Last updated: September 2026
El Arenal holidays offer the most complete resort beach experience on the southwest coast of Majorca — a long, broad sandy beach, a lively seafront promenade, easy access to Palma, a large water park and a full-scale entertainment scene that makes the resort one of the best-value family and group destinations on the island.
Stretching along the southeastern shore of the Bay of Palma, El Arenal has approximately 4 kilometres of sandy beach backed by a continuous resort promenade of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. The resort is directly connected to Palma city centre by the tourist train and by bus services that run throughout the year.
This guide covers the beach and promenade, the Aqualand water park, the connection to Palma, excursions, getting there, and practical booking information for El Arenal holidays.
El Arenal holidays are chosen by visitors who want the classic sun, sea and sand formula in a resort that delivers consistently well across the full range of beach holiday requirements — long sandy beach, reliable sunshine, good hotel stock, easy access to entertainment and a large water park for family days.
The resort’s scale means everything is available without effort. The beach is long enough that crowding rarely feels intense even at peak August capacity. The promenade restaurants cover every cuisine type. The Aqualand water park — the largest on the island — is within the resort zone. And the tourist train to Palma takes visitors to the capital in 40 minutes without needing a car.
El Arenal holidays also offer excellent value by southwest coast standards. The large supply of hotel accommodation — from budget three-star to well-appointed four-star — creates competition that keeps prices lower than the more exclusive resorts of the north coast or the southwest coves.
The resort’s well-established German and British visitor market gives it a genuinely international feel and a broad range of services familiar to UK visitors: English-speaking staff in most hotels, British pub food alongside Spanish restaurants, and a social atmosphere that suits visitors who want their holiday environment to feel familiar and accessible.
The Playa de El Arenal — or Playa de Palma — runs for approximately 4 kilometres between El Arenal and C’an Pastilla, with the broadest and most fully serviced section of the beach in the El Arenal zone. The sand is fine and pale, the water is shallow with a gentle gradient, and EU Blue Flag water quality is maintained annually.
Sun lounger hire, parasol hire, pedalo and kayak rental, boat trips and watersports instruction are all available at multiple points along the beach. The shallow water and minimal wave action make El Arenal one of the safest large resort beaches on Majorca for young children.
The promenade behind the beach is one of the most developed on the island. A continuous line of hotels, restaurants, bars and shops gives the beach front a complete resort town character that visitors who want everything within walking distance will appreciate. El Arenal holidays never require a hire car for accessing basic resort amenities — everything is on the promenade.
The evening paseo along the promenade is a traditional feature of El Arenal holidays. The seafront restaurants and beach bars light up after sunset, and the resort has a lively but generally family-friendly evening atmosphere that suits groups and families as well as couples.
Aqualand El Arenal — located at the western edge of the resort area — is the largest water park on Majorca, with an extensive range of slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, a dedicated children’s area with smaller water features, and a full day’s worth of attractions for families with children of all ages.
The park is within the El Arenal resort zone, accessible by hotel transfer, taxi or on foot from the western end of the promenade. It is open throughout the summer season and is at its busiest in July and August. El Arenal holidays that include one or two Aqualand days alongside the beach programme give families the full range of water-based entertainment available on the southwest coast.
Aqualand is also the most popular water park excursion from the nearby southwest coast resorts — Palma Nova, Magaluf and Cala Vinas visitors all use it as a day trip. For El Arenal holidays, the park’s location within the resort is a direct practical advantage over other southwest coast bases.
El Arenal is connected to Palma by the tourist train — a narrow-gauge railway that runs along the bay from El Arenal to Palma city centre in approximately 40 minutes. The train runs frequently in the summer months and is one of the most pleasant ways to arrive in Palma, following the bay shoreline with sea views throughout the journey.
Bus services also connect El Arenal with Palma throughout the year. El Arenal holidays can include regular Palma day trips without a hire car, making the resort one of the most practically connected beach resorts on the island for visitors who want city access alongside their beach programme.
Palma — accessible in 40 minutes by tourist train — is the obvious first excursion from El Arenal holidays. The Gothic cathedral, the Arab quarter, Bellver Castle, the Mercat de l’Olivar food market and the variety of restaurants in the old town give a full day’s worth of activity within easy reach of the resort.
The Serra de Tramuntana mountains — the island’s UNESCO-listed mountain range — are accessible by hire car in about 40 minutes from El Arenal. The villages of Deià and Valldemossa, the cliff road to Banyalbufar and the mountain viewpoints of the Tramuntana all give El Arenal holidays a dramatic inland contrast to the flat sandy beach environment of the bay.
The southwest coast resorts of Magaluf and Paguera are 20 to 30 kilometres west and accessible by hire car for day trips. The Marineland dolphin show at Costa d’en Blanes and the Puerto Portals marina are the most popular non-beach attractions on the southwest coast.
