Drive to the very end of Mallorca’s southwest coast and you arrive at Sant Elm — a small, unhurried village named after the patron saint of sailors, with the Serra de Tramuntana rising at its back and the dragon-shaped island of Sa Dragonera lying just offshore. It is about as far as the island goes, and it feels it: the road runs out, the crowds thin, and the sea takes over.
Sant Elm has stayed close to its roots. Once a fishing village, it never became a resort — just a couple of small sandy beaches, a scatter of good fish restaurants looking out to Sa Dragonera, and turquoise coves like Cala en Basset within walking distance. In summer, boats leave the little jetty for the short crossing to the island; the rest of the year it is simply one of the quietest, most beautiful corners of Mallorca.
Sa Dragonera — the island that was saved
The uninhabited island offshore is more than scenery. In 1977, environmentalists occupied Sa Dragonera to stop a planned tourist development — and they won. The island became a nature reserve instead, a turning point for conservation across Mallorca, and has been a protected park ever since. Today it shelters hundreds of plant species and rare seabirds, including Balearic shearwaters and Eleonora’s falcons, its cliffs and lighthouses left to the wind and the water. A short boat trip from Sant Elm puts you on its trails for the day.
La Trapa and the old monks’ path
Above the village lie the ruins of La Trapa, a monastery built in 1810 by Trappist monks who had fled the French Revolution. To live self-sufficiently on this remote coast, they raised a chapel and a mill and carved dry-stone terraces into the hillside; the community faded in the 19th century, and in 1980 a Balearic conservation group took the land on and began to restore it. The famous walk up from Sant Elm — a round trip of around three hours through coastal maquis and pine, part of the island-long GR-221 route — is rewarded at the Mirador de la Trapa with what many consider the single finest view of Sa Dragonera anywhere in Mallorca.
The quiet side of the southwest
Just inland sits S’Arracó, a village of traditional stone houses and a few grand modernist homes built with money sent back by emigrants who once left for France. There is a small Saturday market, a slower rhythm, and the sense — rare on this coast — of a place still living at its own pace. Sant Elm is where Mallorca keeps its wildness.
Living here, shared
All of this is a short drive from Casa Sunshine, the contemporary sea-view villa above Port d’Andratx — a landmark home, move-in-ready and licensed to rent. The marina, the coves and the trailheads of the far west are all within easy reach; the view, once you are up here, is yours to keep.
Explore Casa Sunshine →
