Ibiza, ES

A small seafood restaurant right on the water at the cove of the same name near Sant Josep, accessible only by a dirt track, serving the most authentic traditional Ibizan seafood on the island. Fresh fish arrives on silver platters, whole and simply prepared, with the house paella ordered in advance. Open for more than 30 years and unchanged in approach — no frills, extraordinary product.

A terrace restaurant on the cliff above Cala d'Hort beach with an unobstructed view of Es Vedrà, serving bullit de peix (Ibizan fish stew), excellent lobster paella and grilled squid with the dramatic rock in the background. The setting accounts for some of the appeal, but the cooking is genuinely good — the paella in particular has a long local reputation. Reserve far in advance.

A tapas bar tucked at the base of the Dalt Vila walls in Ibiza town, one of the most characterful bars in the old town area, with a sociable atmosphere and a menu of Spanish tapas and raciones served into the late evening. The terrace fills with locals, expats and visitors who want a proper drink rather than a club or resort bar. Good for a long evening starting late.

A seafront restaurant in Marina Botafoch with direct views over the Ibiza marina and across to Dalt Vila, specialising in Mediterranean seafood and fresh fish dishes. The setting is the best of any restaurant facing the old walled city, making it the obvious choice for a sunset dinner with a view rather than a sunset bar. Consistent quality and accessible pricing for the location.

A long-running restaurant in the rural inland of Ibiza near Sant Rafel, serving traditional Ibizan farmhouse cooking — roast lamb, spatchcocked chicken over coals, sofrit pagès (the island's slow-cooked chicken and sausage dish) — in a stone farmhouse with a wood-burning grill. One of the few restaurants on the island still cooking the local rural cuisine rather than international tourist food.

A terrace restaurant on a rocky cliff above the sea near Sol d'en Serra on the east coast, with sun beds below and a restaurant above serving Mediterranean dishes and cocktails with the cliff-and-sea view as the constant backdrop. The walk down wooden steps to the swimming rocks below makes it a full-day beach club option. The food is secondary to the setting but more thoughtful than a pure beach bar.

A terrace bar-restaurant at Punta Galera on the northwest coast with flat limestone rock platforms above the sea and an arresting view of the sunset. It serves simple food — bocadillos, platters, grilled fish — but the geological setting of the flat rocks is unlike anything else on the island. A cult spot that stays genuinely local compared to the Sant Antoni sunset strip.

Ibiza town's most established traditional restaurant, in the port district and operating since the 1930s, with a classic menu of Ibizan seafood and local dishes — bullit de peix, grilled whole fish, seasonal shellfish — served in a no-frills dining room that has fed the island's families for generations. The cooking is straightforward and relies entirely on the quality of the day's catch.

A beach restaurant directly on the sand at Es Cavallet beach within the Ses Salines Natural Park, serving grilled seafood, salads and cold drinks with sand underfoot and the sea in front. It is the original beach-bar format done well — natural setting, simple food treated with care, no gimmicks. A full afternoon here, eating and swimming, is the Ibiza day that most visitors come for.

A restored Ibizan farmhouse restaurant near Sant Jordi with a terrace overlooking agricultural land, serving modern Mediterranean plates with Ibizan produce — local cheese, island vegetables, fresh fish — in a calm rural environment. The cooking is more ambitious than most farmhouse restaurants and the setting — whitewashed stone, fig trees, no road noise — is the most peaceful dining experience accessible from Ibiza town.

The gathering bar in the hill village of Sant Carles de Peralta, operating since the early 1960s, with a terrace under a giant fig tree and walls covered in posters, paintings and decades of accumulated objects. It is the most famous village bar on the island, a longtime meeting point for artists and residents, and still functions as a community space rather than a tourist attraction. Simple drinks and light food.

A Japanese-Mediterranean fusion restaurant at Cap Martinet overlooking the sea, with a menu balancing sashimi, Japanese-inspired plates and Mediterranean produce — the kind of cooking that has become Ibiza's signature luxury-restaurant style. The sea-view terrace is the main draw and the kitchen delivers more consistently than most of its competitors in the premium Ibiza dining bracket.

