Cami de Cavalls, Menorca, Spain
“The people of Menorca… we are scared of the sea.”
It seems a strange thing to hear from someone whose family has lived here on the Spanish island for generations.
Menorca is just 45 kilometres across and 30 kilometres from top to bottom. You would expect life to revolve around the sea, considering the coast is always just a short distance from anywhere. But no.
“Families here, they come to the beach together maybe once a year. That is all.”
My guide for the day, Joan, is explaining that the people of Menorca have traditionally always been farmers, not fishermen. Almost everything they needed came from the relatively small patch of land they lived on.
The sea? Well, it just brought storms and invaders. It was something that needed to be guarded against, not explored.
What is the Cami de Cavalls?
That’s how the famous island trail, the Cami de Cavalls (literally: ‘Way of Horses’), came to be.
It is a 185 kilometre dirt track that circles the entire coast of Menorca. It was created sometime in the 13th century and used by horse-riding guards to defend the island from a sea attack.
The Cami de Cavalls survived for centuries and was used for defence from numerous enemies. But it was also used by residents for communication between coastal communities and for trade and other business.
However, eventually it became less necessary and fell into disrepair. Private landowners put up fences and gates, making it inaccessible.
The trail was lost for many years and it might have faded away completely had it not been for a campaign in the 1990s by some local residents to protect it.
After restoration and negotiation with the private landowners, the Cami de Cavalls was officially opened to the public in 2010. And I think it’s the best way to see this treasure island.
Walking the Cami de Cavalls in Menorca
There are several ways that you can travel along the Cami de Cavalls. You can go by hike, ride a bike, or even go the traditional style on horseback.
I’ll write a bit more about biking in my next story but I think the most enjoyable option is walking, so let me tell you about that for now.
The trail is 185 kilometres long and is officially broken up into 20 different stages that are between 5 and 14 kilometres in length. These stages are useful to know if you are interested in just going for a short day hike along some of the trail.
However, I think the most interesting trip to consider is walking the entire loop of the trail. The coastline changes more than you might expect along the way, from the orange jagged rocks in the north to the quieter green cliffs in the south.
Small bays, large harbours, beaches, rocky headlands. Along the course of the trail, there’s always something new.
You can break up the whole walk into as many days as you like – normally it’s between 6 and 10. A good compromise is to do it in a week, which means you’ll walk an average of 26 kilometres each day.
That leaves a bit of time to stop at some of the beaches for a swim, have a decent lunch break, and explore the area around your accommodation for the night.
My guide, Joan, is part of a great local company called Cami de Cavalls 360º which specialises in organising all the logistics for you.
They’ll recommend the best itinerary for your needs, provide you will maps and information, book the hotels for you, and even transport your luggage between accommodations so you can walk with just what you need for the day.
I would highly recommend speaking to them if you’re interested in doing the whole walk.
Cami de Cavalls route and accommodation
However, I’ve also put together a basic guide for you here, to show how you would be able to do the walk yourself in 7 days.
You can refer to the map to see the path that the Cami de Cavalls takes and I’ve included accommodation recommendations for the stops.
You’ll note that the first few days along the north coast are longer than those along the south – I’ve done it this way to make sure you stop at places where there are hotels to sleep.
The final day into Mahon is also short, so you can make an afternoon flight if needed.
DAY 1: Mahon – Fornells
Distance: 30km
Accommodation: Hostal Port Fornells or Aparthotel Carema Club Playa
DAY 2: Fornells – Cala Morell
Distance: 30km
Accommodation: Apartamentos Sa Cala or Apartamentos Es Brucs
DAY 3: Cala Morell – Cala Blanca
Distance: 25km
Accommodation: Hotel Spa Sagitario Playa or 2U Playa Santandria Hotel
DAY 4: Cala Blanca – Cala Galdana
Distance: 21km
Accommodation: Artiem Audax
DAY 5: Cala Galdana – Cala en Porter
Distance: 22km
Accommodation: Sa Barrera or Hotel Playa Azul
DAY 6: Cala en Porter – S’Algar
Distance: 24km
Accommodation: PortBlue Hotel San Luis or Apartamentos Los Naranjos
DAY 7: S’Algar – Mahon
Distance: 8km
Accommodation: Catalonia Mirador des Port or Hotel San Miguel
You don’t need to be super fit to hike the Cami de Cavalls – you just need to be willing to enjoy the coastal landscapes of Menorca for a week.
The trail was created hundreds of years ago to protect the residents of Menorca – more recently, it was the residents who protected the trail. It is worth experiencing why they made such an effort to do so.
