Last updated: September 2026
Palma Nova holidays offer a well-rounded, family-friendly resort on the southwest coast of Majorca — a broad sandy beach in a sheltered bay, a pleasant promenade, easy access to both Palma city and the Magaluf entertainment strip, and a resort character that balances activity and calm more successfully than many of its larger neighbours.
Located between Magaluf to the south and the Puerto Portals marina to the north, Palma Nova has approximately 800 metres of sandy beach in a natural bay. The resort has evolved from a purely family destination into a broader market resort with good hotel quality, a lively enough evening scene and the southwest coast’s consistent sunshine and clear water.
This guide covers the beach, the promenade, access to Magaluf and Palma, excursions, getting there, accommodation, and practical booking information for Palma Nova holidays.
Palma Nova holidays are chosen by visitors who want the southwest coast’s reliable beach weather and short airport transfer in a resort that is well balanced between family infrastructure and adult appeal — not as commercially intense as Magaluf but not as quiet as the smaller cove resorts further along the coast.
The beach is one of the better on the southwest coast — broad, sandy, sheltered and consistently well maintained. The resort’s size is manageable: large enough to have a full range of hotels, restaurants and services, compact enough to know comfortably within a day of arrival.
The position between Magaluf and Puerto Portals gives Palma Nova holidays access to two very different environments within a short drive. Magaluf’s Aqualand water park, entertainment strip and long beach are 2 kilometres south. The Puerto Portals luxury marina, designer restaurants and upmarket boutiques are 4 kilometres north. Palma Nova sits between these contrasting resort environments and can draw on both.
Palma, 14 kilometres east, is accessible in 20 minutes by motorway from Palma Nova. The capital’s cathedral, old town, Arab baths and food market give a full-day cultural excursion that is more accessible from Palma Nova holidays than from the north or east coast resorts.
Palma Nova’s main beach is an arc of pale sand approximately 800 metres long, framed by the natural headlands of the southwest bay. The water is calm and shallow — the bay’s orientation provides natural protection from the main sea swells, giving Palma Nova one of the safest swimming beaches on the southwest coast for families with young children.
Sun lounger and parasol hire, watersports including paddleboard and kayak rental, and beach bars are operational throughout the season. The beach promenade immediately behind provides easy access to restaurants and shops without leaving the beach zone.
A second beach — Platja Son Matias — lies north of the main Palma Nova bay. It is smaller and quieter, with fewer facilities, but provides an alternative swimming environment for Palma Nova holidays on days when the main beach is particularly busy. The walk between the two beaches along the coastal path takes about 15 minutes.
The beach is officially Blue Flag rated for water quality, and the resort’s position in the sheltered southwest bay gives reliably calm conditions through the season. Palma Nova holidays based primarily around beach time have a consistent and pleasant beach environment that meets the standard of the better southwest coast alternatives.
The promenade along the Palma Nova seafront is one of the more pleasant on the southwest coast — well maintained, tree-lined in sections, and with a good range of restaurants ranging from family pizza and grills to quality seafood and Mallorcan dishes. The evening atmosphere is lively without being overwhelming, and the resort’s mix of family hotels and adult-oriented properties gives the promenade a varied and sociable evening character.
The restaurant range covers all the expected international menus alongside a reasonable selection of local Mallorcan cooking. The quality is generally above the purely tourist-facing menus of the larger commercial resort promenades. Palma Nova holidays that eat along the promenade most evenings get a varied and reliable dining programme without needing to travel to other resorts for quality.
For the best restaurant variety in the area, Puerto Portals (4 kilometres north) has a marina dining scene that is the most upmarket on the southwest coast — a concentration of quality restaurants serving fresh fish, creative cuisine and cocktails in a luxury marina setting. An evening drive to Puerto Portals is one of the consistent special-occasion dining excursions from Palma Nova holidays.
Palma, 14 kilometres east, is the main cultural excursion from Palma Nova holidays. The motorway connection makes the drive 20 minutes, and the capital’s cathedral, old town and Mercat de l’Olivar food market give a full day’s worth of activity. Palma Nova holidays have the shortest drive to Palma of any resort on this page apart from El Arenal and Magaluf.
Magaluf’s Aqualand El Arenal water park, 2 kilometres south, is the most practical water park for Palma Nova holidays — the shortest drive of any southwest coast resort to the island’s largest water park facility.
The Serra de Tramuntana mountains are 30 to 40 minutes north by hire car from Palma Nova. The mountain road from Andratx through Estellencs and Banyalbufar is one of the most dramatic cliff coast drives in the Mediterranean. The mountain villages of Deià and Valldemossa are 50 to 60 minutes from Palma Nova and well worth a full-day excursion from southwest coast Palma Nova holidays.
The Marineland dolphin and sea lion show at Costa d’en Blanes, 5 kilometres north, is the most popular family attraction on the immediate southwest coast and is accessible from Palma Nova in 10 minutes. For families with young children who want an organised afternoon activity, Marineland is the easiest excursion from the resort.
