Formentera

Hibiscus

Formentera is a quiet contrast to the busier tourist islands of Ibiza and Mallorca. Around 6,000 people are spread over a thousand hectares, the island being split into two flat plateaus connected by a narrow isthmus. The island is dry and sun-baked with three main villages: Sant Francesc Xavier (the capital), Sant Ferran and El Pilar de la Mola. However, despite the lack of rain, inland Formentera provides attractive vineyards, fig planatations and wheatfields surrounded by drystone walls.

The cheapest way to get to Formentera is generally via charter flight to Ibiza and then taking a thirty-minute trip on one of the regular hydrofoils to Formentera. Flights are plentiful from the main European airports between Easter and October. Standards of hygiene and healthcare are high and no jabs are necessary. The island has a reasonably good bus service though car hire offers greater flexibility for touring. Cycling is also an attractive option for exploring inland Formentera.

Tourism is the mainstay of the island economy with most visitors coming from Germany and Italy. The beaches are long, white and clean - and relatively uncrowded compared to many in Spain. The government has restrained any tendency to over-development and there is a blissful absence of concrete resorts. According to the Rough Guide, the main attraction is 'its magnificent shoreline - the clarity and colour of the sea is astonishing, with water turquoise enough to trump any Caribbean holiday brochure.'

The Rough Guide highlights the following beaches:

Platja Illetes and Platja Llevant - these are back-to-back beaches of powdery white sand in the northern Trucador peninsula; and

Platja de Migjorn - six kilometres of sand lining the south coast

• Balearic Islands
• Mallorca (Majorca)
• Menorca
• Ibiza
• Formentera