Ibiza is located east of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Mediterranean Sea, in the autonomous region of Illes Balears. It has a surface of 572 km2 and it is a small big world that extends from the coast to inland in a smooth topography. Together with Formentera, it forms the Pityusic Islands, or Pine Islands as the Greeks called them.

Ibiza is made up of five towns: Ibiza, which is the capital, Santa Eulària des Riu, Sant Josep de Sa Talaia, Sant Antoni de Portmany, and Sant Joan de Labritja. Each of them offers its visitors both different and supplementary possibilities. According to the register’s last data, the island has a population of over 140,000 inhabitants, although the number of residents grows considerably during summer season.

You will be able to enjoy the island’s spectacular sunsets over the Mediterranean sea, bathe in crystal water, wander around wheat fields, vineyards, and orchards, scented with aromatic plants, such as thyme, rosemary, and lavender that grow disorderedly on every corner.

Ibiza is one of the oldest urban environments in Western Mediterranean, and the first in the Balearic archipelago. Its past is stunning and fundamental to understand its present, its cultural and social reality, through the mosaic of cultures that have steadily occupied it since 2700 AC.

The most important monument in Ibiza is the Renaissance wall of Dalt Vila, in Ibiza city, declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. There is an important historical and cultural patrimony scattered throughout the territory such as the sacred mount of Santa Eulària and Sant Miquel; the church-fortresses on each town, the singular defense towers, and wells and oil mills of Arab origin, declared Place of Cultural Interest. Throughout its history, Ibiza has always interacted with other cultures: Punics, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs. All of them surrendered to its bright light, the purity of its sky, and the transparency of its water. When the Christians settled after the recapture, the island was surrounded by stone defensive towers from which to scan the horizon on the lookout for Berber pirate schooners that disembarked on the coast and ventured inland in search of women and food. Ibizan citizens were warned by sentries; they abandoned their perfectly whitened homes in the field, and ran to take shelter inside the city wall or in the towns’ fortified churches. Safe from invasion, Ibizan citizens still dedicatedly protect their historical inheritance.

The capital is located in Ibiza, with its impressive fortress, declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. This international award acknowledges its historical, cultural, and architectural value. It is the best preserved coastal fortress in the Mediterranean. Dalt Vila’s acropolis is filled with alleys and monuments such as the castle and the cathedral. It has been a cultural crossover for centuries, and this fortress’ environment is the stage for concerts, poetic cycles, exhibitions, and cultural activities all year round.

The Phoenician remains of Sa Caleta, in San Josep, and the Phoenician-Punic necropolis of Puig des Molins, in Ibiza, are also part of this World Heritage Site, since UNESCO considers that they “are exceptional evidence of urbanization and social life in the Phoenician colonies of the western Mediterranean. They constitute a unique resource, in terms of volume and importance, of material from the Phoenician and Carthaginian tombs,” reads the official justification for inscription.

The UNESCO committee defined Ibiza as a privileged environment due to its diversity and natural values, considering the richness of the prairies of oceanic posidonia, seabed plants, the best preserved in the Mediterranean and located within a Natural Reserve. These prairies hold 220 different species, including three globally threatened, one of them being the monk seal. They are responsible for the purity and transparency of the water that surrounds the island.

Both for its cultural criteria and for its natural values, UNESCO chose Ibiza as one of the places to be preserved for future generations.

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