Ibiza 특집호
Sant Joan de Labritja, the quiet parish in north Ibiza
The Sunday market comes to 25 stalls, the church above the square was built in 1720, and the beaches, clay baths and farm kitchens all sit within 11 km of it.
글: Bram VermeerBack roads, calas and Dalt Vila
Sant Joan's parish church was documented in 1720, and the terrace in front of it gives the best free view over the Labritja valley. Below it, 25 stalls of crafts and farm produce fill the square every Sunday from 10:00. That is the only day the village is busy.
The square and the church
Església de Sant Joan Baptista sits on a rise above the village square, a squat whitewashed single-nave building with blank white walls. One ochre stripe frames the door and the bell, a two-arch porch sits beside the main door, and a domed side chapel bulges out of the north wall. The chapel was enlarged from 1726, and the building became a parish church in 1785. The village is built around it.
Entry is free and no booking is needed. The interior is small, and the hours to avoid are Sunday mass times. Stand on the terrace out front and the valley opens below you.
Mercat Artesanal de Sant Joan (Plaça d'Espanya and Carrer Mossèn Vicent Ferrer) runs every Sunday year-round, 10:00 to 16:00. Trestle stalls of silver jewellery, dyed linen and cut flowers pack the tiny whitewashed square and the lane beside the church, with farm produce and hot food among the 25 pitches. A live acoustic band plays under the trees from 12:00.
Wandering the market costs nothing, and the open air takes any number of people. Parking in the village is the one bottleneck, so arrive before 11:00.
The Giri Café (Plaça d'Espanya) has a deep courtyard garden behind a 300-year-old townhouse on the square. More than 100 potted plants and climbing greenery close in around low lantern-lit tables under the trees, against white rough-plaster walls. The cooking is farm-to-table Mediterranean and strictly seasonal, prices are €€€, and this is the village's best-known kitchen.
Tables are booked in advance, and the garden takes private events. The season reopened on 1 April 2026 and the place closes for the winter, so check before you travel off-season.
Bistro Mondo (Carrer de sa Cala 13) keeps its kitchen open 09:00 to 22:00 every day, all year, with the bar running to midnight. A shaded back garden sits off the narrow village lane, mismatched bistro chairs set around a wood-fired sourdough pizza oven, and the terrace faces Carrer de sa Cala. Prices are €€. Group menus, birthdays and catering are all on the books, and the all-you-can-eat pizza and pasta nights come to €25 a head. It carries on feeding you when the seasonal places are shuttered.
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South to Sant Llorenç and Balàfia
Es Pins (Ctra de Sant Joan km 14.8, Sant Llorenç de Balàfia) is a roadside stone house under big pines, about 6 km south of the village. It has been cooking since 1970, and islanders still come for sofrit pagès and arròs de matances, eaten at plain wooden tables beside a long old bar. Loaves of aniseed bread come out of a wood-fired oven, and the stews arrive in clay dishes. Prices are €€, with a weekday set menu at €15.
They take no reservations: first come, first served. A large table should arrive early and expect to be split across two. The kitchen closes on Wednesdays and winds down early on Sundays.
Balàfia sits about 6 km south of Sant Joan, reached by a 1 km dirt track off Sant Llorenç between dry-stone walls. Seven flat-roofed peasant houses are fused into one white block on a low hill, with two squat defence towers above them, white crosses painted near their tops, one tower whitewashed only on its upper half. The houses date from the 15th century and the towers from the 16th and 17th, built against Berber corsairs. It is the best surviving example of old Ibizan architecture.
Walking the two lanes is free. The houses are lived in and the towers are closed, so keep any visit small and quiet, and stand clear of the gateways.
Beaches north of the village
Cala Benirràs lies about 9 km from the square, a horseshoe cove of grey pebbles and coarse sand ringed by pine cliffs. The pointed rock islet Es Cap Bernat stands offshore, directly in the sunset line, and this is the north's famous sunset. The organised drum circle was banned back in 2002, though bare-chested drummers still gather on the sand and the informal drumming builds towards dusk most evenings. The rock and the light are what you come for, and the drumming may not happen at all.
The beach is free, sunbeds are €7 and parking is charged. On Sundays cars are stopped above the cove and a shuttle runs from the Can Curune car park, so work out your transport before you set off.
Elements Ibiza sits right on the Benirràs pebbles, a driftwood and canvas pavilion with a wood-fired pizza oven, a juice bar, boho boutique rails and a massage cabana, Es Cap Bernat framed between the posts. Smoothies, a daily pasta, grilled fish and pizza come out of the only proper kitchen on Benirràs, at €€€. The season runs from late March to the end of October.
Tables are reserved by phone or WhatsApp, and booking is essential in July and August. It is the easiest way to hold a table for sunset. Weddings and large parties are part of the business.
Cala Xarraca is around 6 km north of the village on the Portinatx road, a small dark-pebble bay inside rust-red cliffs. Pale grey mineral clay oozes from the rocks, and swimmers plaster it on their skin, then swim it off in clear shallow water over stone. Above the bay, on the slope, the family-run Restaurante Cala Xarraca serves grilled fish and paella from a terrace, at €€.
