Spain · Western Mediterranean · Marina Botafoch & Sant Antoni
Two harbours on opposite coasts, forty minutes apart by road. The east side sends the Formentera boats out past the Botafoc lighthouse; the west side sends everything that chases the sunset.
Quick answer
Eleven well-reviewed boats leave Ibiza on a normal summer day and they sort into four kinds of afternoon. Full-day Formentera crossings from $92 cross the Es Freus channel for beach time on the sandbar island. Beach-hopping cruises from $80 work the west-coast calas with paddleboards and food. Es Vedrà runs from $29 are three hours out of Sant Antoni to the island in every photograph. And party catamarans from $70 come with a DJ and a club ticket in the price.
Which harbour matters more here than in almost any Mediterranean port, because Ibiza's two face opposite seas. Formentera ferries and the big catamarans load at the Estació Marítima de Botafoc and Marina Botafoch on the east; the Es Vedrà, Cala Bassa and sunset boats leave from the Sant Antoni waterfront on the west. Alsa's L3 links them in about forty minutes — not something to attempt an hour before departure.
If Formentera is the only reason you are booking, the scheduled ferry crosses in half an hour and four operators compete on it. That is the cheaper option, and it is also the one that hands you Formentera's own vehicle access charge the moment you rent a scooter there. The arithmetic is below.
Compare
The five kinds of day boat leaving Ibiza, each shown with the cheapest well-reviewed example of its type and the one thing that decides it. Durations and prices are the operators' own figures, taken from the listings on this page and re-checked in September 2026.
| Type of day | Time out | Harbour | From | What decides it | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formentera, full day | 10 hours | Botafoc / Marina Botafoch | $92 | Beach time on the sandbar, all-inclusive | Details |
| West-coast beach hopping | 6 hours | Sant Antoni | $80 | Paddleboards and calas, no channel crossing | Details |
| Es Vedrà cruise | 3 hours | Sant Antoni | $29 | Cheapest hour afloat on the island | Details |
| Sunset with an open bar | 3 hours | Sant Antoni | $63 | Tapas and water toys as the light goes | Details |
| Party catamaran | 3 hours | Sant Antoni | $70 | DJ, saxophonist and a club ticket included | Details |
The boats
Every boat below is bookable now and carries its operator's own rating and review count — 12,061 reviews across the eleven. Prices are per person unless the card says the boat is private, in which case the figure buys the hull. Re-checked in September 2026.
4.6★ (3505 reviews) · 6 hours · from $80
4.6★ (2071 reviews) · 10 hours · from $163
4.7★ (1859 reviews) · 10 hours · from $92
4.7★ (1412 reviews) · 3 hours · from $70
4.7★ (1168 reviews) · 4 hours · from $105
4.7★ (1055 reviews) · 12 hours · from $127
4.6★ (330 reviews) · 3 hours · from $63
4.5★ (326 reviews) · 3 hours · from $29
4.6★ (203 reviews) · 3 hours · from $63
4.9★ (110 reviews) · 3 hours · from $70
5★ (22 reviews) · 4.5 - 8.5 hours · from $320
The piers
Ibiza's two working passenger harbours face opposite seas, and the bus between them takes about as long as some of the boats are out.
The Estació Marítima de Botafoc is the island's main passenger terminal, out on the Botafoc breakwater on the north side of Ibiza Town's harbour. Ports de Balears opened it, in 2023, to move scheduled passenger and freight traffic off the old town quay. All four Formentera ferry lines — Balearia, Trasmapi, Aquabus and Formentera Lines — board here, and so do several of the big excursion catamarans. It is two and a half kilometres by road from Dalt Vila, five minutes in a taxi, and a half-hour walk nobody enjoys with a cool bag at nine in the morning.
Marina Botafoch sits just inside the same breakwater, opposite the old town: the yacht marina, a frontage of restaurants and bars, and where the Ibiza Boat Club catamarans load along with most charters quoting "Port of Ibiza" as a meeting point. A shuttle boat crosses to the quay below Dalt Vila, the fastest way over from inside the walls.
