Transport
The safest and most sustainable way to get to and from parties in Menorca is by sharing a professional transport service.
In certain cases, if you are looking for the most economical option for your journey, you can combine the outward journey with the regular bus service and the return journey with the Jaleo Bus. Or you can make both the outward and return journeys with the regular bus service.
| Method | Recommendation | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Jaleo Bus | €€ | |
| Bus Regular | € | |
| BusNit | €€ | |
| Walking | – | |
| Taxi | €€€ | |
| Car | €€€€€ | |
| Moto | €€€€ |
Bus
The bus is the best way to get to the different festivals in Menorca.
To attend the pre-evening festivities, it is recommended to take the regular bus and return in the early morning on the Jaleo Bus. To attend the midday festivities and return in the afternoon, the regular bus service will suffice.
Jaleo Bus
Public authorities provide these bus routes to facilitate travel to the festivities by public transport. The Jaleo Bus, a general service, covers the outbound journey on the evening before the festival and the return journey on the night of the patron saint’s festival. This allows people to attend the Jaleo (a traditional carnival celebration) in the late afternoon and evening and enjoy the music of the evening’s festivities.
As a general rule, tickets can be purchased online in advance and on-site when taking the outbound bus the day before, both the outbound and return journeys, at the designated booths or, failing that, on the bus.
Online tickets are not available for all parties with the same advance notice; sometimes the presale opens several weeks in advance, while other times tickets can be purchased online just a couple of days before.
You should know that the JaleoBus does not cover tourist developments; the JaleoBus mainly covers travel between municipal centers and a couple of towns, and what it mainly does is establish a return route in the middle of the night of the patron saint’s festival, and reinforce the regular service by chartering some additional buses with a direct route and generally without intermediate stops.
Jaleo Bus Tickets
Links to purchase and more info in the highlights of transport on Menorca Parties Instagram.
- 24 hours before Pre-sale open
- Eve afternoon
- Early morning Jaleo Return Bus
Jaleo Bus Price
The fares last year ranged between 4.00 and 7.50 per trip, depending on the distance and the time of service, with the understanding that the afternoon-evening outbound trip with the shortest distance had the lowest price, and the return trip late at night with the longest distance had the highest.
- 0
Free - 1 Minor
- 2 Medium
- 3 Major
- 9 None
To go in the afternoon-evening to the Eve Jaleo of the Menorca festivals, we recommend using the regular service. The regular service may occasionally be supplemented by the Jaleo Bus.
Destino Maó Sant Climent Llucmaçanes Es Castell Sant Lluís Alaior Es Mercadal Fornells Es Migjorn Gran Ferreries Ciutadella Sant Joan 9 3 9 3 3 9 9 2 2 9 9 Sant Martí 9 2 9 2 2 9 9 1 1 9 9 Sant Antoni 2 2 9 2 2 1 1 9 1 1 2 Sant Jaume 9 1 9 9 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 Sant Cristòfol 9 2 9 2 2 9 9 1 9 9 9 Sant Gaietà 1 1 9 1 1 1 9 9 9 9 9 Sant Llorenç 9 1 9 1 1 9 9 1 1 9 9 Sant Climent 9 9 9 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 Sant Bartomeu 9 3 9 3 3 9 9 1 1 9 9 Sant Lluís 9 1 9 1 9 1 2 2 2 3 3 Gràcia 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 *Note: The regular bus service covers the routes not served by the Jaleo Bus.
To go to or return in the morning to the midday Jaleo, the Jaleo Bus is usually not operational, so both outbound and return trips must be made using the regular bus service.
Jaleo Bus Locations
If online pre-sales are enabled for a party, no other pre-sales points will be available for the return trip. The return ticket can only be purchased upon boarding the bus. Occasionally, a kiosk is set up to manage the sale of return tickets; therefore, if there is no kiosk, the return ticket must be purchased when boarding the bus.
Departures are generally at evening (Around 8:00 PM), depending on the departure town and the destination festivals, there may be one or more services. Generally, departures are always from the same stop, regardless of the destination festival.
Town Departure Bus Stop Maó Estació d'Autobusos Sant Climent C. Sant Llorenç, 25 Llucmaçanes C. Sa Font Es Castell Esgl. del Roser Sant Lluís Poliesportiu * Alaior Instituts * Es Mercadal Av. del Mestre Garí, 41 Fornells C. del Rosari, 23 Es Migjorn Gran Av. de l'Esport Ferreries Av. de Jaume Mascaró Ciutadella Via Perimetral *
Bus Regular
You can travel to the festival using the regular public transport service. You can check the timetables and fares on the Transports de les Illes Balears website.
