The magical forest of Bunyola

This is also a rather unknown hike among tourists and residents. The tour is easy, but the distance is a bit longer. If there are not any complications then this is a good walk. For this tour, I park at the cemetery of Bunyola. It is located at the entrance of Bunyola, coming from Santa Maria or the motorway exit Marratxi. From there we go in the direction of Bunyola, take the 2nd road on the right and stay on this road. The road is a pathway and if you meet a car, it belongs either to the Forestry Department or to the residents of Bunyola, because they are allowed to use the pathway to get to their municipal picnic area. My recommendation therefore is to avoid the weekend for hiking. This is true for all walks, because Mallorcans love the mountains and are on the move at weekends, as of course they work during the week.

In the beginning I also wondered why it is necessary to drive to the many picnic spots in the forest? There’s a reason for that too: Mallorcans go to the forest with the whole family, not only with their children, but also with grandma and grandpa, who are perhaps no longer good walkers. Besides, the extensive picnic would also be difficult to carry. Once you have observed this, you will know why. In the past I have seen one family bringing their own gas bottle as well as their pans to cook the traditional dish fideu.

A picnic is therefore a family event with lots of food and drink and that’s why there are usually a lot of cars on the weekends. Thus, we walk, as we also want to enjoy a very special round trip. The way up to the picnic area is uphill and slow, through a light pine forest that always offers a view to the bay of Palma. At the picnic place we take a break, where else?
We have our break at the lower part of the picnic area and then continue on our way. At first it is a stony path between bushes, which soon gets a little wider and turns out to be an old cart path, where charcoal burners and lime burners used to drive their donkey carts.
From now on we go downhill, first through a kind of magical forest with moss-covered rocks and then we come to a garden that gives us the feeling of being taken back 100 years.

This is something one must see for oneself. Also, the surprise that follows, where the pathway becomes flatter and we pass through a field of citrus fruits trees, then the pathway slowly becomes flatter until we get to the main road. Here we pass by fields with citrus fruits, almond and olive trees and others, flocks of sheep graze on both sides until we reach the road to Bunyola. There we turn right and then it is only a few metres until we reach our car again. This was definitely a trip into another world and that’s why I call it the magical forest of Bunyola.