REASONS TO RETURN | IBIZA

One holiday left and still so many beaches uncovered. Small nightmare for two travel bloggers you would think 😉 However, instead of stressing about and organizing an instant bay-marathon, we stick to one of our famous Shots & Bites travel quotes: “Always have a reason to return”! Well, we have 63 reasons as that is the number of beaches still to discover. We’ll be back for sure, Ibiza!

According to Elle Magazine, Cala Xuclar promises to be not too crowded, even in high season. Sounds perfect for a last day on the beach. It’s located 5 minutes from Portinax and San Juan. A dusty and pretty steep little road takes us almost straight to the beach and into the sea. On top, the beach is by far full and it provides quite a spectacular view. This cala definitely earns it’s spot in Elle’s top 5 and our blog.

As small and local the beach is, it does have a ‘chiringuito’ (or bar) to eat. Ten tables and much to our surprise, at lunchtime all covered with a ‘reservado’ sign. The beach does not even count that many bodies…
Based on the many little boats we see docking, the cars we hear being parked and the amount of local people we count, we realize this spot is probably a culinary discovery. Much to our liking, obviously.

With our natural flair and best Spanish, we charm away the last table. While awaiting our tuna salad, we gape away at the passing plates of fellow lunchers. Mounts of lovely seafood, fresh fish, veggie tapas… it all looks delicious!

We rather repeat ourselves than keep this from you but for sure make a reservation for this place, lunch or dinner! They keep a Facebook page so no excuses: https://www.facebook.com/calaxuclar

By aperitif time we move to our all time Ibiza favorite: Cala d’en Serra. Mojito’s mark the start of our last evening. Dinner reservation we made at Amante Beach Club! Regardless of the magnificent view, perfect company, nice wine and trendy setting, we’re not overwhelmed. Sometimes you do pay for luxury and prestige…Our advice: keep this on your list for the beautiful setting with cocktail or lunch. Dinner wise we would have been happy with a plastic chair and the yummie plates at Cala Xuclar. Let that be our reason number 64 to return 😉

TRYING OUT TWO OF THE FIVE HIDDEN DREAM BAYS ACCORDING TO ELLE | IBIZA

Day two and there are the clouds again to so NOT support fact 1. During breakfast at PyB, everyone wants to convince us of their favourite beach, however, we decide to stick to Elle Magazine’s Facebook post ‘the 5 hidden dream bays at Ibiza’. Hidden stands for almost deserted and not touristy, right? That’s what we secretly hope for. FYI, those wanting to accuse us of extreme anti-social behaviour…we’re so not. However, when on holiday in a ‘faraway’ country with different language, we’re not really interested in being able to follow other peoples’ conversations in our own language at the beach or bar. Or the other way around :-).

First test is Cala des Moltons. Parking by the port of San Miguel, by coincidence, we find an arrow to Cala des Moltons at the San Miguel beach (with your nose to the sea, find the arrow to your left). Follow the arrow to a path that leads you across the hill and find a super cute little beach with restaurant / bar and a few four poster lounge beds. No soul to be found. Be careful what you wish for, although this is probably caused by the threatening dark clouds that keep the sun from doing overtime. Convinced of the fact that Cala des Moltons has a lot to offer when sun is involved, a few (local) people are scattered across the little beach and an open bar is serving a delicious cocktail, we decide to give it another go another more sunnier time.

En route to beach number two, Cala d’en Serra, we do stop at The Giri Café in Sant Joan de Labritja for a fresh juice. Once in a while we do pick up on tips from the breakfast table, this time from two fellow Belgian PyB’ers. We’re instant fans of The Giri Café. Very modern and stylish Scandinavian design with eye for detail. Great garden with terrace, lounge beds and kitchen garden (so for those eating at this location: fresh produce). We try to force forward a small appetite to take advantage of a light lunch however, too close to breakfast and we decide this is one to remember!

Time for relaxation and sunbathing. Passing Portinax we find Cala d’en Serra. Getting there takes a light adventurous investment as it proceeds with a steep dusty path downwards. Don’t try to reach it all the way by car. Park it on time. On your way you’re rewarded with spectacular views. The beach is a gem. Small, sandy, colourful fishing boats, nice beach bar that serves – we discover soon enough- the best mojito’s in Ibiza! The owner happens to be Dutch…so far for a beach with locals only :-). But oh well, his mojito’s make up for that. And if you stay long enough you’re also ‘treated’ with people longing for naked sunbathing. Always funny especially after a mojito or two.

Not thanks to funny naked guy, however partially due to the yummie mojito’s, but especially the authentic character of the beach, we declare Cala d’en Serra as our absolute favourite beach at the end of our trip.

Sunbathing, watching people and drinking mojito’s does work up an appetite. And we still have The Giri Café in mind. Perfect choice it appears a few hours later. We loved the strawberry gazpacho appetizer. As well as the burger for one and the truffle risotto for the other. A top recommendation. We were lucky enough to score a table very easily. However, we do recommend you to make a reservation. It would be a pity to miss out on this one.