A restaurant converted from a 17th-century Gothic church near Sant Antoni, with the original nave, barrel-vaulted ceiling and stone architecture intact and lit by candlelight. The Mediterranean menu of grilled meats and local fish is a backdrop to the extraordinary building rather than the centrepiece, but the setting is unlike anywhere else on the island. A memorable evening rather than a culinary event.

A vegetarian and vegan café in Ibiza town with a shaded courtyard, daily changing menu of organic salads, soups and cooked plates, and one of the best juice selections on the island. Ibiza's yoga and wellness community has made this a gathering point, which gives it a calmer energy than the beach-club surroundings elsewhere. Good for a light lunch between mornings of activity.

A daytime café near the marina district with a healthy-eating philosophy — açaí bowls, grain bowls, cold-pressed juices and eggs in various forms — popular with the island's fitness community and visitors wanting something lighter than the beach bar menu. Terrace seating and efficient service make it a good morning stop before beach activity.

A small romantic restaurant inside the Dalt Vila walls, with candle-lit stone-vaulted rooms and a Mediterranean menu that prioritises local seafood and seasonal vegetables. One of the few restaurants actually inside the old city, which gives it an atmosphere that street-level restaurants cannot match. Best for a quiet dinner for two in the most atmospheric setting in Ibiza town.

A circular 6–8km coastal trail from Cala d'Hort through scrubland and maquis on the island's southwest corner, with sustained views of Es Vedrà across the water and descent to the cove at Es Vedranell below. The terrain is moderate with loose rock sections and low shrub cover — cooler than it looks in summer. The mirador above the cove is the midpoint reward.

The highest point on Ibiza at 475 metres, reached by a hiking trail from Sant Josep that climbs through terraced pine forest and limestone scrub to a summit with 360-degree views of the whole island, Formentera and, on clear days, the Ibiza coastline to the Spanish mainland. The trail is about 7km return with 350m of ascent — the most rewarding upland walk on the island.

A 2km loop around the exterior of the Dalt Vila Renaissance fortifications, walking the base of the massive bastions and passing through the different entry gates. Combined with the interior walk up to the cathedral, this gives a thorough reading of the old city's military architecture. The exterior bastion walk is largely flat and unpublicised, missed by most visitors who go only inside the walls.

A flat walking route through the Ses Salines Natural Park salt flat landscape, following the perimeter of the pink and white salt pans to the park's southern beaches. The flamingo viewing is best from the raised paths above the pans, and the walk can be extended to Es Cavallet beach for swimming. About 5km from the park entrance to the beach.

A rural cycling and walking route through the agricultural interior of the island between Sant Jordi and Sant Josep, following old farm tracks through enclosed fields (tancats) of almond trees, olive groves and vine-covered terraces. The landscape is the Ibiza that existed before the resort era and is still largely intact. About 12km total on mostly flat terrain.

A northern Ibiza coastal walk connecting the drumming-circle beach at Benirràs to the remote coastal coves near Portinatx, about 9km along a mix of cliff paths, sandy tracks and pine-covered headlands. The northern coast is less developed than the south and the walking here has a wilder quality. Few waymarks so navigational capability is needed.

The island's original and most authentic hippie market in Sant Carles de Peralta, operating every Saturday since the late 1980s with stalls of handmade jewellery, clothing, leather goods and food in a garden setting under trees. Unlike the commercialised markets elsewhere, Las Dalias retains genuine artisan sellers, live music and a community feeling. The night market in summer has a different, more theatrical atmosphere.

The island's oldest running club, open since 1973 in the same seafront finca near Ibiza town, with a main room under a timber-beamed ceiling, terrace and garden spaces. It was the original club identity of Ibiza and continues to programme serious house and techno rather than the commercial direction some competitors have taken. Not a theme-park version of clubbing.

