White IsleIBIZA.

The finest beach on Ibiza — two small coves separated by a rocky promontory on the southwest coast, with water of an impossible turquoise that photographs as Caribbean and is explained by the white sand bottom, the depth and the angle of the Balearic light. The sea floor is posidonia seagrass meadow from 3 metres depth — an indicator of exceptional water quality. The cove faces the uninhabited islands of Illa des Bosc and Illa Conillera and gets the full afternoon light. Blue Flag. Worth the bus journey from anywhere on the island.

The ancient salt flats in the south of the island — harvested continuously since Phoenician times, still commercially active (the salt is sold across Europe), and a Nature Reserve with flamingos, ospreys, herons and waders. The pink salt pans against the white salt pyramids, the turquoise lagoons, and the flamingos are pure visual spectacle. The Ses Salines beach (just south of the flats) is the finest beach near Ibiza Town — long, protected by posidonia banks, and backed by stone-pine forest. The combination of salt flat ecology and beach is unique on the island.

The original Ibiza hippy market — running in some form since 1954, current format from 1985. Every Saturday: 200 stalls of Ibizan artisan jewellery, clothing, leather goods, incense, ceramics and the general aesthetic detritus of the counterculture that arrived in the 1960s and never fully left. The Saturday night market (April–October, 20:00–01:00) has live music, fire shows and a completely different atmosphere from the day market. The surrounding garden of hibiscus and bougainvillea is the setting for a persistent Ibizan dream.

The smallest inhabited island of the Balearics — 20km long, reached in 30 minutes by fast ferry from Ibiza port. The water at Ses Illetes beach (the north spit of Formentera) is consistently measured as among the clearest in the Mediterranean: Posidonia oceanica meadows extending to 40m depth, no boat anchoring permitted in protected zones, visibility sometimes exceeding 30m. The island has no airport (everything arrives by sea), no high-rise hotels, and a flat landscape of salt pans, lighthouse, vineyards and the specific pale turquoise that Formentera means.

A 382-metre uninhabited limestone sea stack rising from the water 2km off the southwest coast — the third most magnetically charged point on earth after the Bermuda Triangle and the North Pole, according to a persistent local myth that is geologically implausible and culturally indestructible. The rock is a nature reserve (no landing permitted), home to Eleonora's falcons and the endemic Ibiza wall lizard. The view from Torre des Savinar (a Moorish watchtower above Cala d'Hort) at sunset — the rock silhouetted against the tangerine sky — is the single most dramatic image of Ibiza.

The Ibiza clubs (Ushuaïa, Hï Ibiza, DC-10, Amnesia, Privilege, Pacha) are genuinely the finest electronic music venues in the world — outdoor stages, world-class sound systems, and the specific energy of 5,000 people who came from 40 countries specifically to be here. Tickets: €40–120 depending on artist and venue. Doors open midnight, peak 03:00–07:00. The season is June–September only. DC-10 (Monday daytimes, Circoloco) and Amnesia (Cocoon, Tuesday) are the most musically credible. Pre-book tickets online — sold out nights are real. This is expensive and it is worth it if you came for it.