Formentera
Formentera is the smallest inhabited Balearic island: eleven thousand residents and eighty-three square kilometres. It has no airport, and the only way in is the ferry from Ibiza — about half an hour. The island is flat and low, with long sandy beaches and salt pans in the middle.
In summer the population multiplies; in winter the island nearly empties. It holds the lowest winter score in our base — one out of five; six places carry that score, and Formentera is one of them. In practice that means this: no schools, a small hospital of its own, and a ferry to Ibiza for serious treatment, as for every winter question. The square metre is among the dearest in our base all the same — people pay for the summer, not the winter. About a third of residents are foreign.
- Ibiza · 22 km — the ferry, the airport and the hospital
- Es Pujols · 3 km — the island's main village, with the bars
- La Mola · 15 km — the lighthouse on the eastern cape and the old market
Formentera sits in Formentera, 1.5 km from the water. From November to March the town empties out: our rating is 1 out of 5. A resort in summer, shuttered bars and thin transport in winter. 28% of residents are foreign nationals per the census: Spanish is not the only language you will hear on the street. Summers are packed: tourist load hits 5 out of 5 at the peak against 1 in winter.
Hospital, terrain, getting around
Where from: the Ministry of Health hospital catalogue, road time · elevations from the Copernicus terrain model · OpenStreetMap · ratings for car-free and hospital minutes are ours.
Formentera sea temperature by month
5 months above 20 °CsourceAverage sea surface temperature, °C, for 2015–2024 — NOAA OISST satellite series, grid cell 10.1 km from the centre.
Tourist load
Formentera beaches and water quality
sourceFormentera has 6 beaches tested under EU bathing water rules, at 7 sampling points. In the 2025 season, all 6 were graded excellent. No beach here has been graded “poor” since testing began in 1990.
The grade is bacteria in water samples over the last four seasons — not sand, views or crowds. “Poor” means bathing there is advised against.
| Beach | From the centre | Grade 2025 | “Excellent” in a row | Last “poor” |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa Es Pujols | 3.3 km | excellent | 35 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Sa Roqueta | 3.5 km | excellent | 35 seasons | none since 1991 |
| Playa Cala Sahona | 3.7 km | excellent | 35 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Migjorn | 3.7 km | excellent | 33 seasons | none since 1990 |
| Playa Llevant | 5 km | excellent | 35 seasons | none since 1991 |
| Playa Illetes | 5.7 km | excellent | 35 seasons | none since 1990 |
Where from: European Environment Agency, bathing water register, seasons 1990–2025, licence CC BY 4.0. Distance is from the centre in a straight line. Every place in one table
On the map
What tenants actually pay
sourcedThis is the median rent on active leases — tax records for 2024, a sample of 281 leases. It includes long-standing contracts at unchanged rents, so it sits below what is asked today: our estimate of asking rent is 2 200 € for a two-bedroom.
The point of the 75th percentile: it is closer to what is being signed now than the median. The gap between them shows how much a new tenant overpays relative to long-standing ones.
Where from: SERPAVI, Ministerio de Vivienda · municipality: Formentera
Rent by number of bedrooms
asking price, estimate| 1 bedroom | 1 500 €/mo | |
| 2 bedrooms | 2 200 €/mo | |
| 3 bedrooms | ≈ 2 860 €/mo | model: two-bed × 1.3, no measurement yet |
| Median of active leases, 2024 | 850 €/mo | SERPAVI · 65 m² |
Asking prices are what long lets are advertised at today; the registry is what tenants pay on signed leases, including old ones. The gap between them is your negotiating argument.
Schools nearby
estimateInternational schools counted in the base: 0. Names and curricula for this place are not verified yet — the school registry covers the thirty most-requested places so far.
Renting without a Spanish contract
How realistic a long lease is without a nómina — on foreign income, savings or prepayment.
- —28% foreign residents — income from abroad is routine for landlords here
- —A community with its own services: agencies have dealt with foreigners before
- —Prices rising 8% a year — the landlord picks, and the first filter is a nómina
- —Stock goes to tourist lets: long leases are scarce and competed for
This is our model, not a measurement: demanding a nómina is an individual landlord's practice and nobody publishes it. The rating is derived from the share of foreign residents, the presence of a community with services, price growth, seasonality of the stock and the size of the town.
Who lives here
INE 2025- Italy975
- Colombia399
- Morocco355
- Romania310
- Germany249
- Argentina202
- Brazil149
- France125
- itItalian~1 500school, doctors or lawyers in the languageFormentera is historically an Italian destination: in summer you hear more Italian than Spanish
Where from: INE, Censo Anual de Población · the register-based census counts padrón registrations by citizenship on 1 January, not everyone living here: seasonal owners and the unregistered are outside it, and naturalised residents count as Spanish.
Winter direct flights from IBZ
January 2026/2775 min to the airport- Netherlands2
- United Kingdom1
- France1
- Germany1
Destinations served at least weekly in January; checked 2026-09-17.
Paperwork and practicalities
From OpenStreetMap — an open map filled in by volunteers. Something missing there may still exist: read this as «we found this many», not «there are no more».
Month by month
Air, sea, how busy it gets and what stays open — for each month on its own.
Articles that include this place
- Best time to visit Ibiza: the water, the price of a night and how much of the island is open each monthTwelve months on Ibiza and Formentera from the weather service's normals, sea temperature and two years of hotel statistics: when hotels open and close, who stays in winter, why September is cheaper than June with warmer water, and what keeps working in January.
- Ibiza and Formentera beaches by water quality: each beach's record since 1990Two islands in one European register entry, and very different water: where excellent has held since the record began, where it slipped and when, and what each beach got last season.
- Where are the Balearic Islands? Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and FormenteraSpain, not a country of their own. Which island is where and how far from Barcelona and Valencia, why winter splits the islands, the sea month by month, and the water at each island's beaches.
- Cost of living in Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza: spending, rent and pay from government dataWhat island households spend and on what, what tenants pay in twelve towns on three islands, and what people here earn — with the survey's margin of error, and no guessed baskets.
- Seven mistakes people make moving to coastal SpainEvery mistake counted across 132 coastal places: how many empty out in winter, where it is damp, where a car is unavoidable and where the sea is warm for three months.
- What a month on the Spanish coast costs, town by townOne identical scenario costed across all 132 places. The spread between towns is wider than between countries, and nearly as wide within a single coast.
Where to look next
- Ibiza (Eivissa)5 435 €/m²
- Sant Josep de sa Talaia5 600 €/m²
- Santa Eulària des Riu6 800 €/m²
- Ibiza (Eivissa)5 435 €/m²
- Sitges4 924 €/m²
- Barcelona4 595 €/m²
- Zarautz6 994 €/m²
- San Sebastián / Donostia5 186 €/m²
- Sitges4 924 €/m²