Celebrate Your Anniversary in Ibiza

Ibiza Airport (IBZ) is 7km from Ibiza Town. Check in and walk immediately to Dalt Vila — the UNESCO-listed walled medieval city that crowns the promontory above the harbor. The Cathedral of Santa Maria, at the highest point of the city, was built on the site of a mosque and a Phoenician temple; the views from the cathedral terrace encompass the harbor, the island of Formentera glittering across the straits, and the flat Mediterranean extending to the horizon. The main harbor of Ibiza Town — La Marina — is lined with bars and restaurants spilling across the waterfront, the smell of salt air and cooking mixing with music from the terrace clubs. Your first evening should include a sunset cocktail at one of the clifftop bars below the old walls (Vara de Rey or Sunset Strip) and dinner at El Faro for excellent fish, or a more intimate meal in the quiet streets of Dalt Vila itself.

• ✦ Dalt Vila — UNESCO-listed medieval fortress city above the harbor
• ✦ Cathedral of Santa Maria — Phoenician site, mosque, and Gothic cathedral
• ✦ Harbor La Marina — the beating heart of Ibiza Town
• ✦ First sunset cocktail from the clifftop bar terraces

The north of Ibiza is the island's most authentically beautiful area — a landscape of white-painted farmhouses (casas payesas) in fields of wild rosemary and lavender, pine-forested hills, and tiny village churches. Sant Joan de Labritja is the most perfect of the northern villages — a brilliant-white church, a handful of bars and restaurants, and a Sunday morning market. The famous Mercado de Las Dalias at Santa Eulalia (Saturday and Monday in summer) is the best hippie market in the Mediterranean: handmade jewelry, vintage clothes, essential oils, Indian fabrics, and a dozen artisan food stalls. Beach at Benirràs in the afternoon — a dramatic cove between two headlands, known for the drum circle that takes place every Sunday at sunset, which has been going since the hippie era. Dinner at Can Pilot near Sant Joan for grilled meats and vegetables cooked in a wood-burning oven.

• ✦ Sant Joan village — whitewashed church and countryside walks
• ✦ Las Dalias hippie market — Mediterranean's best artisan bazaar
• ✦ Benirràs cove — drumming circle beach between rocky headlands
• ✦ Can Pilot wood-oven dinner in the north

Formentera — Ibiza's small sister island, 30 minutes by fast ferry from the harbor — has the most beautiful beaches in Spain and some of the clearest water in the Mediterranean. Playa de Ses Illetes, the narrow sandbar that extends from Formentera's northern tip, was voted the best beach in Europe by TripAdvisor for ten consecutive years: crystal-clear turquoise water that goes knee-deep for 200 meters, white sand, and a party of anchored yachts that creates the atmosphere of a floating beach club. Bring a mask and snorkel — the sea grass meadows of Posidonia oceanica beneath the ferry routes are a UNESCO-protected marine habitat visible from the surface. Rent a bicycle on arrival (Formentera is flat) and cycle to the lighthouse at La Mola for the view back to Ibiza. Lunch at Juan y Andrea — the legendary beach restaurant on Ses Illetes. Return ferry at sunset for the classic approach to Ibiza harbor.

• ✦ Formentera ferry — 30 minutes to the Caribbean of the Mediterranean
• ✦ Ses Illetes beach — repeatedly voted best in Europe
• ✦ Posidonia sea grass meadows snorkeling
• ✦ La Mola lighthouse and the view back to Ibiza

The sunset at Café del Mar in San Antonio is one of the most famous rituals in European summer culture — the legendary ambient music bar that has been soundtracking Mediterranean sunsets since 1980, whose compilation CDs defined an era of chill-out music. Arrive by 7pm for a beachside table and watch the disc of the sun touch the sea horizon against the silhouette of rocky islands — the setting, the music, and the cocktails combine into something genuinely beautiful. Before the sunset, explore the west coast of Ibiza: Es Vedra — a 413-meter rocky islet off the western tip that is one of the most mythologized places in the Mediterranean, said to be the home of the sirens who lured Odysseus. The viewpoint at Torre des Savinar looks across to Es Vedra and the surrounding sea stacks in a landscape of dramatic geological theater. Cala Conta (two small sandy coves on the western point) has the most beautiful water on this coast.

• ✦ Café del Mar — the legendary sunset ritual in San Antonio
• ✦ Es Vedra — the mythological sea-stack visible from the west coast
• ✦ Torre des Savinar viewpoint over Es Vedra
• ✦ Cala Conta — western tip coves with extraordinary turquoise water

The northeast coast between Punta de s'Àguila and Portinatx is the least visited part of Ibiza — a dramatic coastline of rocky headlands, crystal-clear water, and small calas accessible by dirt track or on foot. Cala d'en Serra is a narrow fjord-like inlet with emerald water and almost no development — a handful of sun beds and a basic chiringuito bar. Cala Xarraca, 3km west, is another protected cove with excellent snorkeling around the rocky headlands. Cala d'Albarca in the far north is completely undeveloped and surrounded by vertical cliffs — dramatic and wild. Portinatx, the main resort on the north coast, has a good restaurant and an easy beach for swimming. The slow day ends with dinner at Atzaró's restaurant (if staying there), or at one of the northern countryside restaurants like Es Boldado — on the clifftop above Cala d'Hort facing Es Vedra, for grilled fish at sunset.

• ✦ Cala d'en Serra — a fjord-like cove of extraordinary clarity
• ✦ Cala Xarraca snorkeling among the limestone rocks
• ✦ Cala d'Albarca — the wild undeveloped north
• ✦ Es Boldado cliff restaurant facing Es Vedra at sunset

Spend the morning exploring the parts of Ibiza Town you haven't yet seen: the Contemporary Art Museum of Ibiza (MACE) in the 16th-century fortifications of Dalt Vila, which has excellent exhibitions of Balearic and international contemporary art; the 16th-century fortifications themselves, which can be walked along their full length for views over the city and sea; and the Mercat Vell (old market), a shaded 19th-century market building full of local produce, flowers, and cured meats. Afternoon: the Ses Salines salt flats at the southern tip of the island — a natural park of shallow pink-tinged pans that have produced salt since the Phoenicians arrived, surrounded by flamingo and other migratory birds, and bordered by the excellent Ses Salines beach club. The salinas give the water around this part of the coast a specific mineral clarity. Final evening in Dalt Vila for a long farewell dinner at El Destino or Can Domo.

• ✦ Dalt Vila fortification walk — full circuit of the 16th-century walls
• ✦ MACE contemporary art museum in the old fortifications
• ✦ Ses Salines flamingo salt flats and beach club
• ✦ Farewell dinner in Dalt Vila

Ibiza Airport (IBZ) has excellent connections to European and some US cities, mostly via hub connections. A final morning might include a swim at whatever cove became your favorite during the week — the water is the same extraordinary color at 8am as it is at noon, and before 10am you may have the whole cove to yourself. Pick up a bottle of Hierbas Ibicencas — the local herbal liqueur made with anise, rosemary, and a dozen other Mediterranean herbs — as the quintessential Ibiza souvenir. An ensaimada from the airport bakery, one last café con leche, and the view from the runway as the island recedes below the wing. Seven nights in Ibiza is never enough — but it's always enough to understand why people come back.

• ✦ Final morning swim at your favorite cove
• ✦ Hierbas Ibicencas — the local herbal liqueur souvenir
• ✦ Last café con leche and ensaimada before boarding