Sant Antoni de Portmany (or San Antonio Abad, in its translation into Spanish) was the gateway to the hippie movement that colonized Ibiza from the sixties. A seafaring town, but also a flag of rural Ibiza, Sant Antoni would later mutate into one of the capitals of the Balearic festival.
Dazzled by its nightlife and its beaches, Sant Antoni little by little and with good wickerwork shows the traveler that there is a different town. Tasty, gastronomic, family, quiet and to discover that it has a lot to teach, especially to the Spanish tourist.
Sant Antoni thus opens like a window that leaves the Mediterranean open, loaded with local fish, but it also turns towards an interior that is not so well known, where the orchard, the countryside and the Mediterranean trilogy fit. Margin for Michelin stars, for Repsol soles, for fishermen’s cuisine, for artisan breads, for signature cheeses, for wines in which the toast tastes like summer… Sant Antony has it all and it has it now.
A a stone’s throw from the main Spanish cities, Ibiza is discovered as a culinary plan that, moreover, is best enjoyed out of season. April, May or the first days of June reveal it as the perfect corner to have a beach, countryside, table and some movement without worrying about crowds.
Day 1: from the vineyard to the beach
From the inside out, Sant Antoni is a little Eden that, if we like wine, offers a curious wine tourism proposal, but it is also the perfect place to indulge in beaches and nautical activities without referral. Depending on our profile (families, couples, friends…), there is an enjoyable Sant Antoni.
Tomorrow: wine tourism and a dedicated sea
Barely 34 hectares occupy the land of Can Rich, the most renowned winery in Ibiza, of which only half are vineyards. The other so, olive. Guided tastings, a charming vineyard where you can taste their wines and a short walk through the vineyards in this modern winery they are good wickers to discover another way of seeing Balearic wines.
If we are not wine lovers or our plan prefers to focus on the coast, there is a lots of activities that have to do with the sea and with which to conquer adults and children. A stop at the Aquarium Cap Blanc is almost essential, but if we want more lively activities there are. Diving courses —including baptisms for beginners—, paddle surf routes or boat trips (sailboats, llauts or yachts) attest to the maritime versatility of Sant Antoni.
Food: Es Ventall, the peasant tradition
Country cuisine brought to the 21st century are the wickers with which the chef Jose Miguel Bonet claims Es Ventall, a restaurant with four decades of life. To get the classics right and check what has always been eaten in Ibiza, nothing better than going to the bullit de peix or the sofrit pagès. They also embroider the rice dishes and, if we are tempted to look for a somewhat more avant-garde bet, it is best to go to the tasting menu, also full of Ibizan flavors.
Afternoon: from cove to cove and shoot because it’s my turn
Dominating the entire west coast of Ibiza means being lucky enough to see flag sunsets day after day. The options are almost endless because the coastline that is cut here opens the ban to look for more or less quiet places or even some that can be reached through paths and small roads. If we don’t want to complicate our lives, both Cap Blanc and Ses Variades are options within Sant Antony itself from which to watch the sunset.
If we have time or we are more liberated, options that are also highly recommended are some of the nooks and crannies over which the cliffs of Sant Antoni appear as we head north of the island. Sa Penya Esbarrada, Cala Saladeta or Punta Galera They are among the best options to see somewhat calmer sunsets.
Dinner: Hostal La Torre or The Gates of Heaven
Taking advantage of the windows that the sun closes with its fall, there are a couple of options that it places, perched on those rocks that guarantee both the sunset and a more or less calm evening. On the one hand, Tower Hostel, a classic from Sant Antoni, which has now taken on a new style under the rhythm of Grupo Mambo. Product cuisine, fun and unpretentious, easy to share and with which its wickers are always right. On the other hand, risky in Sa Penya Esbarrada and near Pla de Corona, where the first hippies of the island lived, is the The Gates of Heaven restaurant.
Country dishes, rice dishes, prawns, grilled meats and fish of the day are responsible for giving the gastronomic welcome to a quiet place, affordable, not very crowded and that appeals to all audiences in a privileged natural environment.
