El Terreno in Palma: Castell de Bellver, woodland and Plaça Gomila

From country estate to summer neighbourhood

According to the official city chronicler, the area once belonged to the royal land around the Castell de Bellver. The first recorded house was built in 1777 by the artist Cristóbal Vilella. According to the chronicle, the neighbourhood takes its name from the El Terreno estate, which belonged to Cardinal Antoni Despuig at the end of the 18th century. Later the Rubert family divided the land into plots.

When yellow fever broke out in Palma in 1821, people moved to the slope of Bellver and built wooden huts. A large part of the woodland was cut down for this. Between 1838 and 1845 Joan Rubert built the first houses by the sea near Can Barberà, and in 1870 the church of Nostra Senyora de la Salut was built. In 1887 El Terreno had 343 buildings, most of them with just one storey. Archduke Ludwig Salvator compared the neighbourhood, with its little houses painted white, yellow and blue, to a small town.

Source: Ajuntament de Palma: Cròniques de Palma, Bartomeu Bestard, Cronista oficial (2011), chapters El barri del Terreno and El castell de Bellver i les seves coves, checked on 3 October 2026

Plaça Gomila

At the end of the 19th century the Gomila family built a holiday home here. They gave part of their land to the city so that children could play there. This became “sa Placeta”, the forerunner of today’s Plaça Gomila. Many years later the family’s house became the Tito’s dance hall.

According to the chronicle, the Catalan painter Santiago Rusiñol also lived on Plaça Gomila with his wife and daughter, and the painter Joaquim Mir stayed with them for a time. The chronicle also describes how much the neighbourhood’s buildings changed from the middle of the 20th century onwards.

Source: Ajuntament de Palma: Cròniques de Palma, Bartomeu Bestard, Cronista oficial (2011), chapters El barri del Terreno and El castell de Bellver i les seves coves, checked on 3 October 2026

Castell de Bellver

Jaume II had the castle built between 1300 and 1330, in a short time and therefore all of a piece. According to the chronicle, Bellver is the only Gothic castle with a circular plan. It never saw battle, but it was used several times as a prison. Its best known prisoner was Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, from 1802 to 1808. In September 1931 the government of the Republic handed the woodland and the castle over to the city of Palma.

Today the city shows its Museu d’Història de la Ciutat in the Castell. Tickets are sold at the visitor centre by the car park, until 45 minutes before closing. It is closed on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 1 May and 25 December. Times may change during city events.

• October to March: Tue to Sat 10:00 to 18:00, Sun and public holidays 10:00 to 15:00, closed on Mondays.
• April to September: Tue to Sat 10:00 to 19:00, Sun and public holidays 10:00 to 15:00, closed on Mondays.
• Admission 4 euros, reduced 2 euros (among others pensioners and ages 14 to 18), Palma residents 2.50 euros, free on Sundays and for under 14s. Show your proof at the box office.

Source: Ajuntament de Palma: Cròniques de Palma, Bartomeu Bestard, Cronista oficial (2011), chapters El barri del Terreno and El castell de Bellver i les seves coves, checked on 3 October 2026 · Ajuntament de Palma: Castell de Bellver, Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, checked on 3 October 2026 · Castell de Bellver (Ajuntament de Palma): Horarios y precios (page as of 18.03.2025), checked on 3 October 2026

Bosc de Bellver and dogs

According to the Ajuntament, the woodland around the Castell is the largest public open space in the municipality of Palma. Because many visitors leave the paths, the ground is badly eroded. The city therefore asks you to stay on the marked paths.

Dogs are welcome: on a lead, on the paths and not in the undergrowth, microchipped, and dogs classed as dangerous with a muzzle. You pick up after your dog. Bikes only on surfaced paths and the main road. Not allowed: dogs off the lead, feeding animals, fires, smoking, loud noise and camping. When weather warnings are issued, the city may close the park and the Castell at short notice.

• 1 October to 31 March: 7:00 to 18:30.
• 1 April to 30 September: 7:00 to 20:30.

Source: Ajuntament de Palma: Normativa i recomanacions, Parc de Bellver (opening hours, rules for dogs), checked on 3 October 2026 · Castell de Bellver (Ajuntament de Palma): Visita, closure in severe weather, checked on 3 October 2026

Getting there without a car

The bus details come from the EMT Palma scheduled timetables (retrieved 1 October 2026), not real time. The EMT timetables in the dataset are valid until the end of 2026. The TIB island buses leave from the Estació Intermodal; their timetables in the dataset mostly end on 31 October 2026.

• pl. Gomila: lines 4, 20, 46 and 47. Line 4 runs roughly every 10 minutes during the day on weekdays.
• From Santa Catalina: lines 4 and 46 from Comte de Barcelona, Santa Catalina to pl. Gomila.
• To Porto Pi: lines 4 and 20 continue to Àrea d’intercanvi Portopí.
• Passeig Marítim down by the water: stops s’Aigua Dolça and Can Barberà, lines 1, 30 and at night N1.
• To the Castell on foot, according to the Castell: from pl. Gomila via Carrer de Bellver and the staircase (around 20 min) or from Carrer de Joan Miró 16 via Carrer de Camilo José Cela (around 30 min).

Source: EMT Palma: lines and timetables (Open Data), checked on 3 October 2026 · TIB: lines and timetables (scheduled timetable as Open Data, CC BY 4.0), checked on 3 October 2026 · Castell de Bellver (Ajuntament de Palma): Cómo llegar al Castell de Bellver, checked on 3 October 2026

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