Club de Mar (Palma de Mallorca)
| Location | Muelle Pelaires (Pelaires Pier), 07015 Palma, on the Club de Mar peninsula next to Porto Pi, Bay of Palma, Mallorca, Spain |
|---|---|
| Position | 39 33 26.9 N, 002 37 39.9 E, per Dockwalk; rounded to 39 34.0 N, 002 38.0 E by Marina Balear |
| Status | a private members' club and sporting association, not a municipal or commercial marina, founded 1 June 1972 |
| Berths | 543, down from 575 before the 2020-2026 rebuild, of which more than 70 are for superyachts, megayachts and gigayachts per the club's own moorings page and Dockwalk; the club's own 'the club' page says more than 40 |
| Vessel range | berth categories run 8-15 m (251 berths), 16-30 m (204), 31-60 m (71) and a top band the club lists as 70-155 m (17 berths); broker citations of the club's own marketing put the overall maximum at 170 m |
| Maximum beam 11 m and maximum draught 9 m, per Dockwalk; the club does not publish its own draught figure | |
| Mooring | Mediterranean style, stern or bow-to the quay on lazy lines, marinero-assisted |
| VHF | channel 09 (also monitored on 16 per Marina Balear); phone +34 971 403 611 |
| Included at the berth | mains water, 24-hour dock staff and security, WiFi, waste (Flovac) removal, parking; shore power scaled to size, from 20-63A single-phase up to 630-1250A three-phase on the largest berths |
| Fuel | 95-octane and diesel at a berth-side station for 8-30 m boats, diesel supply direct to berth for 16 m and over |
| Yard | a travel lift and a crane are on site; the only published hoist figure found is a 5-tonne crane (Asociacion de Clubes Nauticos de Baleares); no travel lift tonnage is published |
| Rebuilt 2020-2026 at a cost reported between EUR 50 million and EUR 100 million depending on the source, reopening in stages through March 2026 across four new buildings: Tramuntana, Llevant, Ponent and Migjorn | |
| On site | four restaurants (Azotea Club de Mar, Saltao de Mar, Cantina Grill, Mar Salada), a chandlery (Nautichandler), pool, gym, spa, tennis, a nautical school and conference and event space |
| Accreditation | the club's own site lists ISO 9001 (AENOR), EMAS environmental registration and affiliation to the Real Federacion Espanola de Vela and the Federacio Balear de Vela |
| Current port concession runs to 28 February 2044 | |
| Airport | Palma de Mallorca (PMI), roughly 10-11 km by road (about 9.5 km direct); one Balearic nautical clubs association listing puts it at 10 minutes |
| Next door | the Porto Pi shopping centre (140 shops over six levels) a few minutes' walk away, and the Palma cruise terminal, now linked to the club by new public walkways opened in March 2026 |
Where the berth actually is
Club de Mar occupies the Pelaires pier, a finger of reclaimed land on the western shore of the Bay of Palma, immediately south of the Porto Pi headland and directly beside Palma's cruise ship terminal. The club's own postal address is Muelle Pelaires, 07015 Palma. It is a separate basin from the old commercial and fishing harbour in the city centre and from Real Club Nautico de Palma, which sits closer to the cathedral; Club de Mar is the marina furthest out along the bay's western arm, which is also why it was chosen in 1972 for the biggest boats, since it did not have to compete for room with the city's other quays.
The immediate surroundings are now mixed rather than purely nautical. Since the March 2026 reopening the club's own four new buildings connect directly, via new public walkways, to the cruise terminal on one side and the Paseo Maritimo promenade and Porto Pi shopping centre on the other, a deliberate move by the club and the Balearic port authority to open a formerly closed private compound to foot traffic. Bellver Castle sits on the wooded hill directly behind the marina, and Palma Cathedral and the old town are about ten minutes away by car or taxi along the seafront. The practical effect is that a yacht berthed here is inside a large, active port complex, not a quiet backwater.
Arriving by sea
Club de Mar monitors VHF channel 09, with Marina Balear's own listing noting channel 16 is also kept open; the marina's phone line is +34 971 403 611. Coordinates are published as 39 degrees 33 minutes 26.9 seconds north, 002 degrees 37 minutes 39.9 seconds east by Dockwalk, with Marina Balear's own rounded figure of 39 34.0 N, 002 38.0 E close enough to confirm the position rather than contradict it. Boats moor Mediterranean style, bow or stern to the quay on laid lines, with a marinero on the dock to take lines on arrival, the same system used across the rest of Palma's marinas and the wider Balearics.
