What to see and eat in Cala Sant Vicent, Ibiza

The sand and the water

Platja de Cala de Sant Vicent fills the head of a steep pine-clad bay: a broad pale-sand crescent with low cliffs closing both ends and the flat islet of Tagomago out on the horizon. The water is turquoise and stays shallow a long way out. Sunbed rows and showers stand behind the sand. Nobody charges for the beach and nobody is checking who walks onto it. The resort is here because of the bay.

May, June, September and October are noticeably emptier than midsummer. Because the bay points east, the sun comes up over the water and the sand gets the early light.

La Cala Experience runs Tagomago and sunset trips out of Cala de Sant Vicent itself, in a small white open-deck motorboat with a sun canopy, anchored off the sand. The boat is a private charter for up to six people, so a party of more than six needs a second booking. From the water you see the bay's cliffs, the old lighthouse headland and the coves you cannot reach on foot. Prices come by quote at €€€, so confirm the figure before you book.

Cova des Culleram above the bay

Cova des Culleram, the Punic sanctuary of Tanit, is a small gated cave mouth in a limestone cliff. Stone steps and a railed concrete terrace sit at the entrance, and there are stalactites inside. More than 1,600 terracotta figures of the goddess came out of these chambers, and they now sit in Ibiza Town's archaeology museum. The shrine was in use from the 5th to the 2nd century BC.

Entry is free and nothing is booked ahead. The season is short: April to October, Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 14:00. Come at 10:00 rather than noon, because the gate shuts at 14:00 and there is a 15-minute walk downhill from the parking clearing to the cave. The chambers inside are small, and the pine slopes below the terrace drop straight to blue water.

The walk to the old lighthouse

Far de sa Punta Grossa is a squat 12 m round stone tower with a roofless keeper's cottage and cracked rendering, out on a bare headland above sheer cliffs at the end of a narrow red-earth path through pines. It was built in 1870 and has been dark since 1916. The walk starts straight off the beach, costs nothing and takes 90 minutes there and back, with Tagomago framed from the viewpoints along the way.

The last kilometre is single-file along the cliff edge, and that section is sometimes closed for rockfall, so ask locally before you set out. There is no shade anywhere on the path. Carry water.

Port de ses Caletes down the single-track lane

Port de ses Caletes is a 60 m pebble inlet walled by raw grey cliffs, reached by a winding turn-off from the village road. Stone fishermen's boathouses are dug into the rock, with timber slipways running down into clear water. Underfoot the shore is cobbles.

Access costs nothing. The lane down is single-track and there is no car park at the bottom. The cove has no facilities and no lifeguard, so swim here only if you are strong in open water, and keep the visit short if you are not.

The village 2.5 km inland

Església de Sant Vicent Ferrer is the heart of the inland village, 2.5 km up the valley from the beach: a tiny whitewashed Ibizan church with a double-arched porch and a flat roof, and a lone palm on the dusty plaza in front. It was built between 1827 and 1838, and it is one of the smallest and plainest churches on Ibiza. The nave holds very few people, a single barrel-vaulted room with a bare stone altar. Entry is free, opening is irregular and services take priority, so treat the porch and the plaza as the sight and a locked door will not matter.

Es Cafè Casa Pepe is an old stone village house by the church that has been a meeting place for a century and now turns out what plenty of locals call the best Thai food on the island, at €€. Pad thai and mango sticky rice come out into a lamp-strung garden under the trees. It opens Wednesday to Sunday evenings only, 19:00 to 23:30. The room is small and most of the seating is outdoors. Book a table.

Ibiza Horse Valley in the hills

Ibiza Horse Valley is a 40-hectare non-profit sanctuary for abused and abandoned horses in the hills behind the bay. The herd moves loose through a wide terraced canyon of red earth and dry-stone walls, below the pine ridges above the Sant Vicent valley. A visit means watching the animals and handling them from the ground. There is no riding.

