Where to stay in Ibiza

Ibiza Town is the capital: the walled upper town of Dalt Vila, the harbour quarter of La Marina and the streets around Vara de Rey, about 9 km from the airport by road. It suits a first visit on foot, restaurants and the ferries to Formentera.

Sant Antoni de Portmany, on a bay in the west, is the resort town of sunsets, bars and boat trips. Santa Eulària des Riu, on the east coast, is the calmer town, with a promenade, a town beach and the Wednesday hippy market at Es Canar nearby.

The rest of the island is coves and countryside. The north around Sant Joan de Labritja has small bays such as Portinatx and Benirràs and suits villa stays. Sant Josep and the west coast, from Cala Vedella and Cala Tarida to Platges de Comte, suit beach days and sunsets. Both need a car.

From 1 June to 30 September Ibiza limits the number of vehicles on the island under the Balearic law of 2024 on vehicle inflow. For 2026 the Consell set 17,668 vehicles a day, 14,000 of them rental cars, and a car rented on Ibiza runs under its rental company's quota, with nothing for the driver to do. Cameras read the plates, and no sticker is needed. A car brought by ferry needs an authorisation at EUR 1 a day, unless its return trip is booked with the same shipping line. Formentera has its own rules: from 1 June to 30 September rental vehicles hired outside Formentera may not be taken there.

In Ibiza Town, Dalt Vila and La Marina are restricted areas with plate-reading barriers since 18 May 2026, so do not drive into either. The blue zone costs EUR 2 for two hours at most, charged from June to September on Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 22:00, and the council's 2025 map lists 31 car parks with about 5,200 spaces. Sant Antoni has 763 blue spaces at EUR 1 an hour for two hours at most, from April to October. Santa Eulària has more than 1,600 free spaces in its edge-of-town car parks.

Beach parking is the harder part. From 1 May to 15 October 2026 the road to Cala Salada, north of Sant Antoni, is controlled from 09:30 to 17:00, with a free park and ride at Can Coix. Local press reports that the car parks at Platges de Comte and Cala Bassa can be full before 10:00 in July and August. GetCar's guide Driving in Ibiza: the Airport, the Roads, the 2026 Vehicle Limit, Beach Car Parks and Buses, Parking in Ibiza Town and Sant Antoni, Formentera covers each beach in full.

Tourist lodging in Ibiza charges the Balearic tourist stay tax of Ley 2/2016, per person and per night. The rates published by the Balearic tax agency in September 2026 are EUR 2 in holiday homes and in one to three star hotels, EUR 3 in four star and three star superior hotels, EUR 4 in five star and four star superior hotels, and EUR 1 in hostals, campsites and hostels. Under 16s are exempt. From 1 November to 30 April the tax drops by 75%, and from the ninth night of a stay longer than eight nights in the same place it halves. The host collects it before the stay ends.

Holiday lets fall under Ley 8/2012, the Balearic tourism law: the whole home, never a room, for at most 30 nights. Every advert must show the tourist registration number, and the Consell d'Eivissa publishes the full list of registered tourist homes on its tourist register portal, so a number can be checked before paying. The letting contract must ban parties, and if guests hold parties or events against the rules of coexistence, the host must require them to leave within 24 hours.

Since Decreto-ley 4/2025 of April 2025, no new holiday lets in flats may be declared anywhere in the Balearic Islands, apart from terraced and semi-detached houses and lets of the owner's main home. At national level, the national registration procedure was largely annulled in May 2026, regional registers still apply, and whether a national number must still appear on a listing is unsettled as of September 2026. At check-in, every guest over 14 signs a registration form under Real Decreto 933/2021, and the host sends the data to the police.

Three windows matter. The vehicle limit runs from 1 June to 30 September, and the Formentera ban on outside rental cars covers the same months. The Cala Salada controls run from 1 May to 15 October in 2026. The tourist tax is a quarter of the full rate from 1 November to 30 April.

For stays longer than a month, plan around the 30-night limit on holiday lets. Up to 30 nights, a registered holiday home is a normal booking; beyond that, the stay needs a seasonal lease, which the monthly guide covers.

A first visit, restaurants and the Formentera ferry: Ibiza Town.

Nightlife and west-coast beaches: Sant Antoni de Portmany.

A family week or a month: Santa Eulària des Riu.

A villa in the quiet north: Portinatx and the north.

Coves and sunsets: Sant Josep and the west coast.