Walking tour in Pollensa: Puig de Santuiri

Today we propose a short and easy walking tour near Pollensa old town, a walk that will take us to a not well known place but well worth it, the Puig Santuiri close to Pollensa old town. This is a beautiful an easy walk that will reward us with great views from the summit and is a much quieter and more rural family walking tour than others in the area.

The itinerary which leads to El Puig de Santuïri (141m) is a short but interesting walk both for the biodiversity we can find and for the sights that the climbing offers us. Its proximity to Pollença town allows us to enjoy from the unsurpassable town views, from which we will be also able to see Sant Jordi’s rushing stream course, Pollença’s bay and Port de Pollença and, if we look towards the south, the Solana and the Puig de Maria.

El Puig de Santuïri had been a commune, but the church and town disentitlements turned it into Pollença Town Council lands. El Puig de Santuïri is classified as a Natural Area of Special Interest, with protected olm oak woods on the north face. The property is registered in the public use mountains catalogue and has a small recreational area with stoves and tables available.

About the walk to Puig de Santuiri in Pollensa:

• Walking tour duration? They tour lasts only about an hour, and it is 3 kilometres long, starting close to Pollensa old town. To this we must add the time to devote to different stops, because there are many points of interest along the route. If you start walking from Pollensa old town, we need to add extra 40 minutes to get to the starting point.
• With children or without them? This is a perfect walk with kids due to its duration and not being very difficult at all.
• Where to park? There is a parking area by the Puig de Santuiri, easy to park and plenty of space.
• Tips for the tour? Bring water and camera. You can pick up a map of this and other walking trails in the area from the tourism information office. This excursion was conducted on 2^nd November 2016.  

Why we like this walking tour to Puig de Santuiri in Pollensa?

We like this walking tour to Puig de Santuiri because it is a very easy hike which makes it ideal for everyone, also it is an Ideal suggestion to go to do this walk either to see the sunrise or for a picnic from the viewpoint at the top.

Our walk Puig de Santuiri in Pollensa:

You can find the start to this walking tour to the Puig of Santuiti easily by following the road MA-2202 out of Pollenca for a short distance; you will soon find the signposted area off the road to your left. There is parking available at the base of the trail but it is also easy walking distance from the centre of Pollenca if you’d rather. This conical little mountain situated north of the Puig de Maria, is green and unpopulated and the walking trail will take you on a circular route through the trees around the base of the hill, you’ll walk along dry stone walls and ruined dwellings then up to its peak via a weaving zigzag path through brush and stunted trees.  

The route is rocky and covered in loose stones and pebbles and sections of it are made up of rough-hewn rock stairs making this path unsuitable for cyclists, but a nicely varied path for hikers. The trails are marked clearly when walking to the summit of the hill but on the walk around the base the route is much more free form allowing for the wanderer to pick their own route through the trees and woods, perfect for young explorers. At the base of the trail you will find a clearing where picnic tables and barbecue pits have been constructed making this a great area for the whole family to spend some time, walking, exploring and picnicking.

The walking tour takes roughly 40 minutes to walk and in the last part, it ascends 141m to it’s summit, in the peak of the summer heat you may wish to skip the ascent and stick to the circular path which is cool and shady being mostly in amongst the trees, once you begin the ascent there is very little shade on offer.

At the top you will also find an “avenc”, a local word that refers to when a natural cavity is very vertical or inclined called, so basically a vertical entrance to an underground cave. Please do not try to get in this area and be extremely careful with kids. The “avenc” is well signed, and from there you can follow another sign to the wooden viewpoint with an amazing view of the north area of Mallorca: the Peninsula of Formentor, the bay of Pollensa and the bay of Alcudia.
The view from the top of the mountain is worth the climb on a cool day however as you can look out on beautiful views in all directions; south to the Puig de Maria, the town of Pollenca is spread out below you to the west, north the imposing mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana and out to east you can see all the way to the cool blue coastline of Pollenca Bay.

It is also worth mentioning that if you like geocaching, at the summit there is a geocache, an added plus if you have kids in the group.

Some observations regarding the Animals and vegetation:

El Puig de Santuïri is a little mount which is like an appendix of the Serra de Tramuntana (Tramuntana’s mountain range). The main Majorca island native communities are represented there, like the undergrowth and the holm oak wood. The holm oak wood (Quercus ilex) has a great quantity of bushes and evergreen climber plants and occupies the 15% of the property surface. The pine (Pinus halepensis) and wild olive tree (Olea europaea) garigue occupy the summit, the south face and also all those dried and formerly worked by men areas.
  We can also find species like the scrub (Pistacia lentiscus), the palmetto (Chamaerops humilis) and orchids like the giant orchid (Himantoglossum robertianum). In El Puig de Santuïri there is a great representation of the island fauna and, what is more, a great number of protected species. Among the mammals we can find the genet (Genetta genetta), the marten (Martes martes), the hedgehog (Atelerix algirus), the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), several mice species (Mus sp.) and reptiles like the little gecko.

Walking route to Puig de Santuiri in Pollensa:

This is the link on the  wikiloc for the route to the Puig of Santuiri in Pollensa:

Photo gallery of the walking tour to Puig de Santuiri in Pollensa:

Sources of information:

• See Mallorca website
• Tourist information office