Sunflower Books: Landscapes of IBIZA & FORMENTERA: WALKS AND CAR TOURS

Ibiza and Formentera, 3rd (2007; updated 09/10/11)

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Updates for walks and car tours (drives) on Ibiza and Formentera given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have an older edition of this book and want to "upgrade" to the latest edition at half price, click here.)

Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably in hard copy, by post, to Sunflower Books, PO Box 115, Exeter EX2 6YU (or if you prefer, by e-mail, to mail@sunflowerbooks.co.uk).

Santa Eulalia town plan: The bus station has moved to a site behind the market off Cami de S'Eglesia. The post office on Calle d'Algemes closed some time ago; a new building, at the eastern end of Calle Sant Jaume, is still being built. (User, 1/09)

Buses: All change! In Sant Antoni the bus station has been moved yet again (June 2007). It is now located south of the statium (7 on the plan on page 21). It is doubtful that buses now run out to '8' on the plan, so for Walk 12 you will probably have to use the plan on page 21 to make your way to the coast. (Sunflower)

Walk 1: At the 2h-point, if you turn left you come to another tunnel which leads straight to the cathedral in D'Alt Vila. (Author, 3/08)+ As described. (User, 9/10)

Walk 2: As described. (User, 9/10)

Walk 3: Beyond the boathouses the lower path has become indiscernible, would advise higher path. (User, 9/10) + Lovely walk, but the first part as far as Es Cavallet is certainly not easy with steep ascents/descents of more than the stated 150m. The waymarking also seemed to be intermittent. The path up to the concrete lane (just before Es Cavallet) was found more by luck than judgement as we weren't aware that we had come to a fork in the paths. (User, 10/11)

Walk 5: Para 3 : After walking along the asphalt road the finca on the left no longer has "Gary's World" written on it, but the white walls belong to "La Maison de Bang Bang", haunt of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The 1st track is now labelled "Campament de Cala Jandal" and should be ignored. At the correct track the sign for "Campament de Cala Jandal" now points back to the previous track... The route over the salt pans as shown on the map is closed during bird breeding season. (User, 9/10)

Walk 6: We have just returned from a holiday in Ibiza 12th-19th May 2008. We tried to follow the above walk, but found there was no signpost for the Torre Des Savinar. After several wrong turns, we met a German couple half way down a track, who told us they had been this way five years ago and it led to the Torre Des Savinar, but now the track was blocked by a wire fence. We could see the fence been broken in one place, so we all climbed over and made our way, firstly to the Mirador and then on to the Torre itself. The views were fantastic, and the solitude and atmosphere was incredible. I don't know if we were supposed to climb over the fence or not, but with this barrier and the sign post being removed, someone obviously does not want people doing this walk! (User, 5/08) There never was a signpost for the walk. However, since publication of the book, a new fence has been erected. But it is there to stop motorised traffic. Just 20m/yds to the left there is a gap for walkers to pass through. There is an even better and prettier ascent to the tower some 50m/yds past the fence - it heads up to the left, and a friend of mine has promised to keep this route clear and waymarked in future. (Hans Losse, 3/6/08) + Further to comments in the online update about this walk, I confirm that there is no signpost to show the track off the Cala d'Hort road. My wife and I completed the walk earlier this month (Oct 2008) however. The track off is on a right-hand corner (going towards Cala d'Hort), there is a square house, currently painted a beige colour, a few metres after the turn-off on the right-hand side of the road; the track off is asphalted to begin with but after a few metres turns to gravel. There is ample parking off the track, on the left, shortly afterwards; if walking from there, ignore 2 (not 1) turn-offs to the right on the way to the mirador. Do not be deterred by all this detail - the walk to the tower is worth doing! (e-mail, 10.08) + Beware, if in a car there has been a spate of cars broken into in the car park here. (User, 9/10) Short walk 6: As described. (User, 9/10)

