Mallorca has a very efficient public transport network, with buses running regularly to even quite remote communities across the island. The island also enjoys excellent ferry connections to the Spanish mainland and to neighbouring islands. In the last issue of hidden europe, we reported on a ferry journey from Mallorca to neighbouring Menorca. The surprise, for many visitors to Mallorca, is to discover that the island has plenty of trains too.

The island has three quite separate rail networks. The smallest is an eightkilometre metro route that links the main transport hub in the centre of the capital Palma with the university campus to the north of the city. It is for the most part sub-surface, although there is one above-ground station at Son Sardina just short of the northern terminus.