Ibiza Family Holidays & Breaks

Hit the beaches. It’s best to come in the morning, before the clubbers awake from the excesses of the night and pack them out. On the busier beaches you’ll find everything from banana boats, pedaloes and SUP paddleboarding to paragliding and scuba-diving, plus lots of restaurants and cafés. Sometimes the best moments with kids are those spent idling time away at a café table admiring the view and eating ice cream. 

Or you may prefer to seek out smaller, more sedate (although not undiscovered) beaches for low-key picnics and paddling. Our favourites include Cala Llonga on the east side of the island, with its crystal-clear waters and great facilities, the popular family choices of Puerto de San Miguel and Portinaz in the north of the island, and, in the south, Figueretas, Playa d'en Bossa, Es Cavallet, Las Salinas, Cala Jondal, and Sa Caleta. Playa d’en Bossa has carousels and bouncy castles, while some of the larger beaches have playgrounds. In the west, try Talamanca, close to Ibiza Town and attracting an eclectic mix, including families. 

For a spot of culture, take kids to Ibiza Town’s medieval castle of Dalt Vila, a disorientating myriad of tunnels and labyrinthine streets, and to its Archaeological Museum, built over a Carthagean burial site reported to contain more than 4,000 graves.

Look around the Can Marca Caves, a maze of caverns more than 100,000 years old, once used to smuggle illicit goods

Take at least one trip by water taxi, a fun (but essential) way of getting around. You can also take boat-trips to nearby beaches, the gimmicky Aguamar Water Park, and Formentera, where with older kids you can hire bikes to have a look round the island. 

Experience the hippy markets of Punta Arabi and Las Dalias, remnants of the hippies who beat the ravers to Ibiza when they descended on the island in the 1970s. The bling, batik and bongos never fail to impress even the surliest of teenagers.