Visits run by appointment in small private parties, at €€. Email ahead with your numbers and the ages in the party, because some experiences are 14+ and nobody can drop in. Of everything you can book around here, it is the only one that involves neither a boat nor a beach.

Eating on the sand

The Boat House Ibiza opens straight onto the golden sand of the cove, a timber-clad room dressed as a nautical shed with a reclaimed boat hull, coiled rope and lanterns. The Dutch Zandwijk family run it, and they also run On The Beach a few hundred metres along the sand. It serves from breakfast through to dinner, seven days a week in season, with vegan and gluten-free options and a paella worth the wait, at €€. Reserve a sand-side table when you book.

On The Beach Ibiza has been on the sand since 2005: a low wooden deck and cushioned sofas sitting directly on the sand under white parasols, with a small DJ setup at the back and the pine wall of the bay behind. The kitchen does fusion beach tapas, the bar does cocktails, and live sets land occasionally. Tables are long and the food comes as sharing plates, so book if there are more than six of you. Expect it to wind down around mid-October, when the resort empties.

Restaurante Playa San Vicente has a promenade terrace at the edge of the sand, blue awnings over white-clothed tables, grilled fish arriving whole. The family has been there for more than 50 years, cooking bullit de peix, grilled seafood and paellas, with gluten-free versions of the same. It is one of the better-value sunset tables on the bay, at €€, and reservations are advised in peak season. Parking alongside is free, and the kitchen closes from November to March.

Can Gat and Can Miquel des Port

Restaurante Can Gat Ibiza has a blue-and-white awninged terrace set on the rocks at the end of the bay, wide black paella pans coming out over white tablecloths with Tagomago straight ahead. It opened in the early 1960s, and Jaume Marí has run it for three decades. The fish comes off the boat of the cove's only fisherman, and the kitchen keeps its own lobster hatchery. This is the bay's benchmark for bullit de peix and paella, at €€€. Book ahead in season and order the paella for the table in advance. It closes mid-afternoon on Sundays and Mondays, which rules out a late Sunday lunch.

Can Miquel des Port is a plain family dining room with a shaded terrace facing the boat slipway at the cove's edge, where a clay pot of bullit de peix and a side dish of arròs a banda land on a paper-topped table. The Marí grandmother founded it, and her daughter and granddaughter run it now, cooking the most old-fashioned Ibizan food in the bay, at €€. Bookings go by phone. The kitchen is small, so call a day ahead if you want a rice dish. It shuts for winter from mid-November to mid-March.

Breakfast a block back from the beach

Cafetería Las Adelfas has a small corner terrace one block behind the beach, shaded by oleander bushes, with surfboard-blue chairs pulled up to metal tables. Coffee and a simple fresh breakfast are the business here, alongside craft beer and vegan options, at €. A paella goes out at 14:00 on Sundays. It opens 08:00 to 17:00, closes on Mondays, takes walk-ins and has a dozen tables outside.

Where to stay on the bay

El Somni Ibiza Dream Hotel by Grupotel is the strongest address on the bay, a white low-rise on the seafront with a pool deck and sun terrace raised just above the sand, balconies facing the water and wooded hills rising behind. It has 117 rooms, a spa, tennis courts and a breakfast people do get up for, at €€€€. Minimum check-in age is 18. The hotel runs adult and quiet, and it trades seasonally, so confirm your dates if you are looking outside May to October.

Grupotel Imperio Playa stands directly on the wide beach, a four-star white block with rows of balconies, a palm-edged pool terrace and the green mountain wall of the bay behind it. Rooms are a little dated inside. The half-board buffet is generous, the service is reliably warm, and the building sits right on the sand, at €€€. It is the practical family choice here, and like everything else on this bay it opens for the season only.

Planning around the closures

Can Gat wants a booking in season with the paella ordered in advance, Ibiza Horse Valley wants an email with your numbers and ages before you arrive, and the cliff path to the lighthouse needs a local check for rockfall. The restaurants and hotels here close for winter, with the dates differing venue by venue.

See the Ibiza guide and the Ibiza hotel search.