El Arenal holidays begin at Palma Airport, 7 kilometres west — the shortest airport transfer of any large sandy beach resort on Majorca. The taxi journey takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes; shuttle buses and hire cars are also available. The short transfer is a genuine practical advantage of El Arenal holidays, particularly for families with young children arriving late in the day.
The tourist train from the airport to El Arenal and onwards to Palma gives an alternative to taxi transfer and is the most scenic way to arrive at the resort area. Hire cars are available at the airport for visitors who want independent transport for excursions to the mountains and the north coast during their stay.
El Arenal holidays are served by one of the largest hotel stocks on the island — a continuous strip of three-star, four-star and four-star superior properties running along the Playa de Palma promenade. The range of accommodation options from budget to well-appointed gives El Arenal one of the most competitive pricing environments of any major beach resort in Majorca.
All-inclusive hotels are well represented in El Arenal and are a popular choice for families who want complete holiday cost control. The large hotel complexes with multiple pool areas, entertainment programmes and dining halls give El Arenal holidays a complete self-contained resort experience that suits visitors who prefer not to venture much beyond the hotel and beach for most of their stay.
Aparthotels and apartment complexes offer self-catering flexibility alongside the hotels. The proximity of the tourist train to Palma makes self-catering El Arenal holidays particularly practical — provisions from the Mercat de l’Olivar and the capital’s supermarkets can be brought back easily on the train, giving self-catering visitors access to the best of Palma’s food market without a hire car.
The promenade restaurants in El Arenal cover the full range of international resort cuisine — from British pub food and German schnitzel to fresh local fish and Mallorcan dishes. The competitive restaurant market on the promenade keeps prices reasonable, and the variety ensures that El Arenal holidays can eat a different cuisine type every night without leaving the beach zone.
For more distinctive dining, the tourist train to Palma opens up the capital’s restaurant scene — including Michelin-starred establishments and the best traditional Mallorcan cooking on the island — within a 40-minute journey. El Arenal holidays that include a Palma dinner evening give access to a quality of eating that goes well beyond what the resort promenade can offer.
El Arenal holidays in May and June, before the peak summer season begins, offer the beach and resort facilities in a noticeably less crowded environment. The Aqualand water park, the tourist train to Palma, and the full hotel infrastructure are all operational from May, and prices in these pre-peak months are significantly lower than August. Visitors who can travel outside the school holiday period consistently find El Arenal holidays in the shoulder season offer better value and a more relaxed resort atmosphere.
Here are the key facts for planning El Arenal holidays.
| Location | Southwest coast, Bay of Palma |
|---|---|
| Distance from Palma Airport | 7km (10-15 minutes) |
| Beach | 4km broad sandy promenade beach |
| Water park | Aqualand El Arenal — largest on the island |
| Palma connection | Tourist train, 40 minutes |
| Best for | Families, groups, budget beach holidays |
| Resort character | Large, lively, complete resort infrastructure |
| Season | April to October |
When booking your El Arenal holidays, always check that your tour operator carries the right financial protection. Search4Sun lists holidays from a wide range of UK operators — standards vary, so we recommend doing your own due diligence before you pay.
Look for ABTA membership, ATOL protection or ABTOT cover — these schemes protect your money if an operator ceases trading before or during your holiday. For a plain-English guide to what each scheme covers, read our holiday protection guide.
For last-minute El Arenal holidays and late deals, check LastMinute.com for reduced-price packages on the Playa de Palma.
Yes — El Arenal holidays booked as flight-inclusive packages through a UK-licensed tour operator are ATOL protected. If your operator ceases trading before or during your trip, you are entitled to a refund or repatriation at no extra cost. Read our full holiday protection guide for details.
El Arenal holidays are one of the best family choices on the southwest coast. The beach is wide, shallow and safe for young children; the Aqualand water park is the largest on the island and within the resort zone; the promenade has a full range of family restaurants; and the short airport transfer (7 kilometres) minimises the exhausting end-of-day travel that longer transfers involve. Families who specifically want the complete resort infrastructure — large hotel with pool, entertainment programme, beach immediately accessible, water park nearby — consistently rate El Arenal as one of the best value family beach resorts on the island.
El Arenal holidays have an evening atmosphere that is lively but primarily family and group oriented rather than nightclub-focused. The promenade restaurants and beach bars run into the evening, and there is organised resort entertainment at most hotels. For visitors who want the most intense nightlife in Majorca, Magaluf (15 kilometres west) is the better choice. El Arenal’s evening character suits visitors who want a social, buzzy atmosphere alongside their family holiday rather than a late-night club resort.
The tourist train that serves El Arenal holidays is a narrow-gauge railway connecting the resort with Palma city centre, following the bay shoreline through C’an Pastilla and the western reaches of the bay. The 40-minute journey runs frequently in summer and is one of the most pleasant ways to visit Palma without a hire car. The train terminates near the Parc de la Mar in Palma, directly below the cathedral, giving visitors arriving by train an immediate view of the most impressive building on the island as they step off at the terminus.
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