Spain · The ensaimada island
Mallorca
Mallorca is the one destination in the guide where the finest pastry costs three euros. The ensaimada, spiralled and dusted, is the island’s signature, and the grand hotels of Palma have learned to serve it on porcelain.
The ensaimada is the point. A coil of dough laminated with lard and left to rise overnight, baked and dusted with icing sugar, it is Mallorca’s answer to the croissant and its argument with everyone else. Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo has served it with hot chocolate since 1700 in Palma’s old town; Fornet de la Soca bakes it in an art nouveau shop on the Plaça Weyler, and Pastisseria Pomar has been the family reference since 1930.
Around the ensaimada sit the island’s other sweets: the gató d’ametlla, a flourless almond cake served with almond ice cream, the quarto, the cardinal, the coca de patata of Valldemossa. The luxury hotels of Palma and the Tramuntana, from the Sant Francesc Hotel Singular to Belmond La Residencia in Deià and the Castillo Hotel Son Vida above the city, put these on their breakfast tables and their afternoon menus next to French tarts, and the mix is the charm.
Mallorca is not an afternoon tea island; it is a merienda island, and the hour is five or six, not four. Take the hotel salon for its garden and the old town bakery for the real thing, and carry an ensaimada home in its octagonal box; they sell them at the airport, but the ones from Fornet de la Soca are the ones you want.
Sweet profile
- Afternoon tea
- €35
- One pastry
- €4
- Box of chocolates
- €22
- Sweet Index
- 66
Relaxed; the hotels ask for smart casual at dinner.
February for the almond blossom, May and October for the terraces.
Guide prices per person or piece, editorial estimates in euros as of 2026.
A sweet day in Mallorca
From the first croissant to the last truffle
February, May, October
- 08:00Ensaimada
Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo at opening: an ensaimada and a thick hot chocolate in the old town.
- 10:00The market
The Mercat de l’Olivar for almonds, apricots and figs, the island’s pastry pantry.
- 13:00Lunch
A long Mallorcan lunch; the gató d’ametlla with almond ice cream is the dessert to order.
- 17:00Merienda
Fornet de la Soca or the garden of a Palma hotel: a coca or an ensaimada with a café con leche.
- 19:00Sunset in the Tramuntana
Deià or Valldemossa for the light on the mountains and a coca de patata.
- 22:00Dessert
A hotel restaurant in Palma with a plated version of an island classic.
Districts
Palma old town
Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo, Fornet de la Soca, Pomar and the Sant Francesc hotel: the sweet core of the island within ten minutes on foot.
Son Vida
The castle hotel above the city with its terraces and one of Palma’s calmest afternoon salons.
Deià and the Tramuntana
Belmond La Residencia and the mountain villages where the coca de patata is baked.
The addresses
6 addresses in Mallorca
HotelBoutiqueMallorca · Palma old town
Sant Francesc Hotel Singular
A palace in the old town
HotelIconMallorca · Deià
Belmond La Residencia
Deià in the afternoon
HotelIconMallorca · Son Vida
Castillo Hotel Son Vida
The castle above Palma
BoutiqueMallorca · Carrer de Can Sanç, Palma
Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo
Since 1700
BoutiqueMallorca · Plaça Weyler, Palma
Fornet de la Soca
The finest ensaimada
BoutiqueMallorca · Carrer del Sindicat, Palma
Pastisseria Pomar
The family classic
Good to know
Tips for Mallorca
- Ensaimadas come plain or filled (cabello de ángel, cream, apricot); the plain one is the connoisseur’s choice.
- Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo has three shops in Palma; the original on Carrer de Can Sanç is the atmospheric one.
- Buy the travel ensaimada on the last morning; it keeps two days at most.
- The merienda hour is five to seven; at four the pastry shops are quiet and the hotel salons are empty.
- Almond blossom in February turns the island white and the almond cakes are at their best.
Frequently asked questions
What is the typical pastry of Mallorca?
The ensaimada: a spiral of laminated dough with lard, dusted with icing sugar, plain or filled. Also the gató d’ametlla, the almond cake.
Where is the best ensaimada in Palma?
Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo for the ritual with hot chocolate, Fornet de la Soca for the finest crumb, Pomar for the family classic.
Is there afternoon tea in Mallorca?
Some hotels serve one, but the island’s own ritual is the merienda between five and seven with coffee or hot chocolate.