The approach itself runs through one of the busiest stretches of water in the Balearics. Club de Mar sits between the main commercial and passenger port of Palma, which handles large ferries and, since 2026, cruise ships docking essentially next door, and the open roadstead of the bay where anchored traffic and other marina approaches (Real Club Nautico, Moll Vell, STP) converge. No published Club de Mar approach guide lists specific light characteristics or charted hazards the way ACI does for Split, so a first-time arrival should treat this as ordinary large-port pilotage: monitor Palma Vessel Traffic and harbourmaster traffic on the working channels, give way to ferries and cruise ships under manoeuvre, and confirm the assigned berth with the marinero on 09 well before entering the basin rather than free-mooring.
Buy a berth at Club de Mar and you do not own it. You own a preferential right of use that reverts to the Spanish state in 2044, and in 2025 the club itself moved to stop members reselling that right at all.
How membership and berthing actually work
Under Spanish law nobody actually owns a Mediterranean marina berth outright; what changes hands is a concession, an administrative right to occupy a specific plot of public maritime domain for a fixed term, granted by the regional port authority and transferable only with that authority's approval. Club de Mar's current concession runs to 28 February 2044. In practice this means a buyer acquires what brokers describe as a 'preferential right of use' rather than freehold, at what Direct Berth's own listing for an 18 m berth calls Club de Mar member rates rather than the significantly higher rates paid for a commercial berth elsewhere in Palma; other sizes advertised through the same broker run from 12 m up to 40 m, all priced on application rather than published. A concession renewal five years ago is reported to have cost one member EUR 150,000 for 25 years on a single berth.
Membership itself sits on top of the berth. The club's own site describes a cover letter as the route in, a smart casual dress code throughout, and reciprocal arrangements with a short list of correspondent clubs abroad including the City University Club and the Arts Club in London and the Circulo Ecuestre in Barcelona, the conventional structure of an old-style Mediterranean yacht and sports club rather than a marina operator selling slips. The club is run by a member-elected board; Jose Luis Arrom has been named in press coverage as its director general through the recent rebuild. For a transient visitor rather than a concessionaire, day and short-stay berthing is booked through the club's own online system at clubdemar365.es, which does not require membership, but the long-term berths that make up most of the 543 total are held this way, as members' property in all but name.
What a berth costs
Unlike ACI in Croatia or Port Adriano along the coast, which both publish a metre-by-metre tariff, Club de Mar's own site gives berth categories and electrical specification but no euro figures at all, for either transient stays or long-term concessions. The only concrete numbers available come from secondary sources: the EUR 150,000 paid five years ago to renew a single berth concession for 25 years, cited in the 2025 dispute coverage, and the 'price on application' listings brokers such as Direct Berth run for resale concessions from 12 m to 40 m. General market guides to Mallorca mooring costs place premium Palma-area berths anywhere from the high thousands to tens of thousands of euros a year for an annual contract, but none of them quote Club de Mar specifically, and the club does not confirm or deny those figures itself.
That opacity is compounded by the 2025 dispute over resale rights, which shows the numbers move in practice even without a published list. Members who bought or renewed concessions reported that berth values had risen sharply since their original purchase, which is precisely why the club's move to cap any buyback at the original purchase price, rather than current market value, generated the threat of a class action. A buyer today has to establish, deal by deal, what a given concession last traded for and how many years remain on the underlying 2044 grant, rather than reading a rate card the way they could at almost any other marina in this guide.
Clearing in to Spain
Palma is listed alongside Alcudia, Ibiza, Mahon and La Savina as an authorised Balearic port of entry for yachts arriving from outside the Schengen area. A vessel arriving from another EU port with an EU flag and EU crew needs no formal clearance. A non-EU flagged yacht, or any yacht carrying non-EU crew, must clear at the first Spanish port it touches, which in Mallorca's case is Palma; recent changes mean the Port Police no longer handle this, so Customs is now the relevant authority, with appointments available Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 14:00 and clearance expected within 24 hours of arrival. Non-EU private yachts get up to 18 months of temporary admission in EU waters before the vessel itself must be formally declared or re-exported.
