Menorca’s coves: the back story

About Menorca’s coves: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Menorca Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The south coast of Menorca between Ciutadella and Cala Galdana is a chain of white-sand coves in the pines, joined by the Camí de Cavalls. The most famous, Cala Macarella and Macarelleta, are protected under a Special Plan, and in summer the Consell Insular runs a bus to them.

The south-west coves

Cala Macarella and its little sister Macarelleta, Cala en Turqueta and Cala Mitjana lie in pinewoods south of Ciutadella and west of Cala Galdana, the largest of the bays. The Camí de Cavalls links them along the cliffs.

Getting to Macarella

In season the Consell Insular de Menorca runs a bus from Ciutadella (via the perimetral road) to the Macarella car park at Santa Anna; in the last part of the 2026 season it ran from 11 to 30 September, 8.25am–7.45pm daily. The Consell explains that the last stretch of road is too narrow for buses and private traffic together and that the area is protected under a Special Plan; book online (mout.cime.es). Cala en Turqueta has no bus.

In season, the last stretch of road to Macarella is for the bus: the road is too narrow for buses and private traffic together.

Anchoring

If you arrive by boat, anchor on sand, never on the Posidonia seagrass: anchoring on the meadows is generally prohibited in Balearic waters (Decree 25/2018, caib.es).

Our advice

Our advice: go early in the morning or after five, take water and shade, and walk the Camí de Cavalls from Cala Galdana to Mitjana and Macarella.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Menorca’s coves: the back story before you go.