The 18-kilometre crossing from Santa Eulalia to Formentera takes 40 minutes by ferry and deposits passengers directly onto the smallest inhabited Balearic island, a 83-square-kilometre plateau whose northern shore faces Ibiza across a shallow strait. Formentera's population hovers near 12,000 year-round, swelling to five times that number each summer as visitors arrive for beaches that rank among Europe's clearest, with visibility often exceeding 30 metres in the Ses Salines marine reserve. The Santa Eulalia to Formentera boat trip departs from the marina next to the sailing school, where ferries and catamarans run seven days a week between 09:00 and 19:30. Round-trip tickets start at €52 per person, with upgrades available for all-inclusive catamarans that add VIP lounger seating, onboard meals, and three swim stops in protected coves. The route crosses open water briefly before hugging Formentera's northern coastline, passing the salt flats that once supplied Rome's legions and the stone watchtowers built to repel North African corsairs in the 16th century. Formentera lacks an airport, making the boat crossing from Ibiza the island's sole public access point. That geographic isolation has preserved a landscape largely unchanged since the 1960s, when the first hippie communes settled near La Mola lighthouse. Today the island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, its interior laced with 32 green routes—unpaved cycling and walking paths that connect villages, beaches, and the 18th-century church of Sant Francesc Xavier, whose whitewashed walls anchor the island's administrative capital. The marine grasslands of Posidonia oceanica, endemic to the Mediterranean, carpet the seabed around Formentera and produce the oxygen that keeps coastal waters transparent even in August. Most Santa Eulalia to Formentera boat trip tours allocate five to six hours on the island, enough time to reach Platja de Ses Illetes on the northern spit, where sandbars extend 200 metres into water no deeper than a standing adult's waist. The return crossing typically departs by 18:00, though sunset catamarans linger until dusk to catch the light dropping behind Es Vedrà. Ferry operators include Baleària and Formentera Direct Lines, while catamaran charters often originate from Santa Eulalia's eastern quay and stop at Cala Saona or Es Caló before reaching the main harbour at La Savina.