This week’s travel dream: Ibiza’s quiet side

“Think of Ibiza and you likely imagine mega-clubs and all-night rave parties,” said Henry Urbach in Travel + Leisure. Fair enough: The windswept island off Spain’s Mediterranean coast is justly renowned “for its cultivated hedonism and air of permissiveness.” But more extraordinary than the party scene itself is how varied experiences of the 25-mile-long island can be. Little Ibiza is “many places in one,” ranging “from urban to pastoral, high-test to utterly restful.”

My boyfriend and I like to use centrally located Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera as our jumping-off point. A gorgeous little town with a pedestrian-only center, it’s slower-paced than Ibiza Town but full of boutiques, restaurants, and easygoing bars where we’ve spent many a happy afternoon. Our drives across the island carry us into an “ancient and majestic” landscape of forests and terraced hills, many covered with olive, fig, or almond trees and dotted with windmills and ancient whitewashed estates. One day, we spend our afternoon picnicking and swimming at Es Broll de Buscastell, the site of a freshwater spring where the array of fruit trees and medieval cisterns “reminds me of nothing so much as the Garden of Eden.” Friends invite us to spend another at the island’s western coast, where we make a steep hike past quarried cliff faces down to a beach and “a Mediterranean that time has forgotten—salty and clear and silent.” Offshore lies Es Vedrà, a dramatic rock formation said to be the home of Ibiza’s patron goddess, Tanit. We watch the sun set behind it as we climb back to our car.

We often catch late dinners on such nights in villages that each have a single restaurant, often located near a storybook church. On one of our last days, we rent kayaks and explore the grottoes near Port de Sant Miquel, then meet friends at a restaurant on Platja d’es Codolar, where we sip cocktails and nibble tapas while lying on white beds overlooking the water. Driving home, we see reflected light dancing on the island’s famous salt pans. “We have found the quiet heart of Ibiza.”

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At Es Cucons in Santa Agnès, (escucons.com), doubles start at $316.