Where to eat in Palma: Our 7 favourite café’s, bars & restaurants in Palma

We have visited Palma several times in recent years and regularly choose to use it as our base for exploring Mallorca.

Before we visit any new location, one of the first things we do is to research the best places to eat and drink, especially the best coffee spots as we love a good coffee.

We recently spent a month based in Palma and exploring Mallorca meaning we got to check out a lot of food and drink spots. Choosing where to eat in Palma is fairly straightforward as a lot of the best options are concentrated in some key areas of the city like Santa Catalina, The Old Town & Passeig del Born.

Palma has a great food and drink scene, with a blend of trendy cafe’s, rooftop bars, opulent cocktail spots, fine dining, tapas and casual food options meaning you aren’t likely to go hungry when you visit.

Palma is a great city in itself, with a similar feel to Barcelona and the added bonus of a being a city close to the sea so you can add in beach days along the way.

How many days do you need in Palma?

If you only plan to visit Palma itself, then 3 days is enough time to enjoy the area and include a day trip to Valdemossa or Soller.

Ordinarily, we would suggest you spend at least 3 days in any city to allow sufficient time to explore and enjoy the city, without feeling like you are in a huge rush to move from one place to the next. 

If you are staying 3 days in Palma, we would recommend spending one day exploring the city, one day on going on a boat tour before having dinner in the city and watching sunset at Parc del Mar and the final day taking a guided tour to Soller and Valdemossa for the perfect blend to your time there.

Where to stay in Palma

We have a much more detailed guide that you can read on this but ultimately if you intend to explore the city itself, your hotel choice will come down to budget more so than anything else.

Palma is a largely walkable city and therefore the specific area is less important than the hotel itself. However, you can also choose to stay in the outskirts life you would like to be closer to a beach.

For example you could stay in Portopi, which is close to Cala Major or the Can Pastilla/S’Arenal areas which are more beach oriented as well.

HOW TO DECIDE WHERE TO EAT IN PALMA

Before you choose where to eat in Palma we would recommend getting familiar with the areas best food locations. If you are a foodie then one thing we would highly recommend doing to get a feel for the food scene in Palma is to take a food tour.

This is a great way to get to know the best spots, particularly from a local’s perspective and to enjoy some of the local delicacies as well.

We took this tour which included meals and drinks at 4 different locations and we were able to try out cured meats and cheeses from the area.

Because this tour was limited to a small group it felt like a really personalised experience as well and meant we know the ins and outs of the Palma food scene from day one.

Best café’s in Palma

Santal

• Opening Hours: 9am-3:30pm
• Price: €€
• Rating out of 5: ***

Santal is probably one of the most aesthetic café’s in Palma to visit. Set in an old 17th Century Mill, the exterior immediately catches your eye.

You can sit outside in a nice courtyard area with a relaxed feel but we would only recommend this if you are visiting outside of the peak summer months as it gets incredibly hot here so you won’t be able to enjoy your food.

Inside the interiors are simple but beautiful with natural stone and neutral design. They also host private functions and parties and the space is really well set up for that kind of event.

We had avocado toast; pancakes, orange juice and a couple of coffees. They have a special offer for brunch where you can get a toast option, coffee, juice and a pastry for €22 which is really good value.

Special mention for the Cinammon Bun here, which was as good as any of the bakeries we visited in Palma.

Overall, we visited Santal twice during our stay. The second time the food took a bit long to arrive and for the price, we found the portions to be a bit small but we would happily go back for a coffee to enjoy the unique setting.

Fika Farina

• Opening Hours: 8am-8pm
• Price: €€
• Rating out of 5: ****

Fika Farina is one of those .places that you will often see when you start searching for places to eat in Palma on social media.

This Swedish inspired bakery will always have a queue lined out the door but it moves quickly enough for it not to be an issue.

Quite often, these places do not live up to the hype and are mainly being heavily promoted because of their aesthetic etc.

Fika Farina falls somewhere between the two – it is definitely worth visiting but isn’t so much better than the other bakeries in Palma like Rosevelt that it warrants being a viral sensation.

That being said, their pistachio croissant was really good and well worth a visit for that alone. The bakery is quite small so there is no indoor seating etc. but you can sit on the windowsill just outside the entrance which is a nice spot for a photo as well.

Hotto

• Opening Hours: 9am-3pm
• Price: €€
• Rating out of 5: ****

If coffee spots with a clean minimalist aesthetic are your vibe, then Hotto is the place for you.

This is a speciality coffee and Japanese brunch spot with a very cool feel to it. Having lived in Australia, we are always drawn to café’s with more of an Australian brunch feel to them and Hotto definitely falls into that category.

We only went to Hotto for coffee so can’t make any judgment on the food options but would definitely recommend it for a cool, chilled out spot for a nice iced coffee in the Mallorca heat.

