Paddleboarding Cala Comte in October on Ibiza's west coast

The beach and the launch

A wooden boardwalk crosses the dunes to the sand. Entry is free, and sunbed and parasol hire runs €€ in season.

The clifftop car park fills early, and on peak days it closes altogether. Arrive early or leave the car behind.

Paddling out to the Illots de Ponent

Illots de Ponent Natural Reserve (s'Illa des Bosc and sa Conillera) is what you paddle towards. The islets are low limestone under a cover of scrub, with a white lighthouse on the largest, and the crossing runs over a bright sand channel between beach and rock.

Kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding are expressly allowed in the reserve's marine zone. You need no permit to paddle or snorkel, and it costs nothing. Landing on any islet is prohibited without authorisation, and anchoring over posidonia is banned.

Boards, lessons and the boat out

SUP Paradise Ibiza (Club Nàutic Sant Antoni, pontoon F, berth F-51) works in small guided groups with local instructors. The boat leaves the pontoon with a stack of coloured boards strapped across the bow and the instructor handing out paddles. Three hours costs €65, the sunset trip €85 and the full day €160. Their west-coast route paddles Cala Comte to Cala Salada, with a beginner lesson, snorkelling and photos included. You never go near the Comte car park.

Ibiza Ocean Adventures hires off a beach pitch: a rack of white boards and double sit-on-top kayaks with life jackets hung on a wooden frame, jet skis bobbing just offshore. One hour is €30 and a full day €80, booked by WhatsApp. No lesson comes attached. Their sunset leg covers Cala Comte and Cala Bassa. Take this one if you already paddle and want a board under you.

Ibiza Jet Ski Rent covers both Sant Antoni and the Cala Comte side, from €30 for a board or a kayak by the hour or by the day, paddle and life jacket included. Single and double kayaks sit stacked on the same trailer at the hut on the Sant Antoni bay shoreline, orange buoyancy aids in a crate beside them. Book sunset slots in advance.

Paddle Surf Ibiza (Cala Vadella) is the nearest proper school, 20 minutes down the same west coast, open daily from 11:00 to 18:00. Boards go out on the sand of a narrow pine-walled cove, the instructor kneeling on one to demonstrate the stance, kayaks pulled up behind. Rental, excursions and SUP yoga are quoted on request, in the €€ band, and sunrise and sunset sessions run alongside plain hire. Groups stay small; call ahead for a group slot.

Pinet beach when a westerly blows

Hang Loose Ibiza (Pinet beach, Sant Antoni bay) is where you go when a westerly blows straight into Cala Comte and the open coast is no longer beginner water. The bay there is shallow and flat, fringed with pines and low-rise white apartments, a wakeboard boat idling further out. Boards start at €30 each and are wide enough for two, for one hour or two. Hourly slots are flexible.

Hiring at the beach or taking a guided trip

Hire on the sand buys the board and nothing else, which is the right call if you can already stand up and read the water. A guided trip buys the instructor, the first lesson, the snorkelling stop and a seat on a boat, and it takes the parking out of the day.

Getting to the beach without the car park

Cruceros Portmany runs a scheduled passenger launch from Sant Antoni to Cala Comte and Cala Bassa, daily except Sundays, May to October. A return is €€. The small blue-and-white open-top boat noses onto the sand and puts down a wooden gangplank; the last step is through water, so carry your bags overhead.

The cliff walk to Torre d'en Rovira

Torre d'en Rovira is a 20 to 25 minute walk from the beach, along a dirt coast path through juniper and sabina scrub. The tower is a squat round 18th-century stone defence post on a low cliff, sea and islets on three sides. The interior is private and closed and the site is unstaffed, so you get the exterior and the views.

Parking beside it is free, as is the tower. From up there you see the whole paddling area at once. Walk it while you wait for the wind to drop.

Cala Bassa, the next cove round

CBbC Cala Bassa Beach Club is reachable on foot past the tower, a wide sweep of white sand backed by old sabina pines. Sunbeds run in rows under the trees and a rustic timber eatery stands at one end. Prices are €€€.

Lunch on the rocks

Restaurante Ses Roques has been at Cala Conta more than 40 years, a low whitewashed building on the rocks at the cove's edge. The shaded terrace of plain wooden tables looks straight at s'Illa des Bosc and sa Conillera, and it stays quieter than the sunset crowd. Reservations are taken. €€€.

S'Illa des Bosc, the restaurant that takes the islet's name, is the bullit de peix and paella end of Cala Conta. The terrace runs broad and open along the cliff edge under white parasols, turquoise water below, pans of paella and whole fish on the tables, the islets filling the horizon. Book a table online. €€€. This is the lunch to aim at after a morning on a board.

Casa Nua (Racó d'en Xic) opened on 30 July 2026, on the tiny rock-framed cove the long-running Cala Escondida shack lost on tender. Solar panels sit on the roof of the low wooden shack, the tables are bare timber on sand, and old fishermen's boat huts stand alongside. The produce is km0 and prices are €€. Walk up: the site is small and informal and does not take large group bookings.

Sunset on the promontory

Sunset Cala Conta holds the rocky headland between the two beaches, a timber-and-stone pavilion whose angular roof answers the shape of the rocks, with front-row booths facing west over the islets. Renamed in 2026 from Sunset Ashram, it has added live music and rebuilt the sound system. Ask for it by the current name. Book a table on arrival at the beach if you want sunset; the front booths go first. €€€.

Hostal La Torre (Cap Negret, above Sant Antoni) serves non-residents lunch and dinner, 08:00 to 23:00. The terrace is simple tables on a bare rock clifftop above open sea, the sun dropping flat onto the water with no land in the way. Book ahead for a sunset table. €€€.

Dinner inland at Sant Agustí des Vedrà

Can Berri Vell sits 10 minutes inland, opposite the plain whitewashed village church of 1791, in a 17th-century Ibicenco house with thick walls and candlelit courtyard tables under an old stone arch. Dinner only, Monday to Saturday, 19:30 to 00:00, closed Sundays. Reserve online until 17:00 the same day, by phone after that. €€€.

Best time to go in October

Boat trips on this coast run seven days a week, and the current season began on 1 October 2026 and runs to 29 October 2027. They are booking steadily, so take a place before you travel.

October is also when the coast around the beach starts closing. Ses Roques works an April to October season. The main Central restaurant at CBbC shut for the season on 18 October 2026, which leaves the Chiringo eatery and the sunbeds running to 1 November. Casa Nua is dismantled for the winter, and the main watersports season at Hang Loose ends with the month. Hostal La Torre is the one place here that stays open all year.

Is it worth it

It suits a visitor who wants a first stand-up on flat water with a real target to paddle towards, and the crossing plus the tower walk fills half a day. It asks for an early arrival or a ferry ticket, and a sheltered bay kept in reserve for the days the wind comes in off the sea.

Planning notes

Sundays close part of this coast, and the end of the season decides how late in the month a Cala Comte day still holds together. Confirm the sailing and the table before you travel.

See the Ibiza guide and the Ibiza hotel search.