Formentera
Formentera can only be reached by boat from Ibiza, which is the single fact that has kept it as it is: no airport, no high-rise, a population under fourteen thousand and salt pans instead of a resort strip. Rent a bicycle at the port, ride to Ses Illetes for water the colour of a swimming pool, and stay past the last afternoon ferry.
Why go
No airport — the only way in is a boat from Ibiza, and that filters everything. Water the colour of a swimming pool — posidonia seagrass meadows keep it that clear. Fewer than fourteen thousand residents — and a building code that has kept the island low. Salt pans and a lighthouse — the flat landscape between two beaches, best on a bicycle.
The character
Formentera is twenty kilometres long, flat except for a limestone plateau at one end, and reachable only by ferry from Ibiza — thirty minutes, and the single most important fact about the place. No airport means no mass arrivals, no large hotels and a summer population that arrives on boats rather than planes. The building code has held: low white houses, no high-rise, and salt pans that are a protected wetland.
The water is the other subject, and it has a cause. The channel between Ibiza and Formentera holds a posidonia seagrass meadow that is among the largest and oldest living organisms on earth — a single clone estimated at around a hundred thousand years — and it filters the water to the clarity the island is famous for. It is also fragile: anchoring on it kills it, and Formentera now regulates boat anchoring closely. The island's identity is bound up in that protection, which locals take seriously and visitors are expected to as well.
Places of character
Ses Illetes — the sandbar beach at the northern tip, regularly rated among Europe's best. Cap de Barbaria — a lighthouse at the end of a long road across scrub, and nothing beyond it. Es Trucadors — the narrow spit where you can wade between two seas. Salines d'en Marroig — the salt pans, with flamingos and the old salt-works buildings. La Mola — the plateau at the eastern end, with a Wednesday and Sunday craft market since the 1970s. Cala Saona — the western cove, and the island's sunset.
The way to do it
Cycle — the island is flat, the paths are marked, and a car is a nuisance in August. Take the first ferry across and the last one back if day-tripping, but stay if you can. Do not anchor on seagrass. And go in June or September, when the water is warm and the ferries are not full.
One perfect day
First ferry from Ibiza at eight, bicycle collected at the port. Ride north along the spit to Ses Illetes and swim before ten, in water so clear the boats look suspended. Cycle south through the salt pans with flamingos, and lunch of fresh fish at a chiringuito. Afternoon across the island to Cap de Barbaria — twenty minutes of scrub and stone walls, and a lighthouse at the end of the world. Swim at Cala Saona for the sunset. Dinner in Sant Ferran, and the last boat back or, better, a room and a second day.
Grand hotels
Gecko Beach Club — on Migjorn beach, low and unshowy, the island's most comfortable address. Es Ram Resort — on the La Mola plateau, small and quiet away from the beaches.
When to go
Best expression: June and September — warm sea, everything open, and the ferries manageable. Consider: May, before the season, with the island almost empty. Avoid if possible: August, when the day-trip boats and the anchored fleet peak together.
The frame
Ideal stay 3 nights · Minimum a long day from Ibiza · Best arrival ferry from Ibiza, 30 minutes · Airport IBZ, plus the ferry · Walkability by bicycle, entirely · Best without a car yes