Cala Millor, Sa Coma and Cala Bona: the east coast resorts as places to live

Three resorts, two town halls

On Mallorca’s east coast, about 70 to 75 minutes’ drive from Palma, three resorts sit close together. Cala Bona is a small harbour resort in the municipality of Son Servera. Cala Millor, the largest, runs along a long sandy bay and is split between Son Servera in the north and Sant Llorenç des Cardassar in the south. Sa Coma, wholly in Sant Llorenç, lies on the far side of the protected Punta de n’Amer headland, about 6 km from Cala Millor by road.

The split matters. Each town hall sets its own planning rules and local taxes and runs its own services, so check which one a property falls under before you buy.

Who lives here

These places do not empty in winter. About 5,400 people are registered on the Son Servera side of Cala Millor alone, about 2,800 in Sa Coma and about 1,330 in Cala Bona. Much of the growth has come from people who moved here to work in hotels and services, some of them only for the season. Alongside them are flats used as holiday homes for part of the year.

The beaches are the reason the resorts exist. Cala Millor’s bay has about 1.8 km of fine sand, Sa Coma’s beach is about 900 metres long, and both were on the 2026 Blue Flag list. Cala Bona has smaller man-made beaches beside its harbour, and a seafront promenade links it with Cala Millor.

What winter looks like

The change comes in late autumn. Most of Cala Millor’s hotels close for the winter, and many bars, restaurants and shops along the seafront close with them. Around Cala Bona’s harbour many businesses also shut, and Sa Coma’s Wednesday evening market runs only from May to October. The promenade, the beaches and the paths across Punta de n’Amer become very quiet.

The basics carry on. Cala Millor and Sa Coma each have a state primary school and a public GP unit open on weekdays, and the health centre in Son Servera town, 5 to 10 minutes away, has urgent care around the clock. Secondary pupils go to IES Puig de sa Font in Son Servera. Son Servera holds its market on Friday mornings all year, Manacor’s bigger shops are a short drive away, and the public hospital is also in Manacor, 20 to 25 minutes away.

Getting around

Bus 401 runs all year from Cala Millor through Sa Coma, S’Illot and Porto Cristo to Palma via Manacor, about every half hour in the daytime. Bus 412 links Costa dels Pins, Cala Bona and Cala Millor with Son Servera, Sant Llorenç and Manacor all year, and from Manacor trains run to Palma. In the summer season the A42 airport bus starts in Cala Bona and also stops in Sa Coma. By car, the airport is about 65 to 70 minutes away, so frequent flyers should weigh that drive carefully.

Flats, mostly

All three grew as holiday resorts, so the housing is mainly hotels and apartment blocks. Cala Millor’s went up from the 1960s onwards. Sa Coma had its first small estates in the 1940s but grew mostly from the 1980s, when hotels, flats and second homes went up side by side. Cala Bona’s harbour front is lined with hotels and apartment blocks.

Houses are scarcer. For a detached villa among pines, buyers usually look at Costa dels Pins, about 4 km north of Cala Bona, or inland, at the older houses in Son Servera town and the countryside around Sant Llorenç.

With an older block, ask about the building’s condition, the community charges and any planned works. At the southern end of Cala Millor, ask whether proposals to move part of the promenade back from the shrinking beach could affect the property.

Who it suits

• Retired buyers who want a flat a short walk from a long sandy beach, with shops, a GP unit and a year-round bus close by.
• Second-home owners who come in spring and autumn, when the beaches are calm and the weather mild.
• People working locally in tourism and services, for whom the resorts are home all year.

It suits less well anyone who needs Palma every day, or who wants a busy social life in January. For a working town with the beach a short drive away, compare the inland options on our Son Servera and Sant Llorenç pages.

Areas in this post

Cala Millor · Sa Coma · Cala Bona