Walking in Ibiza: Discovering Es Vedra, the Magnet of Ibiza

Previously, I have talked about a magical place Punta Galera that I found for myself (as have done many others) and a place which is very symbolic to Ibiza with a long history, the Ses Salinas Natural park with the infamous La Salinas beach and amazing coastal line. 
One place that cannot go unmentioned when you talk about walking in Ibiza is Es Vedra and it’s satelite Es Vedranell in the South-West of Ibiza, an island that belongs to Cala d’Hort Nature Reserve. 
It is an uninhibited island which you can walk as well and which gives the most magical sights all year round. As in Ses Salinas Nature Reserve, Cala d’Hort plays an important role as a shelter for many sea birds.  The cool thing is, you can see the top of Es Vedra from many parts of the island when you are walking in Ibiza. Like for example from Ses Salines:

My first view to it was in October 2012 when I had the first glimpse of the island:

Many routes for walking in Ibiza, Es Vedra

There are plenty of ways to get close to Es Vedra. I had seen it from two places, plus a bit from different walks in different locations. But there is nothing like seeing it directly. Some weeks ago we were walking in Ibiza with Nora to get there via Sa Talaia, the highest mountain of the island which is in the same area, but we missed some instructions and had to give up, having seen Es Vedra only a bit. Yet, the effect of seeing the symbol of Ibiza is so strong that we kept going “Wow. WOW. Oh, WoW!” :D.

Later in March, me, Nora and her friend Vanessa decided to finally see Es Vedra fully in one of the nicest viewpoints to it, where you can also see Torre des Savinar. This time, the focus was on Es Vedra, and that is where we ended up.

We headed out for St Josep, (took a morning bus) and from there, we headed the road towards Es Cubells. Es Cubells is a nice location with some beautiful restaurants and relaxed atmosphere, old traditional houses, little roads, orange trees, terraces. It is best though to take a car there, because walking the road can be a bit dull.

Wonderful views from Es Cubells towards the coast of Ibiza.

At the cross-roads.

Three hikers walking in Ibiza. The moment of reflexion.

I have to say that the path we took is not probably the most interesting one you can have for Es Vedra. It mostly goes on a car road. Still there are nice views to Ibiza coastal line.

There are many stone circles around the island. I put an addition to this one.

Torre des Savinar. Feels like on top of the world.

View from Torre des Savinar towards Cala d’Hort

Es Vedra and Es Vedranell

If you decide to go for Torre des Savinar, be careful, it is quite steep and the path is small with loose stones. If you are afraid of heights, this is not a good climb for you. You will need to use the crab walk you learnt in school. Coming down means being on all fours at some point. I even saw some scratches on the stones. I wonder …

Facing the Es Vedra, on the left and below there is a cave that is furnished with a bed and some other necessities for living. There was someone who asked us to write in the guestbook and as far as I understood, there is someone living there. Though it is hard to believe because of the amount of people walking there and hardly it is allowed to live there permanently. Yes, there are plenty of caves and places you can see that people have slept, like on my walk in d’Albarca, in Sant Mateu, but to live there? Maybe it is just because you get the million dollar view to Es Vedra and some people have decided to furnish the cave. I need to research a bit.

Es Vedra, at last, a breathtaking sight

Es Vedra has been characterized as the most magnetic place. Though Wikipedia coldly blunts out “Es Vedrà consists predominantly of mesozoic limestone, and contra to the esoteric urban myth of being a special magnetic place, has no (magnetic) metal accumulations“. No matter, you can still feel the magneticity and who is to say that we are wrong. The material world is a vision we create anyway. Right?

There are thousands of pictures of Es Vedra, we added a bunch and I hope one day you can do it, too.

This is done in October 2012, same place, but much later of the day. It had a wonderful ambiance.

We did it! We got to the goal to see Es Vedra from the cala d’Hort mirador to fill our “walking in Ibiza” wishlist. And I finally got to the Torre des Savinar. The walk from Sant Josep was worth it, we achieved our goal!
It was getting late and we still had some hours to walk back to Sant Josep. The weather was quite hot, we were a bit tired and did not really look forward to walking the road back. But, strong women as we were we had no fear and took off in the hopes of hitchhiking back at least some distances.

Be careful what you wish for

I believe that all your wishes come true, but you just never know how. And that HOW can surprise you. We were surprised by being given a lift by a driving school car where a lady was learning to drive. It was quite funny and I don’t know if the decision came by the teacher or the driving-student or both of them, but if I’d be on my first driving lessons and I’d have 3 extra people in the car, I’d get a bit nervous. The roads in Ibiza, though the speed limit is low and there is not much traffic this time of year, are not the most straight ones. The student was a cheerful one and the teacher managed to act quickly when the student was heading out of the course. Oh well. We got home safe, straight to Ibiza Town. To celebrate the achievement we took nice pastries at Forn Café at Vara de Rey park. You should always celebrate your accomplishments (and failures – at least you acted).

Es Vedra is great when you can see it wholly. I can’t wait to go walk on it. Until then I will enjoy the views to it from the different locations – it gives a different perspective.

Read what walks can you do in Ibiza:

More reading: Tips for walking in Ibiza or elsewhere

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Walking lifestyle – keeping you fit, mentally and physically

Don’t forget we all need time-off from our daily lives. Walking is the easiest and accessible thing to do that. Go out for a walk, share your thoughts and inspirations with me via e-mail. My aim is to show how easy it is to find little walks, little time-off-chunks in life to keep you mentally and physically fit. Wherever you are.

Liisi Toom

Liisi Toom is a communication executive and lifestyle coach who spent 9 months in Ibiza walking, doing walking tours and blogging about it. She has also done and blogged about walking in Estonia and Norway. She coaches people on finding their lifestyle. If you wish to find and live your lifestyle, e-mail at liisitoom (at) gmail. com or follow her Twitter @liisi.

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When in Ibiza, be sure to enjoy at least one walking route, it is worth it!