12 free things to do in Ibiza, and a 13th that ends Monday

Ibiza has a reputation for being expensive, and it earned it in a handful of streets. Beyond them there is an island where the best hours of the day cost nothing, and October is when that becomes obvious: the crowds leave, the sea is still warm from August and the light turns gold by mid-afternoon.

Twelve of these are free all year round. The thirteenth is free only until Monday 5 October, and it comes last for a reason.

The twelve that cost nothing

• The walls of Dalt Vila. The old town is a UNESCO site and walking it costs nothing. Go up at dusk, follow the ramparts round, and look down at the port with the lights coming on.
• Any cove before nine in the morning. The sea is glass, the light is low, and the beaches that are impossible in August are yours. Cala Salada, Cala Xarraca, Es Pou des Lleó — pick one on the map and drive.
• Sunset at Benirràs. The northern cove where people bring drums and play until the sun goes. It usually happens on Sundays, it costs nothing, and nobody asks you for anything.
• Es Vedrà from the clifftop. The rock that every photograph on this island is trying to include. The viewpoint above Cala d’Hort is free and the half hour before sunset is the one that matters.
• The salt flats. Ses Salines is a natural park: flamingos in autumn, salt mountains, and a light in the evening that does not look real.
• Browsing the hippy markets. Las Dalias and Es Canar cost nothing to walk through, and walking through is most of the pleasure.
• The coastal paths. There is a network of old walking tracks along the cliffs, especially on the north and west coasts. Empty in October, and the views are the ones people pay for on boats.
• Swimming and snorkelling. The water here is clear enough that a two-euro mask turns any rocky cove into an afternoon.
• The port at night. Sit on the harbour wall and watch. It is the best free theatre on the island and it runs every evening.
• Sant Carles, Santa Gertrudis, Sant Joan. The inland villages, their squares, their churches. Nobody charges for an hour in a village square.
• Live music on a terrace. Plenty of bars have someone playing and no cover charge. You buy a drink or you do not.
• Sunrise from anywhere on the east coast. The one thing on this island that nobody has worked out how to sell you.

Everything on that list is free because it belongs to nobody. What comes next has a price on the menu, is almost never given away, and exists on this page only.

Number 13: a ritual in your room, on the house

If you landed here by chance, or because you knew exactly what you were looking for, the road does not matter: you deserve what comes next, and you have arrived in time to have it. This invitation is not on the home page, in any newsletter or on any coupon site. It exists here and nowhere else.

In Ibiza, a massage usually means a hotel spa booked days ahead or a towel on the sand. This one comes up to your room. No reception, no robe in the corridor, no taxi home: when it ends, you are already where you wanted to be.

Picture it this week. You come back from the cove with the salt still on you. At the hour you chose, the ritual arrives and the room changes: curtains half drawn, music low, a few candles, your bed dressed in fresh, warm linen. Then comes the scent, rosemary, citrus and a trace of salt, even before the oil, which arrives warm. The rhythm starts slow and is in no hurry to change. For ninety minutes, nobody asks anything of you.

Your door, your hour, your pace. Nothing starts or changes unless you decide it, and whoever begins the ritual is whoever ends it: no agencies, no shifts.

What the house covers

• Travelling alone: any of the individual rituals. On the menu, €40 for the hour, €50 for ninety minutes and €60 for the long-format ones.
• Two of you: Déjà Two, two complete rituals one after the other, while the one waiting floats in the half-light with a cold herbal tea and the balcony open. On the menu, €75 or €95.
• A group: The Coven, the whole afternoon for three to six of you. On the menu, €105 to €165. If you came for a hen weekend, this is the line that changes the trip.

With the code, any of them is on the house. No card, no deposit, nothing to pay afterwards. The only things charged separately are the extras you choose to add, such as a ritual enhancement or the night schedule.

Who it is for

For women over 18 staying in an Ibiza hotel this week who want one whole hour that belongs only to them. It is not for anyone after a quick rub between the pool and dinner. If you recognise yourself in the first sentence, the rest of this page was written for you.

Why now, and why only until Monday

October is when the island starts saying goodbye to the season. Its last hours are not sold: they are given away, and only to whoever reads this in time.

The invitation ends on Monday 5 October at 23:59. It can end sooner: every ritual is given by one person, in one room, at one hour, so the hours go in the order they are asked for, and the sunset ones tend to go first.

The twelve plans above will still be here next year. The thirteenth will not. On Tuesday, the same hour goes back to its menu price.

How to take it

Once the invitation is open, only easy questions remain: tonight or tomorrow at sunset? Sixty minutes or ninety? Just you, you and a friend, or the whole group? Every answer costs the same.

Open your invitation · code OCTOBERFREE · valid until Monday 5 October, 23:59

The link carries the code inside. Choose your ritual and your hour, leave the name of your hotel and your room number, and everything else (the oils, the linen, the candles and the music) comes up to your room.

Nobody is going to chase you. This page will still be here on Tuesday. The invitation will not.

P.S. If you are travelling with friends, the code also covers The Coven, the whole afternoon for up to six that costs €165 on the menu. Tell them today: after Monday it opens nothing.