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West Zone Fare -
Center Zone Fare -
East Zone Fare
Regular bus service routes in Menorca
During the summer, in Menorca, the frequency of buses covering journeys within the island is increased.
Origin Stopover Destination Maó Ciutadella Sant Climent Maó Ciutadella Llucmaçanes Maó Ciutadella Es Castell Maó Ciutadella Sant Lluís Maó Ciutadella Alaior Ciutadella Es Mercadal Ciutadella Fornells Es Mercadal Ciutadella Es Migjorn Gran Ciutadella Ferreries Ciutadella
BusNit
The Jaleo Bus and the BusNit are very similar, if not essentially the same service for the user. It’s a service that allows you to travel in the early hours of the morning and return to your starting point. The Jaleo Bus operates exclusively during the town’s patron saint festivals, and when the Jaleo Bus is running, there is no BusNit.
The Bus Nit makes several trips in the early morning from Maó to Ciutadella and vice versa, passing through the municipalities of the island (not towns) during the weekends.
Walking
Walking to some festivals is a great option, besides being a tradition. You avoid the problems of not finding parking, or even not being able to get into the town.
Walking routes
Sant Gaietà in Llucmaçanes
40 min – 3.0 km from the center of Maó.
It is very common in the municipality of Maó to walk to and from the festivals that take place in the urban centers of the municipality, such as the Sant Gaietà festivals (Llucmaçanes) because during the festivals access is closed to traffic.
Sant Climent en Sant Climent
60 min – 4.5 km from the center of Maó.
It is also common to walk to and from Maó to Sant Climent.
Sant Jaume in Es Castell
40 min – 3.0 km from the center of Maó.
Walking to Es Castell from Maó to go to and from the Sant Jaume festivities is also very common.
Sant Lluís in Sant Lluís
60 min – 4.5 km from the center of Maó.
It is also a common practice to travel to the municipality of Sant Lluis from Maó.
Sant Nicolau in El Toro
40 min – 3.0 km from Es Mercadal.
Another municipality where it is a tradition is Es Mercadal during the Sant Nicolau (El Toro) festivities, in which people go up and down the mountain on foot.
Car
Taxi is a great option for getting to and from the festivities. Driving is a good option if you know you’ll be able to find parking.
Some towns have a limited parking quota that is extended during the festivals, and for some of them, finding parking at certain times is practically impossible.
Taxi
Another safe way to travel to and from the festivities is by taxi. Keep in mind that the nighttime rate, which applies between 9:00 PM and 6:00 AM, is higher than the daytime rate. There may also be a surcharge for booking a taxi by phone, another for traveling outside of town, and the price per kilometer or fraction thereof varies depending on whether the service is during the day or at night/on a holiday.
Car
During local festivals, town centers are almost entirely pedestrianized, restricting access to motor vehicles. This means that residents’ own vehicles must be moved to the outskirts of town, and the usual parking lots in the town center become inaccessible. Therefore, various towns set up temporary parking areas in industrial parks and on rural plots to accommodate residents traveling from other towns.
Parking on the shoulders of the road or on the sidewalks is completely prohibited and it is very likely that, apart from the corresponding fine, you will have to go and retrieve the vehicle from the nearest municipal impound lot once the patron saint festivities have passed.
Moto
Not just any motorcycle will do to get you to the festivities from another town; get to know the road well before riding a motorcycle on it.
Menorca is not like the Pitiusas Islands; the accident rate skyrockets during the summer.
Moto
The roads and traffic in Menorca are not comparable to those of the other neighboring islands. Menorcans do not use motorcycles smaller than 500cc on the main roads for several reasons: the large number of hills, shoulders less than 1.25m wide, and kilometers of dry stone walls.
In summer, traffic on the only road intensifies to unimaginable levels, forcing coexistence in a single lane of high-end cars from other countries that seem to think they are still driving on a highway, tourists driving rental cars they are not used to and with the steering wheel on the other side of the dashboard, farmers with large, slow tractors crossing the road transversely to enter another plot of land, a multitude of large buses providing charter services, freight trucks, and the complete lack of lighting.
There is no alternative route to the main road, and Fiestas Menorca considers motorcycles under 500cc carried by two people to be advisable for short journeys, such as getting around within the town itself or from a town to a beach via secondary roads for distances of less than 4 km. Motorcycles under 350cc driven by a single person fall under the same category.
Therefore, if you and two people want to travel freely and comfortably to the festivals or around Menorca, we advise against using motorcycles smaller than 500cc on the main road. The best option is to ride your motorcycle to the bus stop and use the regular bus service or the Jaleo bus.