Walk 7: The start is now completely tarmaced or cobbled (to the tarred lane). On the shorter walk the signpost is gone; we did not find the track and went round by road. (User, 1/09) + The number 8 bus no longer stops opposite the church. If you are arriving by bus you get off at the bus station which is about 200m down a side road immediately before the church. Walk back up to the main road to the start point. We can confirm that the start of the walk is either cobbled or tarmaced right up to where the signed steep path (steep steps at the start) goes off to the left. Short walk:
We can confirm that there is no signpost where the track goes off to the right 350m before the asphalt road. We did manage to find the track by carefully studying the map which is very accurate. The track looks quite new (bright yellow sandstone) and goes off uphill at about 45 degrees. (If you reach three driveways on the right in quick succession you have gone too far!) Very shortly you pass to the right of a building and just after that there is a green metal waymark post. Here is a tip if you are using public transport. A few yards after joining the PM803 there is a bus stop just by a bar/restaurant. To avoid walking back to Sant Josep on this busy road you can catch a number 8 bus back to Eivissa at about 15-20 minutes past the hour. (User, 10/11)

Walk 9 - we attempted this, starting from Cala Xarraca, but the path just disappeared soon after the 'roundabout' referred to on page 64; we tried to find another route which is described on the return route, page 65, but turned back when a sheep-sized barking black dog emerged from a farm and ran menacingly towards us! (e-mail, 10.08) + The coastal path after Cala Xarraca is now non-existent. (User, 5/10) + There is no longer a way up to the fence from the boat houses at Petit Arenal due to erosion. Walk up the steps at the end of the beach then follow road to the 20 min point... On heading towards Club Portinatx keep straight ahead towards the tower on the track shown in black on the plan rather than going left, as once through the gates the route is blocked by a high fence.... Access back from the rock arch is also blocked so it is necessary to retrace your steps.... As a short walk I would advise this walk to the tower and rock arch then return to the village and follow the coast to the lighthouse in walk 8 (or beyond to Cala d'en Serra) and return. (User, 9/10

Walk 11 . There seems an error of timing here. Platjes de Comte to the end is 25 mins (as suggested on the map) not 1h25min as stated. This reduces the walk to a very short 1 hr 35. We extended the walk by just over an hour by starting at Cala des Torrents. (User, 1/09) + As described. (User, 9/10)
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Walk 13 - the instructions on page 76 are not correct; turn off the lane as directed to the left of a wall, then look for a track down on the left - not waymarked - about 20 metres after turning off the lane. If you find this, the remainder of the walk is fairly straightforward - it is also scenic and well worth the effort. (e-mail, 10.08) + Timing to the small restaurant should be 25 or 30 minutes... Finding the correct path down from the restaurant is quite tricky, it's worth taking a look on google earth or similar as the path can be seen clearly. Once on the path watch out for the blue markers which initially I thought was litter - pieces of blue plastic fixed into the trees.
A short detour to the right at the lime kiln brings you out to a second domed oven and ruined building. (User, 9/10)

Walk 14: This is described at the top as fairly strenuous, which is fair, but this gives no indication of the difficult conditions under foot. Part of the route between La Torre and the 1h10min point is very narrow and the surface is loose. After surmounting Puig de Marina, the path does indeed descend steeply, but it is also very narrow (with no alternatives available) and again the surface is loose stones and dust making it almost impossible to avoid slipping over and sliding down the hill, even in a sitting position!. For part, a loose rope 'hand-rail' had been installled, but this was of limited help going down. (User, 6/10)

Walk 16: Having circumnavigated the villa Can Puig d'en Pep we rejoined the original path and continued climbing. However, we had difficulty in determining which was the 'important fork' and did not see any signs to Siesta. We took a right fork which seemed to fit the instructions and headed back to Santa Eularia. After the summit (2h point) we came to the left turn which is clearly marked with a red arrow. However, the map suggests that this turn is immediately before reaching houses and at this point we could not see any. Hence we ignored the turn and continued, only to find ourselves with a very steep drop onto a garage roof! We retraced our steps and took the turning - all fine after that! (User, 10/10)

