Santa Catalina in Palma: the market and the neighbourhood

Go on a Saturday, arrive around 10am, shop first and eat second. The Mercat de Santa Catalina is small, around 50 stalls under one roof, but the quality is high and its food bars are where the neighbourhood gathers at the end of the week. On weekdays it is calmer and better for serious shopping, though the fish counters are shut on Mondays.

Where is Santa Catalina, and why is it worth visiting?

Santa Catalina is the quarter immediately west of Palma's old town, between the Sa Feixina park and the seafront Passeig Marítim. It began as a district of fishermen, sailors and millers outside the city walls, and its low terraced streets still show it.

In our print guide we called it the Soho of Mallorca, and the description still fits: chic and international, but also an ordinary neighbourhood where people do their daily shopping. New bars, restaurants and shops keep opening, while the market keeps it grounded.

What can you buy at the Mercat de Santa Catalina?

Everything for a Mallorcan kitchen, much of it from island producers. The market's building dates from 1920 and it is the oldest of Palma's municipal markets.

• Fresh fish and seafood, displayed on ice at the fishmongers' counters.
• Meat and charcuterie, including sobrassada and other cured pork from local producers, and Spanish hams.
• Cheese, from Mallorcan farm cheeses to Mahón from Menorca.
• Fruit and vegetables in season, including organic stalls.
• Olive oil, wine, spices, pulses, nuts and preserves, the shelf-stable things that make the best gifts.
• Bread, pastries and flowers.

The market also offers home delivery, which is useful if you are staying in a villa or on a boat in the port. Ask at the stall.

When is the Santa Catalina market open, and when is it closed?

The market trades Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sundays. These are the market's own framework hours; individual stalls can vary, so check with the stall if you are going for something specific.

The market also closes on some public holidays and announces these on its website, so check before you go on a holiday weekday.

Where can you eat and drink inside the market?

At the counters. The market's bars are the reason so many people come on a Saturday, when a breakfast coffee turns into a vermouth and then into lunch. The market lists these food stalls on its own website:

• Bar Joan Frau, "Ca'n Frau", one of the bar counters among the stalls.
• Arume, for sushi, dim sum, oysters and caviar.
• A-mar Sushi and Seafood Bar, for raw fish and seafood.
• Vermoutique, for vermouth, the drink of a Mallorcan Saturday morning.
• Bar La Tapita and Bar des Mercat, for tapas and a simple plate.
• La Barra de Bendita, Food La Vida and Mister Poulet rotisserie, for something quick or to take away.

What else is there to see and do in Santa Catalina?

Walk it. Santa Catalina is compact and best explored on foot, ideally straight after the market.

• Carrer de la Fàbrica, the neighbourhood's broad main street, where many of its restaurants and terraces cluster.
• Es Jonquet, the old millers' and fishermen's quarter on the low ridge next door, with a row of historic windmills above the harbour.
• Sa Feixina park, the green link between Santa Catalina and the old town.
• Passeig Marítim, the seafront promenade a few minutes south, for a walk along the yachts.

In the evening the neighbourhood changes character, with aperitifs and dinner in its many bars and restaurants. For our selection of where to book, see our Palma restaurant recommendations and the wider story of the island's food scene in Mallorca, the gourmet island.

How should you plan a morning in Santa Catalina?

Give it three to four hours and do it in this order, so you shop while the stalls are full and eat once the bars are at their best.

1. Start with coffee in one of the cafés around Plaça de la Navegació at about 9:30.
2. Walk the whole market once before buying, then shop: fish and produce first, dry goods last.
3. Take a stroll up to the windmills of Es Jonquet, five minutes away.
4. Come back for a vermouth or a plate of oysters at the market bars before they fill at midday.
5. Finish with a walk along Carrer de la Fàbrica, or cross Sa Feixina into the old town.

Where can you continue into Palma's old town from here?

Cross Sa Feixina and you are on the edge of the old town in ten minutes. Two addresses make a good continuation of a market morning.

Palma's Living Room · Palma

Rialto Living

A lifestyle store in a historic palace on Carrer de Sant Feliu, just off the Passeig del Born, for fashion, interiors, books and art.

See on our guide →

Coffee Inside A Palace · Palma

Café Rialto

The ground-floor café inside Rialto Living, serving homemade food all day, a calm stop after the market.

See on our guide →

Korean Soul Food · Palma

Bi Bap

A long-running Korean and Asian kitchen on Plaça del Mercat, for bibimbap when you have had your fill of tapas.

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For more shops we recommend in Palma, see our shopping guide. And if Santa Catalina gives you a taste for market mornings, our day by day guide to Mallorca's weekly markets tells you where to go next.