Celebrities and Artists Flock to this Spanish Island off the Coast of Spain—Now It is Getting Extra Luxurious Inns

I hid below a camel-hair Berber tent on the seashore to shade myself from the extraordinary Mediterranean solar, subsequent to a younger lady from Atlanta who was tapping out poems on an outdated typewriter. She requested me for a phrase—the primary that popped into my head—so as to add to her psychic verse. Close by, a German model-turned healer in a backless goddess costume and no tan traces was speaking about breath work. An artist in a crocheted bikini got here by and sought assist dragging a big steel signal that learn, “SAVE ME,” into the ocean.

I smiled, as a result of with out even standing up, I had stumbled upon the elusive essence of Formentera—a pristine island 4 miles south of Ibiza that looks like a bohemian holdover from an earlier time. It has no Ibiza-style megaclubs, simply sand dunes, pine forests, and secluded coves. The stiletto-shaped slab of craggy rock lies on the southern finish of the Balearic Island chain. Its geographic isolation has, for the previous 5 many years, made it a low-key social sanctuary for artists, musicians, modern eccentrics, and different vacationing visionaries.

Hippies first arrived within the Sixties. Bob Dylan is reputed to have slept in an outdated windmill. Pink Floyd stayed for prolonged durations, and the band used the eerie picture of an island windmill on the quilt of its soundtrack for Extra, Barbet Schroeder’s 1969 movie in regards to the hippie-heroin scene that was partly filmed on the island. Joni Mitchell, fleeing fame and Los Angeles, stopped there on a sabbatical by Europe that impressed her 1971 album, Blue. The design crowd got here subsequent and constructed stylish seashore escapes: they included Consuelo Castiglioni, the founding father of Marni, and Philippe Starck, the French architect.

“Formentera is a paradise within the middle of Europe,” Starck, who owned a cliffside dwelling on the island for 3 many years, advised a French vogue journal in 2023. “It’s a rock, like a ship, in the midst of the ocean. I don’t know something extra excellent; I don’t know something extra uncommon.”

I knew precisely what Starck meant as I lounged below the Berber tent at Can 7, an artists’ residence and personal dwelling on Platja de Migjorn, a seashore on the island’s southern shore. It was peak summer time, when many seashores on the Mediterranean are wall-to-wall our bodies. However I encountered hardly any vacationers, other than a couple of nude sunbathers splashing round within the calm and buoyant sea.

It was early night, so I made a decision to go for a pre-dinner swim myself. As I waded in, the electric-blue water felt amniotic and restorative, as if my nervous system had been being recharged. At first, I believed that the hippie-healer vibe at Can 7 had rubbed off on me. But it surely seems I used to be swimming in an aquatic meadow of Posidonia seagrass that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage web site—a few of it’s regarded as 100,000 years outdated. The lengthy, thick strands dance within the present, filtering the water and imbuing it with a magical crystalline glow.

The land is equally as primordial—a pinkish dust so desiccated it made me thirsty simply taking a look at it. However look deeper and the mineral-rich soil virtually takes on a jewel-like sparkle, with shades of rose, coral, and ocher. There’s historical past all over the place, too. Drive across the island and catch glimpses of previous civilizations: historical fig bushes propped up by picket crutches; centuries-old windmills that appear to be large vintage flyswatters; stone partitions constructed by the Moors in the course of the Center Ages that in some way nonetheless look new.

Till not too long ago, Formentera’s elemental charms had been largely loved by day-trippers, who got here aboard 30-minute ferries from Ibiza or on non-public yachts. They sometimes confined themselves to the northern shore, and made the pilgrimage to Juan y Andrea, an island establishment that focuses on boozy seafood luncheons on Platja de Ses Illetes, a spit of sugary sand. Fewer spent the evening, as many accommodations lacked the type of haute-hippie vibe that Joni Mitchell may need sought, nevermind something extra luxurious. The lodgings had been typically concrete bunker-like constructions left over from Franco’s dictatorship or massive bundle resorts constructed earlier than the federal government clamped down on improvement within the Eighties. Upscale vacationers looking for nicer lodging had been left to lease villas—except they had been fortunate sufficient to be friends of Starck.

I first visited Formentera 20 years in the past. I stayed on the solely semi-chic place I may discover, Las Banderas, a small resort run by Leah Tilbury, the sister of English make-up entrepreneur Charlotte Tilbury (their dad and mom met at a full-moon celebration on Formentera within the Sixties). The rooms had been fundamental, and the few friends had been scrappy membership children taking a break from Ibiza to work on their tans. I used to be fortunate if I may discover fresh-squeezed juice or a memorable meal.

