Things to do with Kids in Cala D’Or in Mallorca
By Roberto – (Updated Sep 2026)
⏱️ 10 min
We recently went to Cala d’Or, on the southeast coast of Mallorca. We were looking for a place where we could hopefully find balance and have a stress-free vacation. The aim was to spend quality time with our toddler while getting a glimpse of nature and beaches. After checking a few other areas around the island, we decided that Cala D’Or had all we needed since it’s one of the island’s most reliably family-friendly bases. It has small, sheltered coves, a laid-back marina, and short distances between everything, which matters a lot when you’re travelling with young children.
It doesn’t have the big-name water parks of Magaluf or Alcúdia, but what it lacks in flashy attractions it makes up for in moderate calm, shallow beaches and an easy, walkable layout that works well for strollers, bikes and tired little legs. Here’s a full rundown of things to do with kids in Cala d’Or, from the beaches to the day trips worth booking. Spoiler: it was worth every penny!
Table of Contents
Start with a good accommodation
We checked and evaluated many options for this trip, and we couldn’t be happier with our selection. We were looking for a hotel with a convenient location, cozy vibe, nice rooms, a pool for adults and kids, half-board included, and a gym. This time price wasn’t our main concern and we found a reasonable option that exceeded our expectations: Eques Petit Resort.
Here, we found the balance we were hoping for. We especially want to highlight the nice staff they have and the super neat facilities. Of course there are MANY other good options for everyone and all types of budgets.
Start with the beaches
The beaches are the main event in Cala d’Or. There are seveal in the area and the good news is that most of them are genuinely suitable for kids. Rather than one long stretch of sand, you will find several small coves (calas) each with its own personality.
Best beaches in Cala D’Or
Cala Gran is one of the most popular with families and it’s quite big. Gran means grande / big. It’s a gently sloping beach with a café right on the sand. It has easy access for strollers, which you’ll appreciate when you’re hauling a stroller down to the water. On the downside, it was extremely packed in July when we went and we didn’t really enjoy the water here. We even moved to Cala Petita after spending just a short time here.
Cala Ferrera. We visited this one in the morning and we had our doubts but we all liked it! Since it is the widest of the coves with the shallowest water, Lara played a lot with other babies. This is a good choice on a busy day when you want space to spread out, and it’s often recommended as the best all-day base for families. They have many umbrellas and a bar nearby.
Cala Petita. We visited this one twice. Once we came in the morning and we really liked it. Nice atmosphere, clean water, and all types of people. Not so crowded and small. Another day, we came in the afternoon, and the shade from the trees covered most of the beach. There were more people at this time and… we didn’t like the feeling overall. Much better with sun in the morning.
Cala Esmeralda is smaller and gets crowded quickly, but it’s calm and shallow close to shore, with deeper water a bit further out for older kids who want to snorkel. If you’re after something quieter. We didn’t visit this one.
Cala Serena is a little further from the centre and mostly used by divers, so it stays peaceful even in high season. Another cala that we didn’t visit.
More calas in Parc Natural de Mondragó
Perhaps not exactly in the area of Cala D’Or, but reachable with bikes as we share later on in this post. Visiting these two calas below is a great way to spend a morning and one of the best things to do with kids in Cala D’Or.
Caló des Borgit. It’s a quiet cala, where we saw many kayak groups going and coming. The waters were clear and calm but the ground was rocky. Not the best option for babies but nice for kids or doing kayak activities.
Cala Mondragó. This one surprised us. Going there with bikes is a perfect plan, instead of walking down from the parking lot for other vehicles. The beach is sandy and calm and the surroundings are wonderful. We expected a crowded beach and it was, but everything else was perfect. A must to visit.
Wander the marina and oldtown
The marina at Cala d’Or is worth a slow stroll with kids in tow, even if boating isn’t on your agenda. Lined with yachts and sailboats, it’s the kind of place kids enjoy simply for the spectacle, picking out which boat they’d want, spotting fish in the water, or riding scooters along the promenade. It’s flat, easy walking, and close to plenty of cafés and restaurants if you need a break. One practical note: there are stretches without barriers between the walkway and the water, so it’s worth keeping a close hold on younger children here.
