Aula· Spain, city by cityBaleares
Formentera
«Formentera tiene playas de arena blanca y agua transparente.»Formentera has white sand beaches and transparent water.
Formentera is the smallest and lowest of the Balearic Islands, an hour by ferry south of Ibiza. It remained uninhabited for two centuries due to pirate raids and was only repopulated in 1697; today it lives off tourism, with white sand beaches and no airport.
Did you know
The lighthouse in a Verne novel.
The famous La Mola lighthouse inspired the writer Jules Verne to write the novel 'Hector Servadac'.
How they talk in Formentera
The local Catalan shares many features with Eivissenc, including 'sa/es' articles. «Peix sec» means dried fish and indicates a traditional product of the island.
idò
Then; so; well. Conjunction and discourse marker very common in Balearic Catalan, used to connect or introduce a response.
Everyday life in Formentera
You only arrive by boat
There is no airport: you pass through Ibiza by ferry, half an hour at sea, and on windy days you stay on land. Those who live there organise appointments based on the ferry timetable.
«Solo se llega en barco.» — You only arrive by boat.
By bicycle everywhere
The island is twenty kilometres long and flat, and you get around by bike on marked paths called «camins verds»: many residents do not use a car to go to work.
«Aquí se va en bicicleta.» — Here you go by bicycle.
Winter with three thousand people
Off-season the island returns to a few thousand inhabitants, almost everything closes and a few bars remain open: the big shopping is done in Ibiza, taking the ferry and returning the same day.
What to eat in Formentera
Bullit de peix
Boiled fish and potatoes served with alioli; then rice is made with the broth.
Flaó
Fresh cheese and mint cake, with aniseed pastry.
Greixonera
Dessert made with leftover ensaimadas, eggs and milk, baked in the earthenware pot that gives it its name.
Festivals in Formentera
Festes de Sant Jaume
the 25th of July
The patronal festival in Sant Francesc: the island gathers in the square, and for one evening everyone knows each other.
What to see in Formentera
Ses Illetes
The beach on the sand spit to the north, with shallow water and small islands in front.
Far de la Mola
The lighthouse on the cliff two hundred metres above the sea, at the end of the island.
Ca na Costa
A four-thousand-year-old megalithic tomb, with stone slabs still standing.
Sant Francesc Xavier
The fortified church of 1738, white and windowless, which was also the village refuge.
Where Formentera comes from
Two centuries with no one
2000 BC
Ca na Costa
A megalithic tomb: the sign that the island was already inhabited back then.
14th–17th century
The pirates
The looting empties it: for two centuries the island remains without inhabitants.
1697
The repopulation
Marc Ferrer receives permission to repopulate it: the fortified church is built.
1960 → today
The Sixties
The hippies arrive, and after them the tourism that the island knows today.
Want to learn Spanish by travelling across Spain?
In Aula every lesson is a city lighting up on the map — Formentera is one of them. Two hundred lessons from A1 to C2, free, starting from your level.
Start from Formentera →