Las Salinas is the southern tip of Ibiza, about eleven kilometres from Ibiza Town, reached through the village of Sant Jordi. It is a working salt works that has been producing since Phoenician times, and it sits inside the Parc Natural de ses Salines, which covers 15,446 hectares across Ibiza and Formentera.
Most of that park is sea. Only about 1,787 hectares are land, and the rest is the water between the two islands, which is the part the UNESCO listing protects for its seagrass meadows.
The beaches
Ses Salines runs 1,500 metres of very fine sand with full services and the island's best-known beach restaurants along it. Es Cavallet, just over a kilometre long, adjoins it round the point and is the island's nudist and LGBT beach.
A flat coastal walk links the two past the Torre de ses Portes, an eighteenth-century watchtower on the southernmost point, in about an hour.
The rest of the area
Sa Canal is the small salt-workers' hamlet and pier at the end of the road, and salt is still shipped from it. The eighteenth-century church of Sant Francesc de s'Estany was built in 1785 for the salt workers and now houses the park's interpretation centre.
The ponds hold flamingos on migration and a long list of other birds year round, which we cover in our guide to the salt flats and the flamingos.
Practical
A small free sandy car park fills early and a large paid one sits behind the beach. Buses run from Ibiza Town via Sant Jordi in summer, though the line numbers change each year.
The airport is ten minutes away, and you will hear it.
Quick answers
How big is the natural park? 15,446 hectares, most of it marine.
Are the salt pans still working? Yes, and salt still ships from Sa Canal.
How far is Ibiza Town? About eleven kilometres, twenty minutes.
Can you walk between the two beaches? Yes, about an hour past the watchtower.
Is there parking? A small free one and a large paid one.
What is the church? Sant Francesc de s'Estany, built 1785, now the park interpretation centre.