Best Restaurants in Palma

Rikito

• Opening Hours: 1:30–4:00 pm, 6–11:00 pm
• Price: €€
• Rating out of 5: ****

Of everywhere that we were told to go for food in Palma, Rikito was the one that was mentioned the most often. Because of that, Rikito was also the first restaurant we decided to try when we arrived in Palma.

This Italian restaurant is set in the Santa Catalina area where you will find most of the best restaurants in Palma. The interiors here are really cool with lots of great prints on the wall etc. but outdoor seating does tend to be more popular, particularly during the day.

We had the carbonara ‘Notorious P.I.G which was really good but possibly a bit too rich for the hot weather. Feeling completely full in the heat isn’t always the most enjoyable experience but that doesn’t take away from the quality of the food.

We also had the meatballs ‘Lady & the tramp’ which were a bit lighter and well flavoured overall. The pasta dishes range from €20-€30 which isn’t uncommon for the area.

Again I would say Rikito is well worth visiting but not necessarily worth of the level of hype it gets online. For an alternative Italian, you could also try Mama’s Pepper but we would only recommend that for pizza rather than their pasta dishes.

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• Opening Hours: 1–3:30 pm, 7–10:30 pm (Closed Sundays)
• Price: €€
• Rating out of 5: ***

Katie and I love tacos and Mexican food in general so it didn’t take too much convincing for us to try this place out.

This place is very popular and we had to book a table 5 days in advance so if you are only going to Palma on a short trip, make sure to book in advance to avoid missing out.

We started off with margaritas, which were €9.90, pretty reasonable for a cocktail. After that we had totopos with guacamole to start which were quite

On to the main event and it was obviously all about the tacos here. We decided to try a bit of everything starting with Al Pastor, which was marinated pork, pineapple and red onion garden and fresh green jalapeño and avocado sauce.

We also had the Brisket, which was Sautéed beef, tatemada tomato sauce and pico de Gallo and the chicken which had crispy chicken, pickled cabbage, guacamole and chilli sauce.

Overall, the crispy chicken was our favourite but we probably didn’t order enough food overall, always a good excuse to try it out again next time.

Best bars in Palma

When it comes to choosing a great bar in a city, we take a few things into consideration. Firstly, does it have a nice view. In Ireland, we spend a lot of our time indoors, including at bars, where socialising and local music is the key to a good time.

As we now travel with our young children, bars aren’t at the top of our agenda anymore but we will often stop for one drink or to at least sit out and people watch when the opportunity arises.

When we are on holiday, the thing we love most is having the opportunity to a) sit outside in a nice climate and b) admire a nice view while we do it. That view could be of a local landmark from a rooftop, it could be the beautiful buildings of an Old Town or it could be a beautiful sunset along a promenade etc.

Luckily, Palma has options for all of these scenarios. There is one exception on the list but the interiors of the bar itself are the view.

That place is Bar Abaco – an opulent cocktail bar set in a. restored 17th Century mansion which makes you feel like you have travelled back in time.

Bar Abaco

• Opening Hours: 8pm-12:30am
• Price: €€€
• Rating out of 5: ****

Bar Abaco is set in the heart of Palma’s Old Town and is a great option to try out for a cocktail before or after going for dinner nearby.

The Bar has an exclusive feel to it with guests queuing up outside before it opens at 8pm to make sure to get a seat in the beautiful outdoor terrace.

That is the one thing we would highlight, make sure to get there at least 15-20 minutes before opening as the experience simply will not be the same without grabbing a seat outside.

Once you walk in you will be greeted by a member of staff to show you to your table having passed through the lounge area, lined with fruit, sculptures and chandeliers giving you that vintage mansion feel.

It doesn’t really matter where you sit outside as all of the seats are centred around a beautiful fountain in the middle of the terrace.

The cocktails themselves are quite expensive but not completely extortionate compared to any other cocktail bar, it was €17 per cocktail when we visited.

Overall, if you are in Palma we would definitely recommend going in for one drink at least but the prices can be a bit off putting.

Rooftop at Hotel Sant Francesc Singular

• Opening Hours: 8pm til late for non residents
• Price: €€€
• Rating out of 5: *****

If you want to enjoy a luxury rooftop with incredible views overlooking the Seu Cathedral then this is the place for you.

While a stay here is not in our price range, having a drink here and enjoying perfect sunset views was an option we couldn’t pass up on.

During the day this rooftop bar is not available to non residents but from 8pm onwards anyone not staying at the hotel is allowed to go here for a drink.

The rooftop here really has that ‘wow’ factor and you can immediately see why people want to go here from the second you arrive.

We saw the Seu from every angle at sunset while we were in Palma and the view from up here was arguably the most impressive.

Considering that it is a 5* luxury hotel, the drinks menu is not extortionately priced. Quite often we have visited similar places in Europe that add on a premium for the view but cocktails here start at €15 and a pint of beer is €8 which, while still expensive, is fairly reasonable in the context.

If you want a luxury place to stay in Palma then it would be really hard to choose anywhere else from what we saw. A 5* rating for a 5* experience.