Sant Antoni de Portmany, on the west coast, is the other half of the island's boat trade. Departures cluster along the Passeig de la Badia de Portmany, with the Cruceros Portmany kiosk as the landmark most tickets name. Alsa's L3 runs Ibiza Town–Sant Antoni all year, and Alsa's own fare table prices its stages from €1.70 under nine kilometres to €2.60 beyond eighteen by card or QR, with cash fares higher.
| Harbour | What leaves from it | From Ibiza Town | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estació Marítima de Botafoc | All four Formentera ferry lines, large excursion catamarans | 2.5 km — 5 min taxi, ~30 min walk | Built to take scheduled traffic off the old quay; separate boarding levels |
| Marina Botafoch | Ibiza Boat Club catamarans, private charters | Same breakwater, harbour shuttle to Dalt Vila | "Port of Ibiza" on a listing usually means here, not the ferry terminal |
| Sant Antoni (Passeig de la Badia) | Es Vedrà cruises, sunset boats, party catamarans, beach shuttles | ~15 km — Alsa L3, about 40 min | Cruceros Portmany's kiosk is the landmark most tickets name |
| Cala Bassa / Cala Conta jetties | The beach shuttles, arriving not departing | By boat from Sant Antoni | May to October, except Sundays |
The arithmetic
Four scheduled operators run the Es Freus channel as a public service, and that is the honest comparison for anyone whose real goal is to stand on Formentera rather than to spend a day on a boat.
Balearia, Trasmapi, Aquabus and Formentera Lines all sail Ibiza–La Savina in about thirty minutes, more than sixty crossings a day in high season between them. Direct Ferries' operator comparison puts one-way fares in the low twenties of euros with Trasmapi and Formentera Lines and a little above that with Balearia, so a same-day return sits roughly in the €46 to €66 band — two people across and back for less than one seat on a cruise.
The catch is what happens when you land. La Savina is a port, not a beach, and Formentera's good sand is spread over twenty kilometres of a long thin island. To use it you rent a scooter, and that is where the formentera.eco vehicle access charge starts running: a per-day fee set by the Consell Insular de Formentera that carries a minimum charge whether you stay one day or ten.
Set that against $92 for the all-inclusive Formentera day with three stops, or $127 for the twelve-hour version with an open bar, three meals and the sunset party on the run home. What the fare does not buy: the swim stops in the channel, the reason those boats take ten hours to cover thirty minutes of sailing; lunch; the paddleboards; and a skipper who moves the anchorage when the wind turns. The ferry is a bus with a hull — take it if you want Formentera, book the boat if you want the day.
The west coast runs the same logic smaller. Cruceros Portmany's shuttle to Cala Bassa and Cala Conta sails May to October, daily except Sundays, out at 10:30, 12:00 and 14:00 and back at 13:00, 16:00 and 18:00 — a taxi to two beaches. The $80 beach-hopping cruise anchors off the calas instead, and the paddleboards, the food and the drinks are the product.
Prices
Three price bands, drawn from the eleven listings on this page rather than from an average of the market. Ibiza's spread is unusually wide, and the reason is that the two harbours sell different things.
The Es Vedrà cruise from Sant Antoni at $29 is the cheapest three hours afloat on the island by a distance. Above it, the caves-and-coves run at $63, the sunset boat at $63, and both the snorkelling and SUP trip and the party catamaran at $70. All three-hour products; none crosses to Formentera.
The six-hour beach-hopping cruise at $80 and the all-inclusive Formentera day at $92 are the two most people choose between. The floating beach club half-day at $105 and the twelve-hour Formentera loop at $127 are the same idea with the catering scaled up.
The Formentera day with VIP beds at $163 a head tops the per-person market here. The self-drive boat from Sant Antoni is $320 for the hull, no licence, up to five people. Split five ways it undercuts every full-day seat on this page, and it is the only version where you choose the anchorage.
The hulls
Five hull types cover everything bookable from the two harbours, and the difference is mostly how far offshore they go and how much of the day is spent moving. Prices are the cheapest example of each type on this page.
