Port de Sóller or Sóller town?

One valley, two places

The Sóller valley is a bowl of orange and lemon groves on Mallorca’s north-west coast, ringed by the highest peaks of the Serra de Tramuntana. Sóller town sits on the valley floor, about 3 km inland. Port de Sóller lies on a round bay with a narrow mouth, below it. Both belong to the same municipality, and both are reached from Palma through the Sóller tunnel in about 35 to 40 minutes.

The short version: the town is where daily life happens all year, and the port is where the sea is. Many people who live in one spend a lot of time in the other.

Sóller town: a working valley town

A little over 9,000 people live in the town itself. Its centre is Plaça de sa Constitució, with plane trees, cafés, the town hall and the church of Sant Bartomeu, whose Modernista façade is by Joan Rubió, a follower of Gaudí. The covered market opens every morning except Sunday, and a street market fills the centre on Saturdays.

Services are the town’s strength. It has the valley’s public health centre, Serra Nord, a state secondary school as well as primary schools, supermarkets and shops, so day-to-day life rarely needs a trip to Palma. Winter does not empty it, and its calendar runs from the Sant Antoni bonfires in January to the Firó in May, a mock battle that recalls a pirate raid of 1561.

There are trade-offs. Day visitors crowd the square from spring to autumn. A low-emission zone now covers the centre, parking is scarce, and on some winter days cold air sits on the valley floor and traps smoke.

Port de Sóller: the harbour village

About 2,500 people are registered in the port. It has two beaches of sand and gravel, Es Través and the smaller Platja d’en Repic, a working harbour with fishing boats and leisure berths, and Santa Catalina, the old fishermen’s quarter of steep lanes and steps. The Sa Mola tunnel, opened in 2007, took through traffic off the seafront, which is now a promenade.

Everyday shopping can be done on foot, with small supermarkets, a pharmacy, a Thursday market, a state primary school and a small public GP unit. For secondary school, the main market and fuller medical services, you go up to the town.

The port is far more seasonal. Tourism is the mainstay, hotels line the promenades and holiday apartments are common. In summer it is crowded and parking is short; paid parking runs from March to mid-November. In winter many hotels close and the seafront goes quiet.

Getting between them

The vintage tram, running since 1913, links the town square with the port through the orange groves in about half an hour. It is lovely, but it is mainly a visitor attraction, and like the wooden train to Palma it stops for a maintenance break in winter. In 2026 both reopened on 2 February. By car the trip takes about 10 minutes, and walkers can use the GR 221 path.

Property and who it suits

• Town: narrow streets of old townhouses, many from the 16th to 18th centuries, flats near the shops, and larger early 20th-century houses along the Gran Via built with money made in France and the Americas.
• Port: mostly buildings from after 1990, many of them flats and holiday apartments, with older houses in Santa Catalina.
• Valley: country houses among the citrus groves between the two, easier to live in with a car.

The council says almost all the land zoned for building is already used and the countryside around is protected, so new homes are rare in both places. In the old town, check access and street width. And as anywhere on the island, do not buy a flat expecting to register it as a new holiday let: see our guide to holiday rental licences.

In short, Sóller town suits families, year-round residents and anyone who wants shops, schools and a doctor within walking distance. The port suits people who want to swim before breakfast and can live with a busy summer and a quiet winter.

Areas in this post

Port de Sóller · Sóller town · Sóller