle or public bus are much cheaper but you spend quite a bit of time waiting and they take much longer because they stop at almost every hotel. I’ve done it when travelling alone.
Also, one word of advice. It’s easy to get confused with the names. Everybody (including myself) might say Alcudia or Pollensa when they mean Port d’Alcudia and Port de Pollensa. Alcudia and Pollensa are more inland and the Port are the towns on the beach.
Port d’Alcudia is and endless strip of packaged holiday hotels and real estate speculation. Alcudia is a remarkable pretty old town.
Port d’Alcudia is absolutely walkable and you can 100% manage without a car but distances are bigger than you’d think - if you calculate the walking distance on Google maps it’s accurate.
If you’re staying in port d’Alcudia or playa de Muro you likely won’t use the car at all to go to the race area.
The car is useful if you want to stay somewhere else (Port pollensa is a common choice for cyclists), for flexibility, for cutting down the km of any cycling routes you want to do (Port pollensa is the typical starting point for Formentor - the best cycling route on the island - and Femenia/Sa batalla - the main climb of the IM course) , or for visiting other parts of the island.
Thanks. I ride Formentor frequently on Rouvy (its actually what got me to select this race, plus friends talking about cycling in Mallorca for the last 30 years and me never going). Would you then recommend changing my accomomodations to stay in Port Pollensa for the first 5-6 days and then move to Port Alcudia around the Half IM?
It’s definitely an option. It really depends what your preferences are. Personally if the idea is to stay at port pollensa, then I would consider just staying there rather than switching hotel as I’m not a big fan of moving my stuff around. But if you want no hassle on race day, sure.
The transition area is on the road called Carretera d’Arta, opposite a burger king on a big roundabout in the direction of the old port (port vell). There’s an Eroski supermarket in that street towards the middle.
If staying in port alcudia I’d go on Google maps and calculate the walking distance from that point to the hotel and make sure it’s a walking distance I’m ok walking or running on race morning. I say this because some hotels can be quite far walking wise. Especially those in Playa de Muro like the viva blue that was mentioned on this thread (it has a really nice 25m pool and it’s where Mario Mola trains).
To drive the car on race day, you’d need to study the road closures carefully to figure out the best approach and find parking (or reserve a taxi) to make sure your car isn’t stuck a long time after your race is done. It’s 100% doable.
Anyhow, you’ll love it. I’m so jealous, Mallorca is by far the best cycling destination. Sa Calobra is also worth it and the traverse of the Sierra de Tramontana where you get a shuttle to Port d’Andratx in the morning and cycle your way back. The Island is quite big so plenty of rides elsewhere, too. But you probably don’t want to cook yourself too much before the race.
Port de Pollenca is a much nicer place to stay than Port d’Alcudia. I’ve always rented a car to be flexible so I have no experience with shuttle buses, but if you stay in Port d’Alcudia you will probably not use the car that much. Driving and parking from Port de Pollenca to Port d’Alcudia on race day is not an issue, as long as you know where to park the car. I’ve parked in the area across the street of the transition area, near the hydro park. The water temperature in the sea is usually high enough to do your swim training there. Cap de Formentor is a great ride, just make sure to do it early in the day to avoid traffic. And another tip, make sure you know exactly how the routing is when dropping your bike the day before the race, it’s a very large transition. Last years it was at the Burger King side, so where you exit T1 and enter T2. It’s going to be a blast, Mallorca is cyclist heaven and a real-world Watopia.
ok if Port Pollenca is a nicer place and also more convenient for cycling daily departures, I think I will look into that and transfer to Port Alducia on Thu-Tue (I kind of like being close to race site for race site). Similarly for Nice worlds I am staying in Antibes to be out of Nice traffic until Thu on race week and then staying in Nice within walking distance of race. On that front, Mallorca is a bit of a throwaway race for results as I have a slot to Nice WC, so I am there largely to ride and then Thu/Fri taper for a long supported training day in a race environment. I don’t know if my A event for the summer is Muskoka70.3 (first week of Jul in the new qualifying year) as 2027 site for 70.3 WC is not known yet.
Interestingly, I got on the trainer a few days after my 50km skate ski XC race (it was on sunday with 1150m of climb and descent), and even with very low 1x per week biking, the watts on the bike were same at around Marbella. But my run is in the tank…not sure that can get better in a month, so the key is to just not get injured and be consistent now.