None of this paperwork is specific to Club de Mar, and the club's own published material says nothing about clearance procedure, unlike ACI's detailed guidance for Croatia. In practice a yacht berthing here follows the same Balearic process as any other Palma marina: fly the Q flag on arrival if coming from outside Schengen, register through the crew's agent or directly with Customs, and keep the ship's papers and crew list ready for inspection. Superyacht agents based in Palma, such as Estela Shipping, handle this routinely for visiting crews and are a more practical first call than the club itself for anything beyond berth logistics.
The yard and the travel lift
Every description of Club de Mar's technical services, from the club's own moorings page to third-party marina directories, mentions a travel lift, a crane, mechanics and repair and painting services on site, but not one of them, including the club's own materials, publishes what the travel lift can actually lift. The single concrete figure found anywhere is a 5-tonne crane, listed by the Asociacion de Clubes Nauticos de Baleares, the regional nautical clubs association, in its own profile of the club. For a marina whose berths run to a claimed 170 m, that is a maintenance-scale figure, not a refit-scale one, and it is consistent with Club de Mar positioning itself as a berthing and social club first rather than a shipyard.
Serious haul-out and refit work in Palma is concentrated a short distance away at STP Shipyard Palma, an entirely separate company operating an open-shipyard model with a lift capacity of up to 1,000 tonnes and vessels to 120 m, alongside smaller specialist yards such as Club Nautico de Palma's own 40 and 60-tonne travel lifts. An owner planning a genuine refit rather than routine maintenance should treat Club de Mar as the berth and STP, or one of Palma's other dedicated yards, as the workshop; nothing in Club de Mar's own materials suggests otherwise, and none of the coverage of its recent rebuild describes any expansion of its own lifting capacity.
Services on site
The 2020-2026 rebuild replaced the old single clubhouse with four buildings named for the four winds: Tramuntana, the main building, holds the offices, members' areas, pool and the bulk of the restaurants over three floors; Llevant and Ponent are given over to commercial units and event and meeting rooms; and Migjorn is a dedicated event pavilion for conferences, dinners and, from late 2025, a nightclub. Four restaurants are named on the club's own site: Azotea Club de Mar, Saltao de Mar, Cantina Grill and the returning Mar Salada, alongside cafes and seafront bars. A chandlery, Nautichandler, trading as 'Total Yacht Supply' and part of the Nautipaints group, operates from a ground-floor unit in the new complex, confirmed by a dated May 2026 photograph of its storefront.
Beyond dining and retail, the club runs a nautical school offering year-round sailing lessons for adults and children plus canoeing and paddleboarding, and hosts sailing regattas directly from its own docks, including junior ILCA dinghy fleets racing out into the bay. Sports and leisure facilities listed across the club's own site and third-party directories include a heated pool, gymnasium and spa, tennis courts, a children's club and conference and event rooms for hire. Every berth also carries the standard marina utilities: mains water, WiFi, 24-hour security, waste removal through a Flovac vacuum system and shore power scaled by berth size up to 1250A three-phase on the largest slips, plus fuel available berth-side for 16 m-plus boats and at a shared station for smaller craft.
Getting there
Palma de Mallorca airport (PMI) sits east of the city, on the opposite side of the bay from Club de Mar's peninsula. A straight-line measurement puts the two roughly 9.5 km apart, which becomes about 10 to 11 km by road around the bay through the city or along the ring road; the Asociacion de Clubes Nauticos de Baleares' own listing rounds this to '10 minutes', a figure that only holds outside the July and August peak, when the coast road and the Paseo Maritimo both slow considerably.
PMI is Mallorca's only commercial airport and one of the busiest in Spain over the summer season, with direct connections across most of Europe and a steady stream of private and charter traffic serving the island's superyacht calendar. Taxis and private transfers run from the terminal to Club de Mar in normal traffic within the same 20 to 30 minute range as most other Palma marinas; none of the sources used for this entry give a fixed transfer price specific to Club de Mar, unlike some competing marinas that quote a set rate.
