Anima
Beach

Anima Beach is the rare beach club you can reach on foot from the old town, planted on Can Pere Antoni just east of the cathedral where the Autopista de Levante meets the sea. It is an independent operation rather than a chain outpost, and it describes its own mood as relaxed beach chic, which in practice means a place that follows the shape of a long beach day instead of picking a single lane between restaurant and party.

That location is the whole pitch, and it earns its place on the Mallorca club directory for a reason no cove club can match. Where the island’s famous names sit a drive away on the southwest coast, Anima puts a lounger, a kitchen and a sunset ten minutes from La Seu, which is why it works as easily for a lunch break from sightseeing as for a night out.

Start with the kitchen, because it is what lifts Anima above a lounger with a view. The pasta is made in house and gets the loudest praise, the tagliatelle with truffle and olive oil in particular, and around it sit poke bowls, a prawn cocktail the menu puts its own name to, crispy salmon and the club’s pizza. The bar plays to the setting with a champagne heavy cocktail list, which is the drink people order for the sunset rather than a pint at noon.

The rhythm matters before you come. By day this is a calm lounge, mellow music and sunbeds facing the water, an easy stop between the cathedral and the marina. As the light drops the club leans into the evening, with live sets, a nightly sunset moment it treats as a small ceremony, and ticketed party nights that keep the doors open past midnight from June to October. Come at two in the afternoon and eleven at night and you would barely know it as the same address.

The honest catch is the beach itself. Can Pere Antoni is a made up city beach on a busy seafront road, with the airport flight path overhead and traffic behind the sand, so nobody should mistake it for a quiet natural bay. What you are buying is the club, the cooking and that cathedral skyline, and on those terms it delivers. For clear water and a wild swim you want the coves out of town, not this stretch.

Can Pere Antoni is Palma’s nearest city beach, a band of imported sand along the Portitxol seafront that gives the capital a place to swim without leaving town. A promenade runs its length, joggers and cyclists use it all day, and the cathedral rises behind the western end for the photograph everyone takes. It is convenient rather than pristine. For the island’s standout sands and coves, our best beaches in Mallorca guide points you well beyond the city.

Getting here is the easy part. From the cathedral it is a ten minute walk east along the seafront, or a couple of minutes by taxi, and the Portitxol buses pass close by, so a car is more nuisance than help given the tight city parking. Booking runs through the club’s own website or the phone line on 971 59 55 91, and in summer a sunbed, a table or an event ticket is worth securing ahead rather than chancing a walk up on a warm weekend.

Rather have it arranged before you arrive in Palma? Tell us the date and your group size below and we will take it to Anima on your side, coming back with what is free, the going rate and whether an event is on that evening, all at no cost to you.