Walk 17: After Mango's Beach Bar the path has now completely eroded away in places and the wall has been undermined and collapsed so it is necessary to walk on the beach. It is advisable therefore to avoid this walk if the sea is very rough. In normal weather it was not necessary to wade when we did the walk, but this may change rapidly... After Torrent Argentera by a white gate take the left (upper) path although the right path looks easier at this point. (User, 9/10) + We agree with the comments about the path after the Mangos Bar but we walked this way twice and didn't encounter wet feet! After the Torrent Argentera the route is described as a 'small trail in superb condition'. We cannot agree - for a short distance it is very narrow and right on the edge of the crumbling cliff. Although the cliffs are not high at this point my husband was not happy! Having climbed the wall at the 1hr 45min point we came to some properties which we passed on the seaside until we came to a closed gate (presumably the Club Punta Arabi). We retraced our steps and found scrawled on the wall of the first property 'Es Kana' with an arrow to the left. We followed this track and in a short distance came to chained double gates. We managed to climb over the low wall on the right and continued on the track to the road where we turned right onto the road to Es Canar. (User, 10/10)

Walk 18: On page 89, para 2 "From the Puig de Missa you can see your next goal". This is no longer the case as the trees hide it. (User, 5/10) + As described. (User, 9/10) + The path up to Puig de sa Creu d'en Ribes is easy to find as it is signed with brown signs. The route is described as a 'good path which takes you gently uphill'. This was not our experience as the path appeared to go steeply uphill over huge boulders. As we could see that the ascent would be a scramble and the descent even more treacherous, even in dry weather, we decided to abort the walk. (User, 10/10)

Walk 19 : The descent into Cala Mastella is very steep and you need to be sure footed. (Walk 20 does this path in reverse and does mention that it is tricky.) After the Seni restaurant the turn off to the right is not overclear as you have to cross through a very short section of woodland before reaching the track with stone walls (but you can see it from the road). At the point where the 'track makes a U-turn to the left' it actually leads into a new property. We followed the boundary wall up and round to the left where we joined a motorable track and turned right. At the 'junction by a farm' there were new double gates which were locked but there was just room to squeeze past on the right. All fine after this. (User, 10/10)

Walk 20: Four minutes past the tennis court the transformer building is actually a transformer pylon. About half way up the pylon there is a sign with the number 1039 and 'Socarrat' on it. Another observation later in the walk, 100m after the Cami Don Miquel Pere (incidentally no road sign here) where you take the track straight ahead. Fine at first but then it was difficult to determine which was the main track round to the left. Also the hairpin bend back to the right was more of a gentle curve round to the right. Useful tip - all the way along there was a high mesh fence on the right of the track which looked quite new. Also we were aware of traffic over to the left. We reached the T-junction OK and from there the instructions were fine. (User, 10/11)

Walk 21: We walked this route both last year and again recently. On both occasions we had difficulty in making sense of the instructions for the final part of the walk. 'Some 50m/yds before the PM811, turn right on a farm track' - this track now has a new wooden signpost but it is before the Torrent de sa Cala not after as the map suggests. Keep straight ahead along this track, crossing an asphalt lane and eventually joining an asphalt lane at a T-junction. Turn left for a short distance. Just before coming to the PM811 again turn right and take the left hand of two paths. It appears to be the dried-up river bed which passes under a bridge as described. In less than five minutes you are at the beach. (User, 10/11)

Walk 23: The route to Can Miquel Pere is gated and signed "Prohibido El Paso". (User, 1/09) + There is a large new car park above the beach at Cala Boix. Follow the surfaced road to the left at the opposite end of the car park to the bay. This passes behind Cala Boix Restaurant, turning right by a dry stone wall with a red marker post.
We could not see the path to the east where the wall kinked north. Following the way-marked path to a track then turning right brings you back onto the correct route which can be followed to Torre d'en Valls... On route to Can Miguel Pere a new property has been built. This is lived in by a pleasant young Spanish couple that speak good English. They said that some other people have asked the way but they think it is blocked by a neighbour but are happy for you to try to find the route. They said they would try to find out the correct route and mark it - watch this space! (User, 9/10)