The self-drive option carries obligations the others do not: a boat you steer is a boat whose anchor is your responsibility, and here that is a regulated act — see the fees for the posidonia rules and the buoy booking system.
| Boat | From | Typical day | Where it goes | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party catamaran | $70 | 3 hours | A lap of Sant Antoni bay with a DJ | Music and a club ticket, one short swim stop |
| Large excursion cruiser | $29 | 3 – 6 hours | Es Vedrà, the west-coast calas | Cheap and stable; you share it with a lot of people |
| Motor catamaran to Formentera | $92 | 10 – 12 hours | Across Es Freus to the sandbar coast | The only way to get swim stops in the channel |
| Small motor boat with gear | $63 | 3 hours | Coves and sea caves near the port | Snorkelling and SUP as the point, not an extra |
| Self-drive hire, no licence | $320 | 4.5 – 8.5 hours | Wherever the permitted zone allows | Per boat, not per head; you are the skipper |
Season
Sea temperatures are the long-term monthly averages published by Climates to Travel; the sailing notes are what the season does to the timetable in these two harbours.
Rain rarely cancels a boat here; wind does, and it does it in one specific place. The tramuntana from the north and the llevant from the east are the two that matter, and the water they roughen first is Es Freus, the narrow channel between Ibiza and Formentera. The strait is windier than either island, so a morning that looks flat from the Botafoc breakwater can still produce a crossing half the boat regrets. When AEMET issues a yellow warning for wind and coastal phenomena — several times a season, closing La Savina outright in the worst of them — the Formentera sailings go first.
The west coast has a milder problem: the afternoon sea breeze in Sant Antoni bay is welcome in August heat, which is why the sunset boats keep running on days when the crossings do not. Climates to Travel puts the windy season from October through April, with Ibiza the most sheltered of the Balearics from the northerly systems off France — sheltered, not immune.
| Month | Sea | Boats running | What it means on the water |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 16 °C (61 °F) | Almost none | Ferries run for residents; excursion boats still laid up |
| May | 18 °C (64 °F) | Season opens | Beach shuttles start; swim stops are a dare rather than a swim |
| June | 21 °C (70 °F) | Everything | Long days, water finally warm, prices below August |
| July | 24 °C (75 °F) | Everything, filling up | Book days ahead; the west-coast sea breeze builds after lunch |
| August | 26 °C (79 °F) | Everything, sold out | Warmest sea and fullest boats of the year |
| September | 24 °C (75 °F) | Everything | Warm water, shorter queues at Botafoc |
| October | 22 °C (72 °F) | Thinning out | Still swimmable; the beach shuttles finish this month |
| November – March | 14 – 19 °C (57 – 66 °F) | Ferries only | The Balearics are windiest from October through April |
Extras
Ibiza collects less at the pier than most Mediterranean ports, but four charges catch people out — and two of them are consequences of taking the cheap option rather than the boat.
The posidonia rules shape your day even if you never touch a helm. Decree 25/2018 made anchoring over posidonia an offence throughout the Balearics, and the meadow shared by Ibiza and Formentera inside the Ses Salines natural park is the one it was written for: a UNESCO-listed organism running for miles under the Es Freus channel. Enforcement is real — the Balearic surveillance programme runs a fleet of patrol boats and logs inspections in six figures a season. Aboard a tour boat that means the skipper anchors where the chart permits, not where the water looks nicest, and a self-drive hire like the $320 boat from Sant Antoni comes with a briefing worth listening to. Buoy reservations go through balearslifeposidonia.eu: one per boat, nine hours ahead, ten knots inside the zone, on the buoy before six in the evening.
Two smaller ones. "Open bar" on a three-hour Sant Antoni boat means the bar is open for those three hours, not that it follows you to the club — the catamaran party is the outlier, because its club ticket is genuinely inside the price. And the party boats now sail under a rule most listings never mention: the Balearic excess-tourism decree bars boats selling alcohol on board from coming within one nautical mile of the designated zones, Sant Antoni among them, or from picking up and dropping passengers inside them. It runs to at least the end of 2027, and it is why your catamaran boards where it does.
| Item | Amount | Who collects it | When it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| formentera.eco vehicle access | €6 a day, €9 in July and August (cars); €3 and €4.50 (scooters), minimums €15 – €45 | Consell Insular de Formentera | Any car or scooter used on Formentera in summer, including one hired on landing |
| Posidonia mooring buoy | €10 a day up to 8 m, €20 up to 15 m | balearslifeposidonia.eu, booked 9 hours ahead | Self-drive hire and charters anchoring in the regulated zones |
| Anchoring on seagrass | €500 – €5,000 minor, €5,001 – €200,000 serious | Balearic government, under law 42/2007 | Any anchor or chain touching posidonia — about 650 km² of seabed |
| Bus between the harbours | €1.70 – €2.60 by card or QR, more in cash | Alsa, line L3 | Every Sant Antoni departure if you are based in Ibiza Town |
On the water
Ibiza's two harbours sit on opposite coasts. Botafoc and Marina Botafoch face east towards Formentera across the Es Freus channel; Sant Antoni faces west towards Es Vedrà and the sunset calas.
