Today was the first and last time I will go directly from the airport to the start of a hike.
It’s pretty unlikely I arrive at an airport in any case – one of the perks of living in south-west Germany is that I can travel to the start point of many long distance hikes by bus, train or a combination of both. The crippling fear of flying is also a factor.
Still, after waking up at 3am for a 6am flight, landing at 8am and hopping directly on the bus to the starting town of Port de Andratx, I was bleary-eyed and low on energy. I had managed to peak out of the plane window a few times without freaking out, and was greeted with a pink-orange morning sky and a clear view of the Serra de Tramuntana – the mountain range spanning across the north of the island.
In just 6 days, I’ll cross the island!
At 11am, after arriving in Port de Andratx and scoffing down what was essentially a fancy cheese and chutney sandwich, I started tracking the route on my watch and crossed a small, blue pedestrian bridge.
I am always a little disappointed that a tourism board or hiking association can spend so much time and energy into creating a long distance trail, without installing a whopping big “X Trail Starts Here” sign.
Port de Andratx to Sant Elm
Unsignposted, the route quickly left the small port town and ascended up a dirt track, occasionally crossing a small switchback road. After about 2km and some ascent, the paved road ended and a dirt road began. I was passed by 2 off-road cars. Starting on a Saturday, I guessed they were driving to one of the island’s many “secret beaches” (the ones that anyone can find by looking at a map).
The next 6km to Sant Elm were easy – mainly on wide dirt paths, with views of the Mediterranean Ocean on my left and mountains on my right. There was no signage whatsoever and the GPS from Komoot was completely necessary. After passing the highest point of this stretch (290m, around 5km into the route), you leave the dirt road and have some metres of more interesting, stony paths.
The gentle descent to Sant Elm returns to wider, dirt paths. My GPS tracks led straight through a chained-off road with a ‘no entry’ sign (6km into the route). I nervously ventured on this path regardless, but was validated a few minutes later by other walkers coming towards me from the other side of the route. I didn’t translate the sign, but I’m guessing it was to prevent cars rather than hikers.
It was windy in Sant Elm. The kind of windy where red flags are raised at the beach, swimming is forbidden, and the frosting was nearly blown off the carrot cake I bought from the small grocery store. Cake paired with a cold can of Fanta Limon gave me the energy to continue.
Sant Elm to Ses Fontanelles
It was already past 2pm. The remaining kilometres and shorter days of late autumn were looming on my mind. I didn’t fancy sitting around letting the wind repeatedly whip my hair into my face.
I continued out of town – still unmarked – and followed a dirt road until some smaller dirt paths with signs to “La Trapa”. The path and views became more interesting above the forest. A small section of the path here is rated as T4 – less than 100m of gentle rock climbing. My lack-of-sleep was causing serious jelly legs at this part. Whilst easy enough that a family with kids did it, I wouldn’t have wanted to do it in the rain.
At the top is “La Trapa”, the crumbly remains of a monastery in a protected nature zone. In all honesty, it looked unimpressive and after 12km of walking, I skipped exploring it to continue further. I was more excited by the first official GR221 signpost!
I can’t describe the extraordinary scenery that followed in the next 5km. I’ll let a picture tell these thousand words:
After around 17.5km, the path nearly joins a main road but turns off to the left after a farmhouse.
I had booked to stay at Finca Ses Fontanelles – a private rifugio (which is not open all year round!). There are two planned municipal rifugios that could be potential stage ending points, neither of which are yet open and I found blog posts referencing them at least 7 years ago, so I wouldn’t hold my breath for them opening any time soon.
I followed the GR221 through a forest, which turned out to be a much longer route than continuing along the road to the rifugio. Definitely go directly along the road.
The day was much longer than I expected – a combination of hiking 20km on less than 4 hours sleep, and numerous micro-pauses to enjoy the views.
I arrived just after sundown and about 15 minutes before dinner. Perfectly timed for a 2 minute freezing cold shower.
The 12-person dormitory was nearly full. The dinner – a peach and walnut salad, vegetarian aubergine parmigiana, and a slice of chocolate orange tart – along with a shared bottle of wine sent me into such a peaceful sleep than not even snoring could penetrate.
As a private rifugio / finca / farm stay, Ses Fontanelles closes from November onwards for the “winter season”. (what people living on Mallorca call the winter season boggles my brain). If you don’t have the opportunity to stay there, alternatives for Day 1 of the GR221 could be:
- Port de Andratx to Sant Elm (a short day one, with a longer day to Esporles the next day)
- Start at S’Arraco rather than Port de Andratx, a signposted alternative, and walk direct to Estellencs (also a long day)
Komoot Port de Andratx to Ses Fontanelles
I always use Komoot to navigate whilst hiking (with a premium account for offline maps). You can check out my actual route here: