Formentera out of season is more Formentera
It has everything it offers in midsummer without its drawbacks. We know them: motorcycles, roads like a (sunny) story by Cortázar, prices that compete with those of Oslo, overdoses of hikers (creatures, they have the right) and problems with restaurant reservations at the Can Roca level. What to look for in Formentera: the turquoise waters (courtesy of Posidonia), the simplicity of the constructions and the plans, the wild landscape, the feeling of vacation …there is the rest of the year. For us alone. Or almost, almost alone.
Here are some (messy) reasons to travel to this Balearic island out of season . We wanted to make plans but, as the locals repeat: “no plans are made here” . So we launch reasons to go now. They are the same as to go in July or August , but these weeks it is calmer, less anxious. If we can choose when to step on Formentera, this is the best moment.
Rent an Ilaut and make Formentera your kingdom
BE IN THE SEA
rent a llaut It will make us feel local, that 21st century traveler's obsession. These fishermen's boats They will allow us to get to know those beaches that the whole world (and us) love without having to do things as mundane as stepping on the sand.
BE ON THE BEACH
Let's not be so snobs and despise stepping on the sand either, an atavistic gesture that erases the tiredness of the city with a stroke of the pen . There are no bad beaches in Formentera, neither sandy nor rocky. the of Es Cupina , at the end of Migjorn , it's great and has a beach bar , **Bartolo (“the” Bartolo) ** that has been serving snacks and cool drinks over the water for more than 40 years. Do not think about cushions or Balinese beds. This is a wooden structure unfashionable and of tremendous simplicity. To those who like to run and do it around the island they are rewarded on this beach with a swim at the end of their route . Those who are on the lounger, too.
The Bartolo
BATH AMONGST STONES
At this time we can bathe in places that are impracticable in summer. In the zone of It's Calo there is also a rocky area and a small jetty which are a delight. The environment, rocky and secluded, is unusual for an island with sandy beaches. After the bath, a Balearic wine at ** Can Rafalet ,** one of the classics of Formentera and where, sooner or later, it ends up, cannot make us feel bad. Neither is a peasant salad (with potatoes and dried fish) and something else in Es Caló, by the waters we just dove into.
Sleep where in summer it is more difficult
The hotel offer on this island is, let's say, complicated. There are many simple hotel , rooms for rent, some big chain presence and much less attractive hotel than we would like. This difficulty is part of the charm because it limits access . Here you do not come to be in the hotel. Or, at least, it didn't come.
It has just reopened, after a comprehensive reform, the gecko . This hotel was a classic of Formentera for being on the long beach (4 kilometers) of Migjorn , for its swimming pool (there are very few) and its very comfortable location. Now, in addition, it is stylish and has become a hotel with the surname of **Beach Club (don't worry, this is not Ibiza) ** and a somewhat higher place within the simplicity that is cultivated here.
Gecko, the HOTEL in capital letters
Sleeping here out of season, when all the rooms are not yet reserved, it is a great self indulgence. If we want to climb a step can we sleep in a room with a private pool . If we don't arrive on time, we can always eat a rice (very tasty and at a good price) in its restaurant, a massage in front of the pool or reserve a lounger in its pool facing the blue of the sea. That duel of blues without interference is the privilege of the off-season.
Can you imagine yourself here?
HAVE AN APPETIZER IN SANT FRANCESC
Let's get on, for a while, sandals or espadrilles and go to a more urban environment . The walk+snack in Saint Francesc is an obligatory ritual, but now it finds room in the Plate Fonda no problem. This bar has been here since the 1920's . It began as an inn and today it is the epicenter of leisure in the town. On these dates you wander through the shops without running into your neighbor in Madrid, the service is not overwhelmed and everything looks better and better. A walk through this little white town includes a stop at Manolo Bakery and buy a portion of flaó, a curious cheesecake that is neither sweet nor salty and is both. At this time of year, in Sant Francesc you don't have to wait ten minutes for there to be no intruders in the photos and the shops are quiet and... here we move on to the next reason.
