Coves of south-east Mallorca: which one, and when

Between Santanyí and ses Salines, inside half an hour of driving, there are six places to swim that look interchangeable in photographs and have almost nothing in common on the ground. One has no sand at all. One has no parking. One is half an hour’s walk along a coast with not a single patch of shade.

This page does not rank them best to worst. It compares them so you can pick the one that fits your day. Every figure comes from our page on each place, and each of those says when it was checked.

The quick table

Cove	What to expect	Car
Caló des Moro	Barely any sand, crowded	No
Cala s’Almunia	No sand, rock and escars	No
S’Amarador	Wide sand, facilities	Yes
Cala Mondragó	Sand, more enclosed	Yes
Caló des Borgit	Small, nothing at all	No
Es Caragol	Wild, 30 min on foot	No

“Car” means whether you can park beside it. Everywhere else, plan to walk.

If you are going for the photograph: Caló des Moro

This is the cove you have seen on Instagram, and it is tiny. At peak times up to 4,000 people a day have converged on it, with an estimated 70 kilos of sand disappearing daily in high season.

There is no bar, no toilets and no shade, and the way down is a rock staircase without a handrail for much of it. At midday in August there is no room to lay a towel.

It works if: you get up genuinely early, or go late in the afternoon, or go out of season. It does not if: you have small children, flip-flops or a tight schedule.

→ Full guide to Caló des Moro and Cala s’Almunia

Caló des Moro on 21 August 2023, at a quarter to nine in the evening: there are people, but there is room.

If you only care about the water: Cala s’Almunia

Five minutes on foot from Caló des Moro, and no sand whatsoever: you get in from the rock and from the steps beside the stone boathouses. The water is the same and the shore is far less crowded.

It is the choice for swimming rather than lying down. Comfortable it is not.

With children, or if you want facilities: Mondragó

Mondragó Nature Park has the only two coves in the area with wide sand, their own car park and facilities: S’Amarador, the larger, and Cala Mondragó, a little more enclosed. They are ten minutes apart on a path through the pines.

Parking costs €5 per car in season and is free outside it. Each cove has its own car park and they are not joined by road: park at one and you walk to the other.

A little further on is Caló des Borgit, much smaller and with no facilities at all.

The rules here are enforced: dogs on a lead and not on the beach, no drones, no fires, no camping.

Cala Mondragó on 9 November 2025, mid-morning.

If you want nobody there: Es Caragol

From the lighthouse at Cap de ses Salines a coastal path of 1.5 to 2 km takes about 30 minutes. At the end is a white-sand beach without a single building on it, where nudism is common.

There is nothing there either: no lifeguard, no beach bar, no showers. And no shade at any point on the route, so midday in July and August is a bad idea.

What the time of day changes

In the south-east this matters more than which cove you pick:

• Before nine or ten in the morning. In summer it is the only reliable window for Caló des Moro and for parking at Mondragó.
• Midday, July to September. The worst moment everywhere: full car parks, full coves, no shade.
• Late afternoon. There is room again, and the light is far better. Our Caló des Moro photograph is from a quarter to nine.

What the month changes

From November to March the south-east is a different place: Mondragó is all but empty, the car park costs nothing, and the parking problem at Caló des Moro disappears.

The price is that nothing is open — no beach bar, no facilities on the sand. Bring water and something to eat. And yes, you can swim: the water in those months is not as cold as it looks from the shore.

Out of season the tourist tax drops too, by 75% from 1 November to 30 April. Winter in Mallorca is cheaper in several directions at once.

What no photograph tells you

• Four of the six have no facilities of any kind. Water, a hat and food travel with you.
• The descents are rock. Flip-flops, bad knees and very small children do not go well with Caló des Moro or s’Almunia.
• Parking is the real bottleneck. Only Mondragó has regulated parking. Everywhere else, expect to walk and follow the signs on the day.
• The sand leaves stuck to people. That is why there is a brush at Caló des Moro to clean your feet before you climb back up. Not an eccentricity.

More photos

• 

  Caló des Moro · 21 Aug 2023

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  Cala s'Almunia · 21 Aug 2023

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  Cala Mondragó · 9 Nov 2025

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  Cap de ses Salines · 12 Aug 2025

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