Travel guide Formentera

The island's authorities have marked out 32 green routes to be explored by bicycle or on foot. The booklet presenting the routes is available free of charge at the Tourist Office. Don't forget your mobile phone and a bottle of water! If you get lost, don't panic, the island is small! You will easily find your way back

The walls of the island are pierced by numerous natural caves and underground galleries. In the past, they served as refuges for animals, prehistoric man and later for pirates and hippies. Some of them were dug millions of years ago, like the famous Cova d'en Jeroni, discovered in 1975.

Formentera is full of small coves, more or less wild, that you will have to find! Caló des Mort is one of the most beautiful, but is also very busy. The same goes for Cala Saona, a white sandy cove bordered by turquoise water on the east coast. The wildest coves are often bordered by rocky bottoms, like Cala en Baster.

The embarcaderos or escars are the typical wooden constructions found in the island's natural harbours. They are made up of small cabins and long rails that go down to the water. In the north-east of the island, Es Caló de Sant Agustí, once the second most important port on the island, is worth a look.

The hippies arrived on the island in the middle of the 20th century and left their mark. Some of them made Formentera a stopover on their way to India: Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin... All of them have spent many happy days in this little paradise. The island still attracts artists who have come to set up their stalls in the hippy markets.

Formerly known as the "land of wheat", Formentera is home to elegant windmills. Only three of them are still standing today, in Sant Francesc, Sant Ferran and La Mola. These circular lime constructions generally have two floors, a ground floor and long (4 or 5 m!), sophisticated wings.

All of Formentera's beaches are nudist and you'll come across a lot of people in their Adam's clothes lounging or playing ball on the sand. Don't be surprised if you're the only clothed person on the beach! Here, the watchword is tolerance: textile and nudist enthusiasts live in harmony.

The island's three lighthouses - at La Savina, La Mola and Cape Barbaria - are emblematic constructions of the island's landscape. Built on a cliff 120 m high, the lighthouse at La Mola is the highest on the island. This place is so singular that Jules Verne immortalized it in an episode of his novel Hector Servadac.

The Pityuses or Pityuse Islands include the islands of Ibiza and Formentera, as well as several small islets such as Espalmador and Espardell. The name Pityuse probably comes from the ancient Greek word pitys, which means "pine". In ancient times, the Pityuses were differentiated from the rest of the Balearic Islands (Mallorca and Menorca are the Gymesias).

Peix Sec or dried fish is one of the culinary specialities that Formentera shares with Ibiza. It consists of pieces of salted fish, dried in the sun and then packed in olive oil. It is also one of the ingredients of the peasant salad. But it can also be eaten simply on a slice of toast!

These aquatic plants, which create a rich ecosystem, are responsible for the transparency of the water thanks to their ability to produce a large quantity of oxygen. Almost 100 million years old, Posidonia oceanica covers a large part of the Mediterranean seabed. It is off Formentera that the largest meadows grow!

You'll see them everywhere, on postcards, key rings, between the rocks or even next to your beach towel: the sargantanes(Podarcis pityusensis) are the symbol of Formentera. These large lizards are an endemic species of the Pityuse Islands, so much so that Formentera has made them its emblem! There are more than 30 subspecies around