Where to sleep in Sant Antoni de Portmany
Options for spend the night in towns like Sant Antoni de Portmany are almost infinite, both depending on what we are looking for and what we want to pay. Hostel The Tower It is a classic, perfect for two or three people and in a quiet area of the town without being too far and whose options you can find here.
Logically, there are many alternatives in the center of Sant Antoni with which not to stay far from the hustle and bustle, but if we are looking for calm, there are dozens of villas and small farmhouses towards the interior like Can Pujolet, Sa Talaia or the Pikes hotel where calm becomes the queens.
Day 2: local markets, fish of the day and centenary breads
If we are lucky enough to fall in Sant Antoni de Portmany on a Friday we have a green and tasty appointment with the Mercat de sa Cooperativa, where every morning local producers put vegetables and fruits at more than competitive prices. Also, if it is Saturday, we can take the car and go to the Mercat de Sa Forada, with an even more authentic and peasant atmosphere, near the intersection with Can Tixedó. In addition, in the first, we may be lucky enough to buy some of the xeixa wheat bread from the Es Brot artisan bakery.
Morning: motorized tours and hiking at your discretion
Turned towards the interior, Sant Antoni de Portmany can also be discovered through the Vespa Tour that can be hired and that allow us to put aside the car and go from town to town, discovering the most picturesque of Sant Antoni. If we want to put aside the wheels and start on foot, some hiking routes are more than recommended to get to know that inland Sant Antoni like that of Pla de Corona, perfect for the first months of the year with the flowering of the almond trees.
Also famous for its sports scene, Sant Antoni is in spring and autumn another of the favorite places to practice cycling or MTB cycling. There are several companies that rent bicycles on the island, adapted to all types of users, and with which they also provide recommended tours and routes to see Sant Antoni. One of the most impressive is to approach Es Broll, a small valley criss-crossed with streams and streams that acted as the orchard orchard of Sant Antoni, whose ditches and pipes will surprise more than one traveller.
Food: Cala Gracioneta
Few coves have the charm of Cala Gració and Cala Gracioneta, Names that do not sound like a coincidence to us when we see the embedded sandbanks that give life to these noisy but elegant little beaches in summer. It is the perfect place to indulge in a high-class beach bar where embers, both for fish and meat, take the lead, although there are also good rice dishes and fresh international dishes such as tartares, burrata or fried foods. A perfect place to close the last meal portmanin.
Afternoon: a route through the other Ibiza that, in reality, is the real Ibiza
He says Fine Prats, co-responsible for the Can Fontet agricultural project and the Ses Cabretes cheese factory that “the other Ibiza is that of red carpets, music and champagne”. And he is right, because the real Ibiza was that of peasants, orchards, carob and olive trees, and goats. That more rural Ibiza does not lack Sant Antoni with little towns like Buscastell, Santa Agnes or Sant Mateu d’Albarca (you should not miss the wine festival held after the harvest, during the month of December), dotted with white churches, fields of almond trees and small farms.
Dinner: Michelin stars or fish of the day
Es Tragón (in the photo) concentrates the Michelin spotlights of Sant Antoni and does so with a Madrilenian as chef, but who has been able to reinterpret the Mediterranean and Ibizan essence in a plan that, without being for all audiences, is well worth the grief. Creative, signature and seasonal cuisine which is served in a single tasting menu with which the chef aspires to two Michelin stars.
More ‘earthly’ and also a fabulous toast to close the trip to Sant Antoni de Portmany is the Es Nautic restaurant, embedded in the municipality’s marina. Fish in salt, baked and grilled attest to the cost of groupers, dentex and scorpion fish the richness of the Ibizan sea. Also prawns, Norway lobsters, galleys, lobsters and lobsters guarantee this power. By the way, a trick to know when a lobster or lobster is Ibizan is to look at its colors. If they are blue and have a slight beige mottling on their backs, they are local shellfish.
Images | iStock / Visit Sant Antony / Grupo Mambo / Imam Communication
In DAP | Gastroguide of Ibiza: what to eat on the White Island (and which restaurants you should not miss)
In DAP | This is the centenary Ibizan herbal liqueur that began as medicine and ended up triumphing among DJs