Portitxol Palma: a €25 Million Plan to Open Up the Old Harbour by 2030

Portitxol Palma is to be redeveloped by 2030 in a €25 million public-private project led by the Balearic Ports Authority. The plan opens up the old harbour with plazas, green areas, a continuous promenade, residents' parking and a stop for the new water bus.

The details were reported by the Majorca Daily Bulletin on 8 November, quoting the Ports Authority (APB), which has not yet published the plan on its own website. We have been selling homes in Calvià since 1985, and many of our buyers also look at Palma's seafront neighbourhoods. Here is what is planned, who pays, and how it fits the wider changes along the bay.

What the Portitxol Palma Plan Includes

According to the Bulletin's report, the Ports Authority's plan for the harbour includes:

• More public space: new plazas, green areas and a continuous promenade along the water.
• Clearer port uses: nautical and industrial activity concentrated in designated areas, so the rest of the waterfront can open up.
• A public sailing school: the sailing school moves to a new site and becomes a public facility.
• Carrer de la Sirena opened up: the area along the street widened to include space for social events and surface parking for residents.
• An underground car park: near Carrer Marquès de la Romana, with a plaza built on top.
• A water bus stop: the reorganised harbour includes a stop for the Bus Nàutic, Palma's new water bus.

Who Pays, and When

The estimated investment is €25 million. The Ports Authority estimates that nearly half will come from private capital, from the holders of the harbour's concessions, with the authority funding the rest. The target date for the transformation is 2030.

The timing is tied to the concessions. Several of the current ones are close to expiry or running on an extension, among them the concessions for the Club Náutico and the Hotel Portitxol. The authority manages around 500 moorings for public and recreational boats in Portitxol, and the concessions will be updated as part of the project.

No planning documents, tender or construction timetable have been published yet. The report describes the plan's aims and its main elements; the detail will come as the Ports Authority takes it forward.

Why Portitxol Needs Space

Anyone who knows Portitxol will recognise the problem the authority describes. The harbour is small and much of its space goes to cars rather than people. Access points are limited and the promenade is broken up, so walking or cycling along the water means weaving between car parks, boatyards and fences.

Several groups share the space: sailors and the nautical businesses that serve them, bars and restaurants, the fishing community and the people who live there. The plan's main challenge, in the Bulletin's words, is removing barriers and creating space for all of them.

That balance is what gives Portitxol its character. The traditional wooden boats, the fishermen's sheds and the low houses facing the water are the reason so many people love this corner of Palma. The plan, as described, keeps the working harbour and reorganises it rather than replacing it.

Part of a Bigger Change Along the Bay

Portitxol is the latest piece in a transformation of Palma's seafront led by the Ports Authority. The authority's remodelling of the Paseo Marítimo won the Premio de Opinión Ciudad y Paisaje 2026 in the FAD awards, recognising the way it gave public space back to people and joined the port more closely to the city. The Bulletin reports that the Portitxol plan will align with that work.

At the same time, the authority is running an international competition for a master plan for the whole port of Palma. In July it selected five teams to draw up preliminary designs, with the proposals due in November and an independent expert committee choosing the winner.

The water bus is the most visible link. As our update on the Palma water bus explains, one of the compulsory routes in the authority's plans runs between the Tráfico Local terminal and Portitxol, so a stop in the new harbour would connect it by boat with the centre and the western end of the bay.

Living in Portitxol and Es Molinar

Portitxol sits on Palma's eastern seafront, next to Es Molinar, with the promenade running west towards the cathedral and the old town. It is one of the city's most sought-after seaside neighbourhoods: a mix of old fishermen's houses, renovated townhouses and apartments, with the sea at the end of almost every street.

Plans like this one change the things residents notice every day: where they park, how easily they reach the water, and whether they can walk or cycle into town along the sea. For owners, the promise of a continuous promenade and more public space is part of the appeal of the area. For buyers, it is worth following how the plan develops, because the detail, such as where parking goes and how the harbour uses are arranged, matters street by street.

The plan is at an early stage, and we will update this article when the Ports Authority publishes more.

What Is Still Unknown

The report gives the outline, but several questions remain open, and they are the ones residents and buyers will want answered:

• The design. No drawings or plans have been published beyond a single illustration credited to the Ports Authority.
• The order of works. There is no timetable yet for which parts of the harbour change first, or how long each phase lasts.
• The concessions. It is not yet clear how and when the new concessions will be awarded, or on what terms.
• Parking during the works. The plan adds residents' parking and an underground car park, but there is no detail on what happens while they are being built.
• The water bus date. No date has been given for the water bus to start serving Portitxol.

If You Are Buying Near the Harbour

Large public projects are a good reason to look closely at a specific property rather than the area in general. If you are considering a home in Portitxol or Es Molinar, it pays to ask a few practical questions:

• How close is the home to the harbour edge, Carrer de la Sirena or Carrer Marquès de la Romana, where the main changes are planned?
• Does it have its own parking, or does it rely on street parking that the works will affect?
• Which way do the main rooms face, and what is between the home and the water today?
• Has your lawyer checked the property's planning status with the city council as part of the purchase?

We are happy to talk any of these through with you.

How We Help

If you are thinking of buying on Palma's seafront, or of selling a home in the city or in Calvià, we are happy to talk. Start with a free, no-obligation valuation, or browse our current homes across Mallorca.

Call us on +34 971 692 434, message us on WhatsApp, or email help@imperial-properties.com.