Can 7 occupies the identical construction that was as soon as Las Banderas. Coincidentally, I used to be staying in the identical room I had 20 years earlier, though it was unrecognizable—redesigned in Wabi-Sabi model with a charcoal shade palette, high-thread-count linens, and earthy Moroccan textiles. The property was initially a Fifties taverna run by an outdated lady who seemed like a witch—I do know this as a result of a stone effigy of her marks the turnoff from the primary highway. (An endearing function of the island is the various roads that aren’t recognized by indicators, however by painted rocks and statues.)

Permits to construct new accommodations on the island are virtually unimaginable to get. However with older house owners seeking to promote or lease, a number of properties have been refurbished and opened as barefoot-luxe accommodations, attracting the kind of guests who would possibly begin their mornings with Pilates overlooking an olive grove and finish their nights feasting on fresh-caught langoustines and biodynamic wines.

Among the many latest is Teranka Formentera, a boutique property from the identical builders because the Nobu accommodations in Ibiza and Marrakesh. Set amongst aromatic pine bushes, the 35-room resort has all of the elements required for classy lounging: raw-wood daybeds, plush neutral-color cushions, and up to date artwork—to not point out a saltwater swimming pool and a rooftop bar that’s excellent for sundown cocktails. The backyard restaurant will be the dreamiest on the island: constructed proper on the sand, it has rustic picket tables illuminated by African straw lanterns dangling from olive bushes. My boyfriend and I dropped in for lunch one afternoon, taking within the scene as we grazed on a tomato salad with impossibly contemporary burrata. The opposite tables had been crammed with modern girls in sheer caftans, their hair and pores and skin salty and sun-kissed.

Our subsequent cease was Dunas de Formentera, which opened final summer time simply steps from the ocean. Marugal, a resort group that additionally operates the ultra-exclusive Cap Rocat in Mallorca, turned a former hostel into an “eco-luxury” resort, with a sequence of whitewashed bungalows that appear to be carved into the dunes. The property is shaded with wind-sculpted pines that curl and snake like one thing out of Dr. Seuss. I believed it was probably the most ingenious landscaping I’d ever seen, till I noticed it occurred naturally.

As we explored the sandy paths, I kicked off my footwear with out considering, and satisfied my boyfriend to do an impromptu photograph shoot. After what appeared like tons of of poses and ever-changing backdrops, we had been each panting and questioning find out how to get again to the resort. Then, out of nowhere, a waiter appeared and handed us two freshly made mojitos. All was again on observe.

Drinks in hand, we checked out our room. Designed by Mallorca-based Antonio Obrador, the interiors are an homage to Balearic splendor: earthy textures and pure supplies reminiscent of jute, terra-cotta, clay, cotton, and wooden. Nothing fake anyplace. A striped, pastel-pink headboard was a refined nod to the Sixties Mediterranean jet set. There are additionally eco-friendly touches, together with an hourglass timer that encourages you to maintain your bathe to lower than 5 minutes.

The next morning, I used to be sipping contemporary watermelon juice by the infinity pool with Maria Pulido, the resort’s basic supervisor, who has lived on the island for greater than a decade. With delight in her eyes, she requested if I had tried vintages from the island’s two wineries, Bodega Terramoll and Cap de Barbaria. Within the late 1800s, she advised me, the aphid-like pest referred to as phylloxera, by accident introduced from the USA, decimated Europe’s vines. Scientists ultimately discovered find out how to graft the roots with resistant American ones, however it altered the grapes’ DNA. Formentera, due to its isolation, was one of many few locations that escaped the blight, and varieties like Monastrell stay unadulterated to this present day.

In a method, that’s how I really feel after I’m in Formentera: protected against the world’s troubles by the ocean, which acts like a moat and supplies a way of safety.

On certainly one of our ultimate nights, we went again to Can 7 for a celebration. As an alternative of an EDM-fueled bacchanalia of the type discovered on Ibiza, it was an intimate gathering: three DJs joined seven guests from Romania, England, Spain, Sweden, and the USA. The Berber tent glowed with flickering candles as we huddled on cushions round a espresso desk that held vases of wildflowers and an expert mixing deck. The DJs created a down-tempo soundscape with the quantity saved low, in order to not disturb the nonetheless evening past. It felt subversive, like a sport of sardines—the reverse of hide-and-seek—wherein we had been all hiding from the opposite gamers on Ibiza nonetheless looking for the celebration.

After a couple of drinks, somebody urged shifting our little soirée to the seashore. Formentera’s darkish skies and lack of sunshine air pollution make for spectacular stargazing. We unfold blankets and sarongs on the sand and fashioned a circle with our heads so it felt like we had been all one massive comfortable mind. We giggled, sang, and traded tales as we stared up into the cosmos. I smiled as a result of I’d occurred upon Formentera’s soul once more—solely this time I wasn’t even sitting, however sprawled out gloriously below the celebrities.

A model of this story first appeared within the June 2025 problem of Journey + Leisure below the headline “La Isla Bonita”