02/02/17

Our kind friends the L&Ders sent us this great article about there adventures in Formantera which is ...I'll leave it to them to tell you

We have had a number of holidays on the island of Formentera.  This is the smallest of the Balearic Islands, and it situated about three miles off Ibiza. There is no airport on Formentera, so it has remained relatively undeveloped. That doesn’t mean that it is not popular with tourists. It just means that it is not a mass tourist destination, and visitors have to do a bit of leg work in organising their holiday them self’s.

Nearly all of the beaches on Formentera are clothing optional to a greater or lesser degree with the exception of the town beach at Es Pujols.

Our favourite beach is Playa Migjorn This is an eight kilometres beach running along the south of the island. In reality Migjorn is formed by lots of smaller beaches separated by rocky out crops. The beach is accessed at various points by roads and tracks off the main drag that runs east west along the isthmus.  The points of access are usually occupied by textiles but if you walk away from these it gets progressively naturist until you get near to the next access point. When the whole system starts again. Our favourite spot was at the far west of Migjorn. This is the least developed end.  There is a nice restaurant. And a great bar that looks more like a garden shed, and not much else.

Probably the most popular beaches are illetes and LLavent  . These are on the far north of the island and are the nearest to the port of La Savina and Ibiza. These beaches get quite busy and naturist and textiles are pretty well all mixed in together.

Another nice beach can be found north of Es Pujols just around the headland.  I could never find a name of this beach.  So we always refer to it as the German beach because apart from us it seems totally occupied by Germans, (usually a good sign) (Sept 09 Bjarne from Denmark informs us it is Platja des Canyers and says it is their favourite beach on the island)

 We were told that during July and August the vast majority of visitors are Italian, and they take over most of the island and don’t go in much for nude sun bathing.       

And in 2012 we got this postcard from Joseph and Helen

POSTCARD from FORMENTERA

We have being going to Formentera for many years, and try to visit every year. It really is the most beautiful laid back island, where clothed and unclothed beach-goers mix happily on almost every beach with no segregation anywhere. Even on Es Pujols main beaches it is possible to be naked at times outside of the "Italian" months of July and August. These pictures were taken in September at the beach in front of the Portu Saler Apartments and in full view of the restaurants and cafes on the beachfront.

We always avoid July and August, when the island becomes very busy indeed and becomes something of a Little Italy, with expensive chic bars and shops springing up in Es Pujols to service them, and expensive designer swimwear very much in evidence on the beaches. Outside of these months the island reverts to more of its natural uncrowded and unpretentious state.

We usually rent bicycles and get round the whole island on them. There are many “green” routes which avoid the main road and are a great way of getting from beach to beach, and reaching quieter areas that cars don’t get to.  The island is largely flat, but if even that sounds too energetic for you, it is possible to hire rechargeable battery bikes at the harbour.

One less frequented coastline is the area between Es Pujols and Es Calo, called Tramontana. This is a mixture of rocky shore with small sandy patches where it is usually possible to find a quiet spot all to yourself, as shown by the next picture.

One of our favourite days out whilst on the island is a visit to the neighbouring uninhabited island of S'Espalmador with its gorgeous sandy beach and inland mud lake. It is possible to walk across to the island at low tide, but we prefer to take the little ferry from the harbour. This is a group of ferry passengers walking from the ferry along the unspoilt beach on Espalmador towards the mud lake.

Once there, most people take a naked dip in the mud - it really does feel great although no beneficial medical qualities are claimed of it. This is me( Joseph I think!) covered in mud from head to toe after my dip in the lake.

It is possible to walk for miles in the nude along Formentera’s coastline. The turquoise sea is more tropical than the Caribbean and some of the more remote parts are almost deserted at times. This is me during one such walk from Ses Canyers (Es Pujols) to Playa de Llevant and beyond.

2013 Postcards from Bjarne (Denmark)