The resort of Puerto Andratx, which you may also see written as Puerto Andraitx, is part of the municipal district of Andratx, which covers an area of some 82km2 in the extreme south west corner of Majorca.

Geographically the area is approximately 20 miles or 32km, west of the capital Palma and the Son Sant Joan International airport, and encompasses the towns of S’Arraco, Sant Elm and the resort of Camp de Mar.

Puerto Andratx has so far remained almost completely "undiscovered" by many of the major tour operators, and as far as we are aware doesn't as yet feature as a recognised destination in any of their summer or winter sun brochures.

As a result most visitors here will be independent travellers who either own holiday homes in the area, or prefer to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements to the resort.

Making the journey west to Puerto Andratx from the Palma International Airport is usually very straightforward, although realistically there are only two options available for the journey.

The first, and possibly the most convenient option, would certainly be the door to door service offered by any of the numerous taxis waiting outside of the arrivals hall, who would typically charge around 50€ for the journey.

However, a standard taxi on the island is only licenced to carry a maximum of 4 passengers plus a "reasonable" amount of luggage, so for larger groups of travellers, or those with special needs, it is our recommendation to make provision for a pre-booked taxi to be waiting for you at the airport, and clearly specify at the time of booking that a larger, or specially adapted, vehicle is needed for the journey.

The second option would be to pre-arrange for the collection of a hire car from one of the numerous agencies based at the airport.

Driving over to Puerto Andratx should be fairly stressless for most drivers, once you have remembered which side of the road to drive on, although a slight complication certainly worth mentioning is that in recent years the local Government on the island has re-numbered most of the roads on Mallorca, so please make sure that you have an up to date map before setting out!

The basic route for this journey for those wishing to drive, is from the roundabout leaving the airport grounds take the 1st exit onto the Ma-19 Autovia de Levante heading west towards Palma, before then joining the Ma-20 Circunvalacion de Palma.

Continue along the Ma-20 Circunvalacion de Palma as it arcs around the northern residential and industrial suburbs of the city to merge with the Ma-1 Carretera de Palma - Palmanova.

You then need to continue west along the Ma-1 Carretera de Palma - Palmanova where the road is downgraded to the Ma-1c Carretera de Palmanova - Andratx.

Continue west along the Ma-1c Carretera de Palmanova - Andratx, which after passing through the inland town of Andratx will take you into the centre of the resort of Puerto Andratx.

A more detailed version of this route, complete with links to maps where appropriate, is available from the Route Map link on the left hand frame of this page.

All things considered the transfer should usually take between 45 to 50 minutes, but can and often does vary, depending upon the time of day and the volume of traffic on the Palma motorways.

As we mentioned briefly above, the original residential town of Andratx was built slightly inland from the port to act as a defence against pirate attacks. Evidence of this can still be seen today around the upper part of the town with its narrow cobbled streets and the almost fortress-like church of Santa Maria.

The view back over the old town over towards Puerto Andratx makes the uphill walk well worthwhile, and if you remember to bring your camera along, you should get some very good photographs.

During the 13th Century, Andratx was an important centre of the Majorcan culture with the Bishop of Barcelona and King Jaime I both having homes here.

Almost 8 centuries later, Andratx is still a very desirable place to live, and many of the impressive villas in and around the resort are either Spanish or German owned holiday homes.

If you are very lucky, you may even catch sight of either Claudia Schiffer, Tom Cruise or Michael Schumacher who all own property in the area.

Andratx is certainly no stranger to the rich and famous. Over the years the town has also had a reputation for attracting celebrities of the era, one of which being the wife of Rudolf Valentino who lived in the area during the 1930's.

The latest census carried out on Mallorca shows that that district of Andratx has a resident population of around 8,000 people, however, statistics from the Govern de les Illes Baleares Conselleria de Turisme also shows that during the summer months this figure can increase to around 24,000 illustrating the importance of the area to the islands tourist industry.

Many years ago now Puerto Andratx was the site of a small traditional Mallorcan fishing harbour, and it is around here where most of the tourist development has taken place over the last few years.

Although commercial fishing is still carried out here, albeit on a very small scale, without a doubt the major feature of the town is the large new marina with provision for over 300 moorings.

However, despite the recent residential development of the rugged headlands that are a feature of the coastline in the south west of Majorca, Puerto Andratx has still somehow managed to retain an authentic Majorcan feel.

On the negative side, something this resort does really lack is a beach, although if you are prepared to travel out of the town, you will find an excellent beach 3 miles down the coast at the nearby resort of Camp de Mar.

For most visitors to Puerto Andratx the lack of a beach isn't really a great problem, as instead they prefer to use the resort as a convenient base from which to explore some of the more remote areas of the west coast of the island and beyond.

No part of this web site may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publishers. For further information please contact Islas Travel Guides. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of editorial content of this site, no responsibility can be taken for any errors and omissions that occur therein.

This website was launched on 1 May 2002

Copyright 2019 Islas Travel Guides