This is the scene in Sant Ferrán de ses Roques (San Fernando) in Formentera, one of four villages on this island. The hippie market is held along the walkway, with artists selling crafts. You have the legendary Fonda Pepe at one end, where you usually find us ending up most evenings. FONDA PEPE Calle Mayor 55, Sant Ferran de Ses Roques, 07871 Formentera +34 971 328 033 This is the heart and soul of the island. Most nights, there is music just a few yards away, with a market

COMIDAS BAR SAN JUAN UPDATE AUGUST 2026 – Comidas Bar San Juan remains closed. Despite suggestions that the premises might eventually reopen under new ownership, we can find no confirmation of a new owner or reopening date. The Marí family shut Bar San Juan down in December 2024, ending a business that had operated since 1874. In February 2025, Carlos Marí stated that the family had decided it was time to cease operations, and the report clearly mentioned it would not reopen

CHIRINGUITO GITANA Chiringuito Gitana was the first to be ready and open its doors among all the new chiringuitos in Formentera from 2024 to 2030. It kicked off the summer season and beach service at Es Arenals in Migjorn, attracting many residents and regular visitors eager to see the new Chiringuito Gitana. Photos Chiringuito Gitana, Formnetera With colourful decor throughout the new beach bar/chiringuito, no detail has been left to chance. From the exterior decor and the s

RESTAURANTE PELAYO UPDATE MARCH 2026 PERMANENTLY CLOSED From October 5, 2025 (unless a miracle occurs), the time for another historic site in Formentera will end, and we don’t yet know what will happen in 2026. Thank you for all the parties (including Zucchero Fornaciari’s birthdays and his impromptu concerts), for all the Sunday Paellonas for hundreds of people, and for all the family and workers who ran it and always treated us like friends rather than just customers. Go

BAR CAN TONI - THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE REAL FORMENTERA This place is in the small village of El Pilar de la Mola, almost opposite the hippie market (open on Wednesdays and Sundays). It is run by an Italian (like many other places on the Island). They serve food all day. Bar Can Toni is the heart and soul of Formentera. It is where the locals go to eat, drink, chat, play, and watch live flamenco music and dance. The place is friendly and ideal for a drink and to eat a few

You will be taken to a link for further information if you click on the people or places highlighted in RED . It was a perfect day. Bernadette and I drove to the ferry and boarded an 8 am boat to Ibiza. We landed at the old familiar dock and went down the street to Mar y Sol Café. Since opening in the twenties, this has been the spot to grab a good coffee and breakfast, watch people, and meet people. “Meet you at Mar y Sol” is the standard reply for a discreet or otherwise

After meeting Jonathon Lipsin and Bernadette Mundy on Facebook through our shared love of Ibiza, Formentera, and music, I invited them to Ibiza each year for a day-long tour of the Island, with food, fun, and frolics. This was to be our second trip. After their short sea trip from Formentera, we met at our usual meeting place outside the Café Mar y Sol in Ibiza Town. This time, my friends from London, Danny and Pankaj, joined us. Once settled in our hire car, I gave them a

After meeting Jonathon Lipsin and Bernadette Mundy on Facebook through our shared love of Ibiza, Formentera, and music, I invited them to Ibiza for a day-long tour of the Island, with food, fun, and frolics! We arranged to meet outside the famous Mar y Sol Carrer Lluís Tur i Palau, 22, 07800 Eivissa In Ibiza Town. This was traditionally the first port of call when disembarking your boat or ship in Ibiza town. After their short sea trip from Formentera, my friend Frank joine

FORMENTERA CAN FORN The Sant Ferran de Ses Roques (San Fernando) village is on the Island of Formentera, in the Mediterranean, north of North Africa and east of Spain. I wanted to take my friend Bernadette Mundy out for a pre-birthday dinner, so I followed my nose to Restaurante Can Forn in the village of Sant Ferran de Ses Roques (San Fernando). As a young hippie, I met Bernadette in the Fonda Pepe bar in 1973. Tonight, though, I was hungry, and I managed to score a table

RESTAURANTE O LUSITANO Jonathon Lipsin adds his second trip across the border into Portugal and Porto. I am writing this because I promised the woman who presides over this place that I would. A few weeks ago, according to my Portuguese sources, she asked about it, so if I ever wanted to go back, I had better do it, and I did! There is a special restaurant I would like to tell you about in Matosinhos, Porto, near the water and the fish market. On this street with the beaches