Saint Francesc
I SHOP, THEN I VACATE
You don't go to this island to go shopping. It would be heresy, but since we are here we will do it, because that act will always gives clues about a culture . The island stores are like her: discreet and stylish. Here we find a unique concentration in Spain of caftans, tunics, blouses, shorts, peasants, sarongs and baskets. Just as skiing has its après ski fashion , the beach has its beach après. And this is his kingdom. The most interesting shops are in Sant Francesc ( balafia is great) and close to Sant Ferran . There is Catherine House , with delicious accessories, objects and textiles and natural cosmetics stores Peony . There is also a good density of cute shops in the cool . Here, in addition, a market is held twice a week, but this small town deserves its own point.
AFTERNOON IN LA MOLA
This town is plan in itself. In summer (we insist a lot but because it's scandalous) there are quite a few people. We have sometimes been part of that scandal, but if we can choose we will go when everything is more enjoyable, in june or september . Here is celebrated on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4 in the afternoon a artisan market where can we collect bracelets, espadrilles and some ceramics.
After the market we can continue wandering around . We find gourmet shops where you can buy salt or a bottle of local wine like Bon Beure , specialized in Balearic products. is also Can Xicu , where there are interesting objects that we will want to take home. When we get tired, although this verb is not conjugated much in Formentera, we can sit down can toni . This small town bar (with all the good that implies), with its leather sofas and its portraits of Camarón functions as a kind of informal town hall where people meet and report on what is happening in La Mola. Open every day of the year and from May to October it has live music . Can Toni is, at the same time, typical and atypical. To say that Mola is cool is too easy, but also too inevitable.
A peasant setting a trend in La Mola
CIRCULAR IN A MEHARI
Touring Formentera in one of these Citroëns and doing it on these dates is a great idea. The hair will move, we will sunbathe and we will feel disheveled bohemian. On this island there have always been Meharis but now they want to promote new models, more ecological but just as sexy. When not everyone has yet arrived, it is time to travel the 18 kilometers of the island and its surroundings with these cars. A Mehari always whispers the word “vacation”.
DINNER, DINNER, DINNER
Every visit to Formentera implies, at least, a dinner on the street. If we look for it with candles, lamps or stars as a source of lighting, there are several places in Saint Francesc. Two names: Ca Na Joana , in an ancient stone house, or Can Carlos, near Cala Saona, the only cove on the island. It's very close too My way , a curious place where you eat in a vegetable garden organic products.
The locals, the best guarantee, attend the Fonda Pepe for the first beer, but here there are no candles, but rather a hippie atmosphere, which has been cultivated here since the 70s. Another place where the islanders go is La Tortuga, where according to them “you have the best steak tartare” of the island. Not only vacationers go to this place , because they look for a beach and a postcard, but there isn't one here. But you eat well, which is also, ahem, important. If we want a beach and dinner with our feet close to the sand, we can do it in the 10.7. White surroundings and the beach in front . What can go wrong if, in addition, we make it coincide with sunset.
Ca Na Joana
BEACH BAR
There is no trip to Formentera without a sunset in a beach bar. It's part of the experience, but out of season everything is better. The sun shines and hits, the atmosphere is beachy but the attendees are just enough, enough to make the act social but not so many that it seems like a Saturday in Malasaña. Some iconic and flavored are: The Pirate in Illetas , the Lucky in Migjorn or Kiosko Levante . Calling a traditional beach bar a kiosk is normal; if we show strangeness we will betray ourselves as foreigners. At the **Blue Bar** it's easy to end the night.
Cat posing over the horizon of Formentera
GET INTO A CAVE
As before Formentera we will see again _ Lucia and Sex _ (just like before Florence we always see A room with a view ) we will want to do it. Next to the Cap de Barbaria lighthouse , one of the two on the island, there is a cave. It goes almost unnoticed in reality, but not in the movie. If we go down, carefully, and walk a few meters we will appear next to the sea. There is a great experience and a great photo. We can only have that out of season, when everything is better.
Cap of Barbaria