Escape / Balearic Islands, Spain
Formentera and the Art of Slow Island Days
Formentera · 6 min read
Formentera is a thirty minute ferry from Ibiza and a completely different proposition. There is no airport, no high rise and, for most of the year, no crowd. The whole island can be crossed in twenty minutes and most people do it on a bicycle.
It has been a quiet island for decades, and it has protected that quiet with unusual determination.
The water
Ses Illetes gets the photographs, and deserves them, but the eastern side around Migjorn and Es Calo is where the island relaxes. Long sandbars, clear shallow water, and the low green blur of posidonia meadows that keep the sea this clear in the first place.
The posidonia is protected and matters more than the view. Anchor responsibly, walk around the dried seagrass on the beach rather than clearing it, and the island stays as it is.
Days without a plan
The rhythm here is simple. Swim in the morning, eat grilled fish and a plate of tomatoes at lunch, sleep somewhere shaded, swim again at six when the light goes gold. Repeat for a week.
Rent bicycles rather than a car. The green routes cross the interior on dirt tracks between fig trees and dry stone walls, and the island reads completely differently at fifteen kilometres an hour.
When to come
July and August are busy with day trippers and prices climb accordingly. Late May, June and September are the island at its best: warm sea, open restaurants, space on the sand.
Winter is beautiful and almost entirely shut. Only come then if you actively want a deserted island and are happy to cook.
Why it works as an escape
The island is small enough that you stop making decisions, which is most of what a holiday is for.
By the third day the loudest thing in your head is usually the sea.
