Rainy Day in Palma de Mallorca. What To Do When the Weather Turns

People plan a trip to Mallorca around sun, and most days they get it. But some mornings you wake up to grey sky and rain on the window, and the beach plan is gone. This is what I tell guests to do instead, based on years of watching a rainy day change nothing about how good the day can be.

The Cathedral, Early

La Seu, Palma's cathedral, is the obvious stop, and it earns it. Go early, before the tour groups arrive around 10am. The Gaudí-restored interior and the rose window are worth an hour on their own, rain or not.

Mercado Olivar, Under Cover

The good thing about a market is that it already has a roof. Mercado Olivar does not slow down for weather, if anything the covered halls feel warmer and more alive when it is grey outside. Walk the fish hall, buy something you do not recognise, ask the vendor what to do with it.

Palma's Old Town, Slowly

Carrer de Sant Miquel, the Jewish Quarter, the small courtyard patios you can see through open doors. These streets are built for walking without a plan, and rain thins out the crowds enough that you can actually look up at the buildings instead of the person in front of you.

Museums and the Contemporary Art Scene

Es Baluard, right on the sea wall, is Palma's contemporary art museum and a good two hours indoors. CaixaForum Palma runs smaller rotating exhibitions closer to the centre if you want something shorter.

Come Cook Instead

Here is what I actually recommend. Spend the rainy morning in my kitchen in Sant Jordi, ten minutes from Palma. We start with a market visit if the timing works, or straight into the kitchen if you would rather stay dry the whole day. Either way you end up cooking a full three-course Mallorcan meal from my family's recipes, and by the time you sit down to eat it, nobody in the room is thinking about the weather.

Some of my best sessions have happened on the grey days. Nobody is rushing off to the beach. We take our time with the sofrito.

See the Market Tour & Cooking Experience for the full-day version, or the Traditional Cooking Experience if you would rather stay entirely indoors.

Practical Notes

• Palma's rain tends to arrive in short, heavy bursts rather than settling in all day, so a two-hour window is often enough to wait it out
• Bring a light layer, the old town stone buildings stay cool even when it is warm outside
• Most museums and the cathedral are walkable from each other in the centre, no car needed

For the dishes you might cook once you are in from the rain, see Traditional Mallorcan Recipes.