Mountain Walking in Mallorca. Paddy Dillon

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      Pas Vermell offers an easy route past a sheer cliff face

      Turn left and follow the bendy track down into a forest. Stay on the main track, passing a junction on a pronounced hairpin bend. When another junction is reached, spot ‘S Elm’ painted on a rock, indicating a right turn.

      After a steeper descent among taller pines there are three opportunities to turn right in close succession. Take the last of these, which should be marked by a small cairn and paint marks. Quickly turn left and a cable should be stretched across the track to exclude vehicles. Rise gently along the track to reach a little house called sa Pineta.

      Continue down past small fields, and the track is later patched with concrete, with fine views of sa Dragonera and Sant Elm. Pass a chain, continue down to a junction and turn right along a forest track. Emerge into a field and turn left along a path, then go through a gap in a wall, briefly back into forest. Cross a road at the gateway to Castell de Sant Elm, also known as the Torre de Sant Elm.

      Originally operating as a quarantine hospital from 1342 until 1597, the building then became a watchtower. It was bought by Archduke Lluis Salvador in 1868. It was renovated in 1995 by the Fundació Illes Balears and now serves as a secluded luxury hotel.

      Continue along a track and turn left down a flight of concrete steps. Turn right along a road, passing the Hotel Aquamarin to reach a road junction and bus stop beside a sandy beach at Sant Elm.

WALK 3

      Sant Elm, La Trapa and s’Arracó

      The walk from Sant Elm to La Trapa starts easily and is popular, but the upper parts are steep and rocky. A small community of Trappist monks settled in that remote place. The site is in ruins but there is a plan to restore part of it as a refugi. Paths can be followed higher to ses Basses, enjoying a wild and remote area, then a descent leads to the pleasant and quiet village of s’Arracó.

      Leave the last bus stop in Sant Elm, on Plaça de Mossen Sebastià Grau. Head inland from es Molí restaurant, where there is an old windmill, following Avinguda de La Trapa uphill. The road runs into forest and gives way to a dirt road called Camí Can Tomeví. Keep straight ahead at a junction in the forest, eventually passing near the solitary house of Can Tomeví.

      Watch for a marker post for La Trapa and walk straight ahead on a bare, rocky path criss-crossed with tree roots. Simply follow a well-trodden path up the forested slope, passing a pair of old gate pillars and crossing other tracks. Little cairns and occasional paint marks show the way, while other paths may be blocked by branches or lines of stones. Climb past old terraces then drift left along the foot of rugged cliffs as the pines become sparse.

      An easy stone-buttressed terrace path overlooks a secluded boulder-beach at Cala en Basset, with sa Dragonera in view beyond. The scrub includes rock roses, spiky broom and càrritx. The terrace gives way to a steep and rocky slope where hands must be used for mild scrambling, and one part might have a rope for protection.

      Cross a rocky shoulder at 300m (985ft), pass a noticeboard and look down on old buildings and former cultivation terraces at La Trapa. Follow a path in that direction and cross a ladder stile to reach an access track.

      LA TRAPA