Also, since we are living in Spain, it’s interesting to highlight that many restaurants are empty at lunch time. They told us many foreigners spend all day at the beach or hotel, and few have a proper lunch, like Spaniards do. On the contrary, the old town is extremely busy in the evening, with dozens of restaurants with long lines, pubs and people dressing well after a long day of sun. It felt touristic but polished. We had 0 problems with Lara and all places seemed kid-friendly.
About where to eat, we can easily recommend the Italian restaurant La Pappa, the seafood restaurant Aquarius, and for meat we tried La Maestranza in old town.
Other alternatives for kids in oldtown: mini golf & playground
For an activity that doesn’t involve sand or sunscreen, the Mini Golf Bar in the centre of Cala d’Or is a solid family option. It has an 18-hole course small enough that one parent can play while the other watches from the bar area with a drink. Of course we didn’t do this with baby Lara… Another option is a couple of minutes north of the centre, at the end of the strip in Cala Ferrera. There’s a children’s playground with a large bouncy castle, bungee trampolines, mini go-karts, and small fairground rides — a good option for burning off energy on a day when the beach isn’t the plan.
Something we also liked was that the sidewalks and streets are mainly flat and it’s easy to move around with the stroller. Even the access to the beaches was quite good.
Get out on the water
Cala d’Or’s marina is the launch point for a wide range of boat trips, and this is where the town punches above its weight for a family holiday. You can book guided boat tours along the coves toward the fishing village of Porto Petro, or rent a licence-free boat (something we loved to do in other trips) and explore the coastline at your own pace if you want more flexibility with younger kids’ nap schedules. Glass-bottom boat trips are a particularly good option with children too young for snorkelling, letting them see fish and the seabed without getting in the water. Kayaking and paddleboards are also easy to arrange along the coast for families with older kids looking for something more active.
Day trips worth the drive
For families wanting a proper water park day, Aqualand and Marineland are both reachable with organised transport from Cala d’Or, though they involve a longer drive since neither is on the southeast coast.
If you’d rather stay closer to home, our clear winner is Mondragó Natural Park. This time we rented e-bikes at Sprint Rental in Cala D’Or where the service and bikes were superb. We spent the morning biking to Caló des Borgit and the wonderful Cala Mondragó, some of the most beautiful in the area and makes for a nice change of scenery from the town beaches, with a bit of a nature-trail feel that older kids tend to enjoy. Lara approved 🤙🏽
If you want to break up beach days, several well-known Mallorca day trips run with hotel pick-up directly from Cala d’Or. The Coves del Drac (Dragon Caves) in nearby Porto Cristo are a genuine highlight for kids. This famous network of underground caves with a lake inside are often visited alongside a boat trip through the caves themselves. It’s touristy, but for good reason, and it tends to leave a bigger impression on kids than almost anything else on the island.
Practical tips for visiting Cala d’Or with kids
- Stick to the coves closest to town (Cala Gran, Cala Ferrera, Cala Esmeralda) if you have young children. They’re shallow, calm, and close to cafés and toilets.
- Bring water shoes. Several of the beaches have rocky patches at the shoreline, and the marina walkway can be uneven in spots.
- Book boat trips and day tours in advance during July and August, when the marina gets busy and popular excursions fill up.
- Pack a bucket and spade regardless of your child’s age. The coves are small, but the sand is good, and it’s a reliable way to get an hour of peace on a beach day.
- Everything is walkable. Cala d’Or’s biggest advantage for families is that you rarely need a car for day-to-day beach and town life. Save the car hire for the bigger day trips like the Dragon Caves or the water parks.
- Most importantly: spend quality time with your baby or kids. Remember that you’re on vacation and it’s not about doing things perfectly, it’s about spending special time and paying attention to moments that won’t come back. We will remember our trip as the development of Lara’s swimming skills. She jumped into the pool, swam alone with the armbands and got confident playing in the water. We will forget the people at the beach or the prices at the restaurant, but we won’t forget those laughs and the water-wrinkled hands.
In summary
Cala d’Or won’t give you the theme-park energy of Mallorca’s bigger resorts, but for families who want calm beaches, an easy pace, and enough boat trips and day options to fill a week without much planning, it’s one of the better bases on the Baleares. For us, it was a perfect balance between relax, things to do and beach vibes for 6 days. In our opinion you can spend up to 10 days here without any problem.
