The route in a sentence
Two gentle days on the island’s kindest coast: promenade mornings, shallow-water beaches, both famous hippy markets and a choice of three campsites — all close enough that nothing feels like a drive.
Day 1 — Santa Eulària to Es Canar (about 20 km)
Start in Santa Eulària with the promenade walk — it is the nicest seaside stroll on the island, palms on one side, yachts on the other. Then head south for the morning swim at Cala Llonga, a wide, sheltered bay with water so calm it barely makes waves. Lunch back in town: the restaurant street off the main square covers every budget, and the tapas here are better than the resorts’.
The afternoon is for the villages. If it is a Wednesday, the Punta Arabí hippy market in Es Canar is the event of the week — hundreds of stalls under the pines since 1973. Park once (or take the L24 bus) and wander. Finish the day on the sand at Cala Martina with a drink at the Chirincana bar as the sun drops — this beach faces the sunset.
Day 2 — Cala Nova, San Carlos and the market (about 28 km)
Give the morning to Cala Nova: fine sand, dunes, shallow water for a hundred metres — the best family swimming on the island. The campsite of the same name is right behind the dune, so if you slept there, you are already home.
Then drive the winding road inland to San Carlos, the village that fed Ibiza’s first hippies. Bar Anita — unchanged since the 1960s — pours the most historic coffee on the island. On Saturdays, the Las Dalias market fills a bougainvillea garden with three hundred stalls, live music and excellent food; in summer it also opens as a night market several evenings a week.
If the sea is calling again, continue ten minutes to Aguas Blancas, the wild red-cliff beach of the north-east — glorious, but respect the waves and the clothing-optional sections at the ends.
Good to know
- This route works without a car: L24 runs airport–Santa Eulària–Es Canar–Cala Nova, L41 to Cala Llonga, L16 to San Carlos.
- Market days = traffic days. Park once, walk, or take the bus.
- All three east-coast campsites are within a few kilometres — you can split the route across two different ones for variety.
- Families: Cala Nova and Cala Llonga are the two safest swimming beaches on the route.