Time Travel Turtle was supported by Menorca Tourism in partnership with iambassador but the opinions, over-written descriptions and bad jokes are his own.
Great photos and article. I love reading about hikes I’ve never done before, thanks for sharing Saving this for my next travel to Spain 🙂
Wonderful pictures and excellent unique articles.
Wonderful pictures and excellent unique articles. This is really nice travel information of this famous touring destination. It gives you an amazing touring adventure of there.
Awesome post! Love how the trail came back to life after some locals fought for it!
Hi great people,
We love to do this tracking, we are located in Mallorca and we are wondering is is possible to do this with our 2 little doggies? Can they stay in the hotels aswell?
Thank you for your time!
Monica and Alex
November 12, 2022 at 5:07 am
Reply
Hi great people,
We love to do this tracking, we are located in Mallorca and we are wondering is is possible to do this with our 2 little doggies? Can they stay in the hotels aswell?
Thank you for your time!
Monica and Alex
Wow..Great post..!! Amazing Photography This is really nice travel information of this famous touring destination. Thanks for sharing.
Not uncommon for an island! I was raised on the sea in Ireland with a very healthy fear of the sea. People died in there (I remember quite a few from my childhood). It was dangerous, unpredictable and to be respected. Very common in the Caribbean too where lots of locals never learn to swim. And Aran Islands fishermen were never taught to swim, believing that rather than fight the inevitable in the wild Atlantic, it was better to drown without fighting it if you went in.
This looks awesome! Im planning a big trip with my boy before he starts school and i think I am adding this to the list
Dear writer,
I am really surprised with your words about menorcan people, where you said they go once a year to the beach because they are a countryside people and they are afraid of the sea., so ¿Why there are so many fisherman village? ¿Why are so many familiar caves in the beaches where they use to pas the hole summer or weeks living there?. Your information is completely wrong in this respect and I will be gratefull if you change it.
Best regards
Your photos are absolutely lovely! I have just completed the Cami De Cavalls from Es Grau to Fornells. I did it in one day (which is totally ridiculous). Highly recommend taking your time with this circuit and soaking it all up. I loved it and was blown away by how beautiful Menorca really is <3
As a Menorquín this post is nonsense. What a lot of ##### and to think that people will be willing to follow your advise.
No wonder we Menorquín people don’t like this cheap tourism. Ridiculous really.
Great walk Very well sign posted
Hi, great article and very useful, I read this before I went but did luckily check the km’s quoted here and they are NOT correct, so be aware, especially the 1st day is way out, its 45km, not 30km as quoted and many other days as well, I managed it in 6.5 days with long walking hours and km’s, total km was 200.5 – its an amazing experience! Fancy another island to walk around – try Ibiza, its much hillier and total 280km, another amazing experience!
I was thinking to do around 15-18km/day, so I can do it all around 11 days and enjoy 2 days resting . Is it possible?
where do you find the exactly distances between the stops?
Hello
Great info thanks a lot.
Is it allowed to camp?
Hi there great information thanks , is it a busy trek ? as in do you meet lots of people on the way , it’s it something you can do on your own ??
Kind regards paul
Nice Blog Shared
Look forward to going sometime post covid .
Thank you for your effort in providing excellent information.
This is all so great. I am seriously thinking about doing the entire loop. Thanks for the itinerary!
It’s a great walk, but I wonder how much of it you actually walked, to suggest some of those long stages. I have just returned from Menorca, having completed the Cami de Cavalls by myself in 16 days. I stayed in Sant Tomas (my apartment), and hired a car for the duration. Generally I drove to Mao or Ciutadella, parked the car, then caught a bus. Obviously the north coast is a problem with lack of bus services! For the Cala del Pilar to Cala Morell section, I used a company called Nura Travel which provides a drop-off/pick-up service for some parts of the Cami. Elsewhere I used the car and did some ‘out and back walks’, but they do double the distance walked.
Had I not done any repeated walks, I could have saved 3 days. Personally I think that 9 days would be the minimum, unless you are using a company to drop off and pick up for each stage (such as Cami de Cavalls 360), walk fast and for long days, and don’t pause to enjoy some swimming. The north coast between Cala del Pilar and Binimel-la is much more strenuous than some of the other stages, especially if you get caught in a torrential rainstorm like I was!
FYI, my total time was 79 hours and total mileage 145 miles.
Menorcans spend a lot of time on the beach at weekends, so I really do not believe some of your article.