Palma Nova holidays begin at Palma Airport, approximately 15 kilometres east — a transfer of 15 to 20 minutes by taxi or hire car. This short transfer is one of the practical advantages of the southwest coast location. Shuttle buses, hire cars and taxis are all available at the airport for the journey to Palma Nova. Hire cars give the flexibility for the Palma, Tramuntana and Puerto Portals excursions that make the most of the southwest coast’s varied environment.
Palma Nova holidays are served by a well-developed hotel mix along the seafront and in the residential hillside areas behind the bay. Four-star hotels with pool complexes and full service are the dominant accommodation type, with a handful of boutique properties and aparthotels providing alternatives for visitors who prefer smaller-scale or self-catering options.
The hotel stock in Palma Nova reflects the resort’s position between the large commercial resort zone and the more upmarket marina area — the properties tend to be better maintained and more individually styled than the volume-focused all-inclusive hotels of Magaluf, without the premium pricing of the boutique hotels in the Pollença or Formentor areas.
Self-catering apartments in Palma Nova give visitors access to the resort’s restaurants and the easy drives to Puerto Portals and Palma for provisioning and eating out. The proximity of the large Magaluf supermarkets (2 kilometres south) makes self-catering practical, and the resort’s own weekly market provides fresh local produce for those who want to cook with island ingredients.
The promenade restaurants in Palma Nova offer a solid range of international and local menus at competitive prices. The resort’s mix of families and adult couples sustains a restaurant scene that covers everything from family grills and pizzerias to quality seafood restaurants serving the day’s catch. The evening atmosphere on the promenade is pleasant — lively enough to feel sociable without the commercial intensity of the larger resorts nearby.
For the most distinctive dining in the area, Puerto Portals (4 kilometres north) gives Palma Nova holidays access to the finest marina restaurant scene on the island. The marina restaurants serve fresh fish, lobster and creative Mediterranean cooking in a luxury setting that makes a Puerto Portals dinner one of the most memorable meal experiences from a Palma Nova holiday week.
Palma’s restaurant scene — 14 kilometres east by hire car — extends the options to the full range of quality available in the island’s capital, including several internationally recognised establishments. The short motorway drive means that a Palma dinner is practical for a special occasion during Palma Nova holidays without requiring an overnight stay in the city.
Palma Nova holidays in the shoulder months of May, June and September offer the beach at its most pleasant — warm enough for daily swimming, quieter than the school holiday peak, and with prices 20 to 30 percent lower than August. The resort’s position between the active Magaluf zone and the elegant Puerto Portals marina means there is always something nearby to do on days when the beach alone is not sufficient programme. The short airport transfer and the motorway connection to Palma make Palma Nova one of the most logistically convenient resort choices on the southwest coast.
Here are the key facts for planning Palma Nova holidays.
| Location | Southwest coast, between Magaluf and Puerto Portals |
|---|---|
| Distance from Palma Airport | 15km (approx. 20 minutes) |
| Beach | 800m sandy bay, sheltered and calm |
| Aqualand | 2km south (Magaluf) |
| Puerto Portals marina | 4km north |
| Best for | Families, couples, balanced resort environment |
| Season | May to October |
When booking your Palma Nova 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 Palma Nova holidays and late deals, check LastMinute.com for reduced-price southwest coast packages.
Yes — Palma Nova 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.
Palma Nova holidays offer a slightly calmer, more balanced resort environment than Magaluf while remaining 2 kilometres from the Magaluf beach, entertainment and Aqualand water park. Magaluf has a longer beach, more hotels and the island’s biggest water park within the resort. Palma Nova has a more relaxed evening atmosphere and a slightly higher standard of hotel quality at the same price point. For families who want a quieter night environment but full access to Magaluf’s daytime attractions, Palma Nova is the better base. For families who specifically want to be at the centre of the Magaluf resort, Magaluf itself is the obvious choice.
Palma Nova is 14 kilometres from Palma city centre — about 20 minutes by hire car on the motorway. Palma Nova holidays are among the most conveniently placed on the island for day trips to the capital, and the short drive means that morning market visits to the Mercat de l’Olivar, afternoon cathedral tours and evening restaurant reservations in the old town are all practical without an overnight stay in the city. The proximity of Palma is one of the reasons Palma Nova consistently appeals to visitors who want a beach holiday alongside genuine cultural content.
Puerto Portals, 4 kilometres north of Palma Nova, is the most glamorous marina on Majorca — a private harbour complex surrounded by luxury yachts, designer boutiques and upmarket restaurants that represents the most expensive face of the island. Palma Nova holidays can visit Puerto Portals easily for a lunch or dinner by the marina — the contrast between the relaxed holiday environment of Palma Nova beach and the luxury yacht scene at Puerto Portals is one of the interesting juxtapositions available from the southwest coast’s compact geography. The marina restaurants serve good fresh fish and seafood at premium prices.
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