A spontaneous community gathering on the north coast beach of Benirràs every Sunday at sunset, where dozens of drummers arrive to play as the sun drops behind the island's only offshore islet. The event is self-organised, free and has been happening since the 1970s — an expression of the island's earlier communal culture that continues in a form different from the commercial club scene. The beach faces west and gives a clean horizon sunset.

A small but significant museum inside the Dalt Vila with Phoenician, Punic, Roman and medieval artefacts from the island's long archaeological record, including the remarkable terracotta figure collection from Puig des Molins. The scale is manageable — two or three rooms — and the quality of the objects outperforms what a small island museum should hold. Best visited before or after a walk through the old city.

The bar that codified the Ibiza sunset ritual — a waterfront terrace facing west from Sant Antoni that opened in the late 1970s and became globally known for its mix of ambient and chillout music played as the sun went down. The original mix CDs that went worldwide came from here. The physical experience today — cocktail, sea, music, declining sun — delivers exactly what the mythology suggests.

A wellness spa in the Aguas de Ibiza hotel in Santa Eulària, with an indoor saltwater pool, a full treatment menu, a rooftop terrace and a design ethos that pulls the island's saltwater and mineral landscape into the architecture. It is the most complete spa offering on the island and available to non-hotel guests through day-pass bookings. A quiet alternative to the beach club format.

A UNESCO World Heritage walled city perched above Ibiza town, with Renaissance military fortifications enclosing a maze of steep whitewashed lanes that predate the walls by centuries. The Cathedral of Ibiza sits at the highest point with panoramic views of the Mediterranean, and the route through the old Moorish gates and up to the plaza takes about an hour. Entirely different from the island's beach and club identity.

A dramatic limestone rock rising 382 metres from the sea off the southwest coast, visible from the coastal viewpoints near Cala d'Hort beach and from the hiking trails of the Ses Salines Natural Park. It is the island's most photographed landmass and carries a weight of mythology — the Phoenicians considered it sacred. The view from Cala d'Hort at sunset, with the rock turning orange against the sea, is one of the best on the island.

A protected salt flat and coastal wetland spanning southern Ibiza and the northern tip of Formentera, home to flamingos, herons and dozens of migratory bird species, alongside the fine sand beaches of Ses Salines and Es Cavallet. The pink salt pans visible from the access road are still commercially harvested. A quieter and more ecologically interesting counterpoint to the island's busier beaches.

The largest Phoenician-Punic burial ground in the western Mediterranean, with over 3,000 rock-cut tombs from the 7th century BC through Roman times carved into a hillside on the edge of Ibiza town. The adjacent museum holds funerary objects including masks, terracotta figures and Egyptian amulets found in the tombs. A genuinely world-significant archaeological site almost no one comes to.

The island's third largest town and its only river, a calm and local-feeling alternative to the Ibiza town crowds, with a whitewashed 16th-century hilltop church, a pedestrian market promenade along the river and a quieter harbour. The Puig de Missa hill with its fortified church gives a broad view over the eastern coast. Less infrastructure for nightlife, more for the people who actually live on the island.

A long narrow beach at the southern tip of the island within the Ses Salines Natural Park, with fine white sand, clear turquoise water and a backdrop of pine trees and dunes. It is the beach locals and in-the-know visitors treat as the island's finest, and while it gets busy in high summer, it retains more character than the resort beaches in the north. The beach bars here have a longer reputation than the season.

A chain of sunset-facing bars and restaurants along the Sant Antoni waterfront that has hosted the island's legendary sunset-watching ritual for decades. The combination of west-facing aspect, shallow offshore water that turns brilliant red at dusk, and a long bar culture makes this the designated sunset location for the island. The bars vary in quality; the phenomenon is reliable.

A southwest-facing cove with coarse golden sand and clear blue water backed by pine-covered hills, directly facing Es Vedrà and sharing its view. The beach is reached by a winding road from Sant Josep and is busy in summer, but the combination of view and swimming quality keeps its reputation. Several restaurants on the beachfront serve fresh fish and paella.