Ibiza

Ibiza is the third-largest of the Balearic Islands, set in the western Mediterranean off the Spanish coast and covered, away from its beaches, in the low pine forest that gave the islands their old Roman name of the Pityusae, the pine islands. The result is a landscape of red earth, dark green pine, whitewashed farmhouses and small terraced fields running down to a deeply indented coast of coves and cliffs, with the dramatic offshore rock of Es Vedra rising out of the sea off the southwestern shore.

The island has two reputations that coexist more easily than outsiders expect. One is the summer club scene that made its name, concentrated around Ibiza Town and San Antonio. The other, older and quieter, is the Ibiza of the fortified old town of Dalt Vila, a UNESCO-listed hilltop of Renaissance walls and cathedral above the port, and of the calm interior around villages such as Santa Gertrudis, where the pace is slow, the markets are craft-led and the emphasis is on long lunches and sunset. The protected salt flats of Ses Salines in the south, still worked for salt, double as a nature reserve and back some of the island’s best beaches, while the small sister island of Formentera, a short ferry away, holds the palest sand and clearest water of all, an easy day trip from the southern ports.

High season is firmly July and August, when the island is warmest, busiest and at its most social; June and September keep the warm sea and clear light with noticeably more space, and the spring and autumn shoulders are good for walking the coastal paths and the quieter north. Days divide easily between the water, the coves and the old town, whichever version of the island you have come for, from a morning swim to a long lunch to a sunset at the western cliffs.

For groups who want privacy, a pool and the freedom to choose their own tempo, luxury villa rentals in Ibiza spread across the wooded hills of the interior and the coast around Santa Eularia and the north, within reach of both the beaches and the old town.