Questions
It depends on the boat. Formentera crossings and the Ibiza Boat Club catamarans load at the Estació Marítima de Botafoc and Marina Botafoch on the east coast, two and a half kilometres from Dalt Vila. The Es Vedrà cruises, sunset boats and party catamarans leave from the Passeig de la Badia de Portmany in Sant Antoni, forty minutes west by Alsa's L3. No shuttle links the two for tour passengers.
Yes, by a wide margin, if all you want is to land there: the four lines cross in about thirty minutes and a return sits roughly in the €46 to €66 band. What you lose is the swim stops in Es Freus, lunch, the paddleboards and a skipper who moves the anchorage — what the $92 all-inclusive day is selling. Budget a scooter and the island's vehicle access charge on top of the fare.
A per-day vehicle access fee set by the Consell Insular de Formentera to cap vehicle numbers through the summer. Cars pay €6 a day, €9 in July and August; scooters €3 and €4.50, both with a seasonal minimum of €15 to €45 however few days you use. It applies to vehicles brought over on the ferry and to those hired on Formentera. Arrive by boat tour and stay with the boat and it does not touch you.
No. Decree 25/2018 bans anchoring over posidonia across the Balearics, roughly 650 km² of seabed, and the meadow inside the Ses Salines natural park between the two islands is UNESCO-listed. Regulated zones use colour-coded buoys — red up to 8 m at €10 a day, white up to 15 m at €20 — booked through balearslifeposidonia.eu nine hours ahead. Fines under law 42/2007 start at €500 and reach €200,000. On the self-drive boat that is your problem, not the operator's.
Cala Conta gives you the same sun going into the same sea at no cost, with Sunset Ashram and Sunset Cala Conta above the sand — arrive early, the good positions fill. The $63 sunset boat buys three things the shore cannot: the angle back towards the island rather than out at the horizon, a swim stop, and a bar you do not queue for.
The Balearic excess-tourism decree bars boats selling alcohol on board from coming within one nautical mile of the designated zones — Sant Antoni, plus Playa de Palma and Magaluf in Mallorca — or embarking passengers inside them. It runs to at least the end of 2027. It shapes where a party boat boards and how far out it runs before the bar opens; it has not stopped the boats. The catamaran party still includes club entry, which is the exception rather than the norm.
The tramuntana from the north and the llevant from the east. Both roughen Es Freus, the channel between Ibiza and Formentera, which is windier than either island. When AEMET issues a yellow warning for wind and coastal phenomena — several times a season, occasionally closing La Savina — the Formentera sailings go first. Sunset and beach boats out of Sant Antoni keep running on days when the crossings do not.
September, then June. September holds a 24 °C sea with full timetables and shorter queues at Botafoc; June has a 21 °C sea and prices below August. August is the warmest water of the year at 26 °C and the month boats sell out days ahead.
It is a catamaran run as a floating beach club out of Marina Botafoch, selling a $105 half-day with brunch and drinks and a $163 full day to Formentera with a VIP bed held for you, both rated 4.6 to 4.7★ over thousands of reviews. Worth it if the sunbed and the catering are the point; if you want swim stops and a route, the $92 Formentera day gives you more water for less.
Nearby
Or browse every boat tour and day cruise by port.
The other Balearic hub, and the same posidonia and party-boat rules apply in its bay
Coastal day cruising ▸ BarcelonaSpainEight hours away by overnight ferry: harbour sails and Costa Brava day boats from Port Vell
Sunset & harbour sailing ▸ MaltaMaltaThe western Mediterranean's other blue-water island, with Comino's Blue Lagoon in place of Formentera
Grotto & cave tours ▸