The beach is free and unticketed. The bay and the restaurant are both tiny, so arrive early and book the table. The kitchen closes from late October to Easter.
Far des Moscarter stands about 11 km up the road at Portinatx, reached by an easy 20-minute cliff walk from the Es Portitxol car park. The tower is 52 metres, banded in black-and-white spirals above bare clifftop and pine scrub, and it is the tallest lighthouse in the Balearics. It is the classic viewpoint for the northern tip.
The walk is free and the path runs along the cliff edge, where the drops are unfenced. The tower interior is not open. For a half-day on foot, a 12 km circular route covers the same headland.
East to Cala de Sant Vicent
Cova des Culleram is about 7 km along the twisting road that drops from Sant Joan to Cala de Sant Vicent. The cave mouth opens high in a pine-covered hillside above a sea inlet, and a steep metal walkway and steps climb the cliff to stalactite chambers. This was the island's most important Punic sanctuary, where hundreds of terracotta figures of the goddess Tanit were found.
Allow 20 minutes uphill from the car park. Entry is free and needs no ticket. It opens April to October only, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 14:00. The steps are narrow and the chambers small, so visitors go in by turns.
Can Gat (seafront at Cala de Sant Vicent) is about 8 km east over the hill, a white terrace with tables a few metres above the sand and Tagomago island on the horizon. The same family has run it since the early 1960s, and locals send you here for bullit de peix, lobster rice and Ibizan red prawns, at €€€. Flat paella pans and whole red prawns on ice sit in view of the tables.
Phone ahead for the rice dishes, which are cooked to order. The kitchen stays open through the shoulder season, when the other coastal kitchens close.
Dinner at Salvia
Salvia (Ctra de Sant Miquel km 10.2) serves in the garden of the Ca Na Xica Hotel & Spa, about 8 km from Sant Joan. The terrace is candlelit among dry-stone terraces and olive trees, with a quiet pool lit behind the tables. Pablo Carrizo, who cooked at elBulli and El Celler de Can Roca, builds a blind tasting menu of km-0 island vegetables, plated course by course. Mains run €39 to €49, and prices are €€€€. It is the north's serious destination dinner.
Non-residents eat here by reservation. The dining room is small and the service days are few, so book well ahead.
Where to sleep
Finca Can Martí (Venda de Ca's Ripolls) is a short drive from the square, a 400-year-old whitewashed farmstead with sabina-beam ceilings standing in terraced orchards. The farm runs to 17 hectares of organic land on solar power and rainwater irrigation, and swimming is in a natural pond. A yoga terrace faces the northern hills, and the farm shop sells homemade preserves. Rates are €€€, and it is the most rural place to sleep in the parish.
The property holds a handful of suites and apartments, which suits a couple, a family, or one small group taking the whole place. It is not a party house.
Atzaró Agroturismo Hotel (Ctra de Sant Joan km 15) is a 300-year-old finca in orange groves, next door to Es Pins, with a 43-metre black-bottomed lap pool flanked by palms and day beds. The hotel has a Moroccan hammam, carved Indian doors and white loggias. Several pools, restaurants and the spa run alongside a well-known wedding and event business, and blocks of rooms are booked directly. Prices are €€€€. It sits outside the parish boundary, and the style is polished luxury.
Days, closures and bookings
Es Pins closes on Wednesdays, Cova des Culleram opens Tuesday to Sunday from April to October, and the Giri Café, Elements Ibiza and the restaurant above Cala Xarraca all shut for the winter, which leaves Bistro Mondo and Can Gat for the quiet months. Book Salvia and Elements in advance, and plan a Sunday around market parking and the Benirràs shuttle.
See the Ibiza guide and the Ibiza hotel search.
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When is the Sant Joan market on, and where?
Every Sunday all year, 10:00 to 16:00, in Plaça d'Espanya and Carrer Mossèn Vicent Ferrer. Around 25 stalls sell crafts, farm produce and hot food, and live music starts at 12:00. It is free to wander, but the parking fills up, so arrive before 11:00.
Is there still a drum circle at Cala Benirràs?
The organised drum circle has been banned since 2002. Informal drumming still builds towards dusk most evenings, though some evenings it does not happen. On Sundays cars have to stop above the cove, and a shuttle runs from the Can Curune car park.
Where can I eat in Sant Joan in winter?
Bistro Mondo on Carrer de sa Cala 13 cooks 09:00 to 22:00 every day of the year, with the bar open to midnight. Can Gat at Cala de Sant Vicent stays open through the shoulder season. The Giri Café, Elements Ibiza and the restaurant above Cala Xarraca close for the winter.
Can you go inside Cova des Culleram?
Yes. Entry is free, no ticket needed, April to October, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 14:00. Allow 20 minutes uphill from the car park, and expect to wait your turn, because the steps are narrow and the chambers small.
Can you visit the towers at Balàfia?
The two lanes through the hamlet are free to walk, but the houses are private and lived in, and the towers are closed. Keep the visit small and quiet, and stay out of the gateways. A 1 km dirt track from Sant Llorenç leads in.
