Ibiza

Ibiza —Eivissa in its own language— is the third largest of the Balearic Islands and the best known outside the archipelago. It is divided into five municipalities: Eivissa, the city, with the walled precinct of Dalt Vila above the harbour; Santa Eulària des Riu, on the east coast; Sant Josep de sa Talaia, to the south-west, where the airport and a good part of the coast of coves are; Sant Antoni de Portmany, on the western bay; and Sant Joan de Labritja, the rural north and the least populated of the five.

The contrast between coast and interior is what defines the island most. The shoreline concentrates the activity, the seasonality and most of the housing supply; inland there are fields of fig and almond trees, whitewashed farmhouses, the fortified village churches and a landscape of hills with very little building. Sa Talaia, in the municipality of Sant Josep, is the highest point.

In 1999 UNESCO inscribed the site "Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture", which brings together Dalt Vila, the Phoenician settlement of Sa Caleta, the necropolis of Puig des Molins and the posidonia meadows of the channel that separates the island from Formentera.

For anyone looking for a home, Ibiza is a very international market with a long history behind it, with considerable differences in price and in character between the city, the coastal settlements and the countryside. The airport and the city's port are the two ways in.