What's next door, and the fixed dates on the calendar
Porto Pi, a 140-shop mall across six levels with a large supermarket and two hours of free parking, is a few minutes' walk from the club, and the Palma cruise terminal sits immediately alongside it, now linked by the new walkways opened with the club in March 2026, so cruise passengers land essentially next to the marina. Bellver Castle overlooks the site from the hill behind, and the old town and cathedral are a short taxi or bus ride away. This is a working, public stretch of waterfront rather than an isolated private enclave, a deliberate change from the closed compound the club operated before the rebuild.
Club de Mar's own fixed date is the Superyacht Cup Palma, Europe's oldest superyacht regatta, founded in 1996 and organised with Real Club Nautico de Palma; its 30th edition in June 2026 returned to the newly reopened club with 24 entrants, its largest fleet in almost two decades, and introduced a multihull class for the first time. The club also runs its own Regata Illes Balears Classics for vintage yachts, whose recent editions have drawn entrants such as the 1909 Fife-built Tuiga, plus a programme of dinghy and youth sailing events, including ILCA fleets, staged directly off its own docks through the sailing season.
Ashore, access and booking
| Getting there | Palma de Mallorca airport (PMI) is about 10-11 km by road (roughly 9.5 km direct) from the marina, 20 to 30 minutes by taxi or transfer outside peak summer traffic. |
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| Arriving by sea | Call on VHF channel 09 (16 also monitored). Coordinates 39 33 26.9 N, 002 37 39.9 E. Approach through a working commercial and cruise port; give way to ferries and cruise traffic and confirm berth assignment with the marinero before entering the basin. |
| Clearing in | Palma is an official Balearic port of entry. EU-flagged yachts from within the EU need no clearance. Non-EU yachts or non-EU crew must clear with Customs (not the harbourmaster) within 24 hours, appointments Monday to Friday 08:00-14:00. |
| How you reserve or join | Long-term berths are sold as transferable port concessions between members and brokers, subject to the club's and the port authority's approval, not booked online. Short stays and day berths can be booked directly at clubdemar365.es. Club membership itself is by cover letter. |
| What a berth costs | Not published. Brokered concession resales are quoted on application; one 25-year renewal is reported to have cost EUR 150,000 five years ago. No day rate or annual tariff appears anywhere in the club's own materials. |
| Fuel | 95-octane and diesel at a shared berth-side station for 8-30 m boats; diesel piped directly to the berth for boats 16 m and over. |
| Yard capacity | A travel lift and a crane are on site; the only published figure is a 5-tonne crane. Major refit and haul-out work in Palma is done at STP Shipyard Palma nearby (up to 1,000 tonnes, 120 m), not at Club de Mar itself. |
| What's next door | Porto Pi shopping centre (140 shops) a few minutes' walk away; the Palma cruise terminal immediately alongside, connected by new walkways since March 2026; Bellver Castle on the hill behind; the cathedral and old town about ten minutes by road. |
| After dark | The rebuilt Migjorn building adds a nightclub from late 2025 alongside the club's four restaurants; some local reader comment flagged safety concerns about the new public walk back into town at night, which the club's own materials do not address. |
| The fixed dates | Superyacht Cup Palma (Europe's oldest superyacht regatta, founded 1996) each June; the club's own Regata Illes Balears Classics for vintage yachts; recurring ILCA and youth dinghy racing off the club's docks through the season. |
| What is NOT published | Any berth day rate, annual tariff or membership fee; travel lift tonnage; a stated maximum draught from the club itself; and a single agreed figure for either its maximum LOA (170 m by third-party citation versus a 155 m top published berth category) or its superyacht berth count (more than 40 per one page on the club's own site, more than 70 per another). |
What owners and crew report
Crew and industry rate the facilities highly
The Superyacht Services Guide's own listing for Club de Mar describes it as 'the largest marina in the port of Palma' with 'excellent facilities for yachts and crew' and calls it 'a firm favourite', a generic but industry-facing endorsement rather than a marketing quote from the club itself.
Superyacht Services GuideThe interior redesign was built to honour the club's 1970s soul, not erase it
Madrid designer Marta de la Rica, who led the interiors of the rebuild, said she 'wanted to create a unity of purpose through colour, material and shape', drawing on vintage Riva runabouts and what she called an era that 'expressed luxury in a very sensorial and relaxed way', and incorporated the club's own archive of boat models, barometers, anchors and diving helmets into the new spaces.
