A gentle, peaceful walk from Binibona to the church of Sant Miquel del Pla de Tel, steeped in stories and scenery straight out of legend.

This route follows the old path connecting the hamlet of Binibona, in the municipality of Selva, with the estate of Monnàber Vell and the church of Sant Miquel del Pla de Tel, in Campanet. For much of the way, the trail runs parallel to the Sant Miquel stream, which weaves its way through the rolling valleys along the inner slopes of the Serra de Tramuntana – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is the Raiguer region, stretching from Marratxí to Alcúdia and passing through Santa Maria del Camí, Consell, Alaró, Binissalem, Lloseta, Mancor de la Vall, Selva, Búger and Inca, among others.

This is a short, comfortable walk along paths filled with stories and legends, echoes of which still linger with every step. The landscape is marked by two focal points: Binibona and the Pla de Tel – a small village belonging to Selva, and a notable landmark within Campanet. Along the way, you’ll come across traces of an 18th-century military communication system, large rural estates dating back to Islamic landholdings in the late Middle Ages, and a 13th-century church, part of the network of early places of worship established during the Christian repopulation following the Catalan conquest of 1229.

There is no public transport to or from either Binibona or the church of Sant Miquel del Pla de Tel, so we recommend car-sharing to the starting point and leaving one vehicle at the end of the route. Alternatively, you can walk the 2.5 km from Caimari to Binibona at the beginning, and after finishing the hike, walk another 2.5 km into Campanet, where you can catch a TIB bus (check timetables at tib.org).

The route

[00 min] The walk begins in the heart of Binibona, heading east towards the estate of Castell along a track to the right of Hotel Binibona. Local lore recalls that "where the road from Caimari opens out into what is now the main square of Binibona, opposite a house known as les Casetes, once stood the village’s only café". They say that behind the bar, on a shelf, sat a curious bottle containing a mysterious liqueur – a kind of herbal punch whose recipe was a secret mix of dried herbs, sweet liqueurs, mesclat, palo, aniseed, rum, gin... A kind of ‘all-inclusive’ concoction, with a punch to match, enjoyed by the local characters – affectionately dubbed tres sens habitants (a play on tres cent habitants – “three hundred inhabitants” – sounding like “three without inhabitants”). These three were none other than sen Toni, sen Mavi and sen Miquel! “The pun relied on the similarity between the number three (tres) and the old respectful title sen, once used for elderly rural folk,” explains local historian Antoni Ordinas Garau. (Source: Més històries, llegendes i contarelles de les terres de Selva, Caimari, Moscari, Biniamar i Binibona, 2022)

From the village, the path skirts a recently planted vineyard and crosses the Binibona stream (formed by the joining of the Comafreda/Guix and Picarols streams), which is renamed the Sant Miquel stream further downstream after passing through the Pla de Tel. Before reaching the stream, we pass a curious little building on the right – a tiny house perched on a rock, known as el Mirador ("the viewpoint"). Its purpose seems to have been to keep watch over the nearby fields and orchards.

[10 min] After crossing the stream, we enter the Castell estate, now operating as an agritourism site. As the path rises from the ford, we take a dirt track on the right – a shortcut that avoids the main house and rejoins the old route linking Selva and Campanet, between the estates of Castell and Santiani.

[20 min] Continuing eastwards, we soon reach two small gates; we must climb over the second one, on the left. The trail now meanders through a maze of shallow valleys carved by the Búger stream, which alternates between a whisper and a roar as it flows along its winding course.

[45 min] We cross the stream again, now entering the territory of Campanet. The path leads us to a key junction.

[50 min] To the right, a track heads off toward Can Tabou. We go left, entering the lands of Santiani. The path descends into the valley carved by the Sant Miquel stream, where we find a prominent stone tower at its centre. Although it resembles an old flour mill, it is actually a signalling tower – part of a short-lived optical telegraph line from the 18th century. This little-known detail is recorded by Antoni Ordinas Garau, based on sparse documentation by historian Josep Segura Salado. The line was meant to connect the military headquarters in Ciutat (Palma) with the garrison in Alcúdia, using five towers strung across these narrow valleys: Son Penya, Son Sastre and Santiani (in Selva), and Monnàber Vell and Caselles (in Campanet). “The lack of information about this communication system may be due to the military role having been transferred in the 18th century to the Bourbon administration, which operated independently from the Gran i General Consell,” notes Ordinas.

Torre dels Coloms

[55 min] We leave the bridge of en Domingo on our left – the entrance to the Santiani Nou estate – and continue along the path, which again runs alongside the stream. At the next bridge [1 h 05 min], also to the left, we find access to the old estates of Santiani Vell and Gran. Eventually, our path is blocked by an impassable gate, forcing us to turn left [1 h 10 min], along a small track that leads to a narrow concrete bridge crossing the stream. On the other side is the estate of Monnàber Vell. On the right, we pass a large old waterwheel, and shortly afterwards reach the steps up to the main house [1 h 15 min].

Once on the plateau, we see the Torre dels Coloms to our left – another of the towers from the 18th-century optical telegraph system. From the estate’s outer gate, we continue straight on along a paved road which leads us to the Camí Blanc, near the church of Sant Miquel [1 h 35 min].

Turning left, we reach a crossroads in five minutes, where the Camí de na Pontons joins. On the left is the church of Sant Miquel, first documented in 1248 [1 h 45 min]. It was Campanet’s original parish church, although severe flooding in the early 15th century forced its relocation to higher ground in the main village. Our walk ends here.