Ibiza

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We are considering this for our summer holiday. Never been. Can someone advise on the most family friendly areas? My two (both under 8) would love a pool and access to a beach, and I’d love to be able to get to restaurants and shops easily too, ideally.

Es cana has a lovely crescent shaped bay with restaurants and bars that directly overlook the beach so you can have a cocktail in the evening while the kids play in the sand. Also has water sports/pedalo hire, boat trips and a small funfair. It’s very family friendly. Have a look at the Royal Leonardo hotel & apartments.

Santa Eulalia is a larger slightly more upmarket resort. Has a small marina and nice restaurants. Probably a bit less family friendly than Es Cana though depending on what you want.

I prefer both Mallorca and Menorca personally, are you set on Ibiza?

No not set on Ibiza at all! We’re just looking for something that is guaranteed to be warm, with a short flight as we don’t fancy a long one. My husband and kids love swimming and I do too but I also like to get out to a town and explore, so looking for somewhere which is best of both.

Hi OP, in 2019 when DD was 4 or 5 we went to Portinatx which is a lovely quiet part of the island. The beach is lovely and safe for kids and we stayed at an apartment with pool called Ses Soques, it was fab. Shops and restaurants in walking distance and buses to take you to other parts of the island. We did a day in Ibiza Old Town and a sunset boat trip to the ‘hippy beach’ but mainly we just mooched around and enjoyed the area!

I love Ibiza but think you’ll get better value for money and more family friendliness in Majorca or Menorca as a PP suggested

Santa Eulalia is lovely for families, nice marina and beach. Parks and a nice little town. Hippy markets are interesting to look around with older dc too.

Having been to Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca I think they are all family friendly in the right spots. Menorca is much quieter than the other two though.

Es Cana or Port des torrents which is smaller but beach is really beautiful. I love Ibiza and if you go to the right places it is fantastic for families. Just avoid late Sunday night or Monday morning flight home in the summer, the airport is interesting 😂

Es Cana was perfect when our dds were small. They loved it. Portinatx is beautiful but quiet. I love Ibiza. Another great resort for kids is Cala 'n Bosch in Menorca

We have a late Sunday flight home this year with kids….oops

😂 be prepared to be stepping over bodies! They go straight to the airport rather than buying another night in a hotel, Not judging, did it myself but now I know what not to do and what to avoid!

We came back from Ibiza last week OP. It was wonderful. We stayed in a tiny and very quiet little place called Port de Sant Miguel. Our hotel had a swimming pool and splash pad for our kids (8 and 4 years old) and 1 restaurant. Outside the hotel there are 3 little convenience/tat shops, an Irish pub, 3 restaurants. It's right on a small, but beautiful beach in a cove, with loungers, lifeguard, kayak and pedlo hire. The sea was so calm there were no waves, we bought the kids snorkelling masks there and they loved it - only had to go in about knee height to be amongst the fishes.
There are also old smugglers caves that you can walk to (provided you can do the hills) and have a tour round. Again, my kids loved this!
There's a bus stop nearby, so we caught the bus to Ibiza Town to go to Dalt Vila and to Es Canar for the hippy market.
Es Canar was lovely as well, but a bit busy for us - there were some bars and places that seemed to be more for the party goers. I know others with children have stayed in Portinacx and Santa Eulalia, which they've raved about.

There's definitely child friendly places in Ibiza, but I wouldn't restrict myself to there. Menorca and Mallorca would both provide what you're looking for, so perhaps extend your search to the whole of the Balearics.

What sort of town are you looking for? If you just want shops and restaurants, that means you can look at purpose built resorts too, which will again give you more options, whereas if you want to be in somewhere with say historical things of interest that would narrow it down.

Another vote for Portinatx. Although I think Majorca is more family friendly than Ibiza

We’re not long back from Santa Eulalia which we thought was lovely. It’s definitely family friendly, but it isn’t cheap. We got the ferry to Ibiza town. The old town is a Unesco World Heritage Site. You can drive or get there by bus but the ferry ride was part of the fun.

Thank you all for the advice! Reading tomorrow morning. Yes I think I’ll also look at Mallorca. We’re booking quite late so prices are high everywhere it seems