WallpaperSome locals see grey concrete where the club sees modern architecture
Reader comments on coverage of the rebuild described the new buildings' exposed concrete and glass as having a 'communist look' and 'grey concrete blocks', questioned whether the expansion was an improvement or a mistake, and recalled the demolished original clubhouse as 'very much loved'; some also raised safety concerns about the new public walking route back into town at night.
Majorca Daily Bulletin (reader comments)Long-standing concessionaires say the club changed the rules on them
Members who paid to renew berth concessions, in one case EUR 150,000 for 25 years five years ago, reported that a 2025 decree pursued with the regional port authority barred them from reselling or renting those berths, offering only a buyback at the original purchase price despite berth values having 'skyrocketed' since; affected members called the treatment 'very unfair' and began organising for a class action.
Mallorca Zeitung (via SeaHelp)The sailing establishment treats the rebuilt club as a serious venue again
Europe's oldest superyacht regatta, the Superyacht Cup Palma, returned its 30th edition in June 2026 to the newly reopened Club de Mar, drawing 24 entrants, its largest fleet in almost two decades, and adding a multihull class for the first time, a vote of confidence from race organisers and competing owners in the finished rebuild.
Yachting News
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- A berth here can be a long-dated asset, not a sunk costBuying in gets a transferable Spanish port concession running to 2044, at what brokers describe as member rates well below Palma's commercial berth prices, an unusual structure that rewards owners who hold rather than rent year to year, when the resale rules are honoured.
- Fifty-plus years of genuine superyacht scaleFounded in 1972 specifically to pull large yachts away from the French Riviera, Club de Mar has hosted Europe's oldest superyacht regatta, the Superyacht Cup Palma, since 1996 and remains one of the traditional homes for the biggest boats visiting Mallorca.
- A genuinely new EUR 50-100 million rebuild, not a refreshFour new buildings, four restaurants and a full public realm connecting the marina to the cruise terminal and promenade all opened between 2020 and March 2026, replacing infrastructure that had not fundamentally changed since the 1970s.
- About as central as a Palma marina getsMinutes from the old town and cathedral, next to a 140-shop mall and the cruise terminal, with Bellver Castle on the hill behind, the location does most of the work that a shuttle bus has to do at more remote marinas.
- Proper superyacht-grade shore powerFour distinct berth categories carry matched electrical supply up to 630-1250A three-phase on the largest slips, the kind of granular infrastructure a 60m-plus yacht actually needs rather than a single generic hookup.
What to watch
- The club cannot agree with itself on how big its biggest berths areThird-party citations of the club's own marketing put the maximum length at 170 m, but the club's own published moorings-page category table tops out at a 70-to-155 m band for its largest berths, leaving an owner at the top end with no single confirmed figure.
- Its superyacht berth count depends which of its own pages you readThe club's 'the club' page says more than 40 berths are for superyachts, megayachts and gigayachts; its own moorings page and every third-party source say more than 70.
- A 2025 dispute is a real governance red flag, not just noiseThe club pursued a decree with the regional port authority stopping concessionaires reselling or renting berths bought as long-term investments, offering only a buyback at years-old prices; affected members are organising a class action, which anyone buying a concession as an asset rather than just a parking spot should weigh carefully.
- No price is published anywhereThere is no day rate, annual tariff or membership fee on the club's own site; every figure available comes from broker resale listings quoted on application or from press coverage of the concession dispute, so a buyer cannot budget a season here the way they can at ACI or Port Adriano.
- Its own yard is modest, whatever the marketing impliesThe only published hoist figure anywhere is a 5-tonne crane; serious refit and haul-out work for anything large happens at STP Shipyard Palma nearby, not at Club de Mar itself, despite berths advertised to 170 m.
Who it is for: An owner or captain who wants a genuine old-school Mediterranean club, with the scale for a 100m-plus yacht and 50 years of superyacht history behind it, and who is prepared to go through a member introduction rather than just book a berth online. Not for a transient boat wanting a same-day walk-up berth, or an investor who wants a simple lease with a published exit price rather than a concession whose resale terms the club can apparently still rewrite.