TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The gun goes at 08:05 at the Parc de la Mar, five minutes after the 10K and together with the half marathon. The course is a closed loop: out along the waterfront promenade on the bay of Palma, then back through the old town past the cathedral, Es Baluard and La Llotja.

With 264 metres of climbing over 43.5 measured kilometres the profile is classified flat but is not quite level. Four short climbs sit between kilometres 12 and 15.2 and again at 35.4, none longer than 600 metres and the steepest just under six per cent. They are the ramps up into the old town; two thirds of the rest is flat.

What gives this marathon its character is the setting around it. It belongs to the TUI Mediterranean Marathon League, is an Abbott WMM Wanda Age Group World Championships qualifier and is homologated by the Balearic athletics federation. The weekend is built as a travel event, with breakfast runs on Friday and Saturday, an expo and a pasta party; entries for 2026 sold out early. It is organised by Kumulus Active World.

Pacing Strategy

On a course that is two thirds flat, even splits work – and precisely for that reason the mistake here is nearly always the opening. The marathon and half start together, and the half-marathon field takes the first kilometres considerably harder. Run the first five to your own plan, not to the people around you.

The only places where your pace has to change are the four short climbs into the old town between kilometres 12 and 15.2. They are short enough to run through; hold your effort rather than your speed on them and pick the rhythm back up on the way down.

The race is decided from kilometre 30 on the waterfront promenade. That is where the course is most uniform and most exposed – little shade, no terrain to prompt you, and with an eight o'clock October start in Mallorca the temperature climbs noticeably in exactly that phase. Drink to a plan from the start, and expect the last short climb at kilometre 35.4, which at over five per cent arrives unpleasantly late. The promenade can also carry a sea breeze that costs more than any gradient on this course.

Training plan for TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca: 12-week build

Expect 3 to 5 hours as an age-group runner. The demand is aerobic throughout and uniform over long stretches: 66 per cent of the distance sits in the flat band and the four classified climbs together add up to under eighty metres.

The training emphasis therefore belongs on long runs at marathon pace and threshold work, not hills. In the specific phase build long sessions with extended goal-pace blocks in the final third and add threshold runs of 20 to 40 minutes. The short old-town ramps need no dedicated preparation, though a few runs on gently rolling terrain will not hurt.

The race-deciding phase runs from kilometre 30 to the line. Rehearse it with progressive long runs whose fastest kilometres sit right at the end, and occasionally run long, straight, featureless stretches alone – the mental demand of this course is the sameness of that promenade.

The most important condition is the warmth. Mid-October in Mallorca catches northern European runners after a cool autumn, and the second half of the race falls into the rising late-morning heat on a shadeless promenade. Deliberately build warmer or over-dressed sessions into your final weeks, practise drinking on the move, and test a cap.