Leave the island as you found it.

Why a small island needs a light touch

Ibiza covers about 570 km², and its population rises sharply in summer. Water comes from aquifers and desalination plants, and waste has to be handled on the island or shipped off it.

Summer is when demand peaks and rainfall is lowest. A visitor's choices about water, transport and rubbish matter more here than in a large city.

None of this means visiting less. It means visiting in a way the island can absorb: spreading trips across the year, using the buses that already run, and treating the protected places as what they are, the reason the coast still looks the way it does.

Posidonia: look, don't anchor

The seagrass meadows between Ibiza and Formentera are part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing. They keep the water clear, shelter young fish and protect beaches from erosion.

They grow a few centimetres a year, so an anchor chain can undo decades in minutes. A Balearic decree regulates anchoring over the meadows.

• Anchor on sandSand shows as pale patches; posidonia is dark.
• Use buoysMooring fields are installed in several bays in summer.
• Ask the operatorGood boat trips will tell you how and where they anchor.
• Leave the leavesDead leaves on the beach protect the sand in winter storms.

An anchor chain can undo in minutes what a meadow took decades to grow.

Natural parks and reserves

Ses Salines Natural Park covers the south of Ibiza, the north of Formentera and the sea between them. The Cala d'Hort, Cap Llentrisca and Sa Talaia park protects the south-west cliffs, with Es Vedrà offshore.

Stay on marked paths, keep off fenced dunes and don't take sand, shells or stones. Drone flights are restricted in protected areas.

Both parks are working landscapes as much as reserves. Salt is still harvested at Ses Salines, and the south-west cliffs are grazed and walked. The rules are there so those uses, and visitors, can carry on side by side.

Water and energy

Short showers, reusing towels and switching off air conditioning when you go out all help in the driest months. Many hotels ask for this; it is not just a cost saving.

Tap water is treated, but much of it is desalinated. A refillable bottle and a hotel refill point avoid a lot of plastic.

Air conditioning is the biggest energy draw in most rooms. Setting it a few degrees warmer, closing shutters in the afternoon as islanders do, and switching it off when you go out makes a noticeable difference across a stay.

Getting around with less fuel

Buses connect the airport and the main towns, and more lines run in summer. For Ibiza Town, Sant Antoni and the south, you may not need a car at all.

If you do hire one, choose a small or electric model. On Formentera, a bike from the port is easier than a car.

Taxis are licensed by municipality and queues form at the airport and in the main towns at peak times. Shared transfers and the bus cut both the wait and the number of cars on the road.

The sustainable tourism tax

The Balearic sustainable tourism tax is charged per person per night by your accommodation. The rate depends on the type of stay and the season, and is reduced for longer stays. Children under 16 are exempt.

The money funds environmental protection, heritage and other projects across the islands.

Rubbish, recycling and the beach

Everything thrown away on Ibiza has to be dealt with on the island or shipped off it, and summer multiplies the volume. Coloured street containers separate packaging, paper, glass and general waste; hotels usually sort in the same way.

On the beach, carry out what you carry in. Cigarette ends are the most common litter on Mediterranean beaches and they wash straight into the sea. A small pocket ashtray, sold in many kiosks, solves it.

Plastic bags in shops are no longer free, and many beach bars have switched to reusable or paper alternatives. Bringing a tote and a bottle saves money as well as waste.

• PackagingPlastic, cans and cartons together.
• PaperCard and paper, flattened.
• GlassBottles and jars, no lids.
• GeneralEverything else, including cigarette ends.

Fire, heat and the pine forest

Ibiza and Formentera were named the Pitiusas, the pine islands, by Greek sailors, and the forest is still the island's green backbone. In summer it is also tinder-dry.

Barbecues and open fires in forest areas are restricted for much of the year, and throwing a cigarette from a car is one of the most common causes of wildfires. If you see smoke, the emergency number in Spain is 112.

Choosing where to stay

A stay close to what you want to do is the single biggest saving in fuel and time. Book on the coast you will spend your evenings on, rather than crossing the island every night.

Look for places that explain what they do about water, energy and waste, rather than a vague green badge. Small details, such as refill points, shuttle buses or bike hire, tell you more than a logo.

Out of season, the island is quieter, prices are lower and the strain on water and roads is far smaller. May, June, September and October are good months for this.

Footpaths, walls and the interior

The interior of Ibiza is quiet, dry and worked by hand. Behind the coast the land rises into low hills of almond, carob and fig, held by dry-stone walls built without mortar. Small villages such as Sant Mateu, Sant Miquel de Balansat and Sant Joan de Labritja sit among them, each with a whitewashed church and a shaded square. Walking or cycling these lanes in the cooler hours is the simplest way to see the island as it was farmed, and to spend a day without using much at all.

The rules of the interior are mostly about gates and walls. Close what you open, leave livestock alone, and keep to tracks rather than cutting across terraces, which collapse once feet wear through the edges. Almonds, carob, figs and honey are still worked here in small quantities; buying them in a village shop or at a roadside stall keeps the work worthwhile. Leave the walls as you find them: pulling out one stone to widen a gap starts a collapse that nobody will repair.

The parish churches are the landmarks to aim for, and several have a square with a little shade and a bench. Sunday mornings are busy with local traffic, so walk midweek if you can. Some rural tracks are also farm access, and a car parked in a gateway causes more trouble than it saves. Leave the vehicle where the road is wide, and walk the last stretch. The quieter the lane, the more it repays being crossed on foot.

The Phoenician layer

Long before the tourists and the salt trade, Phoenician traders from the eastern Mediterranean settled this coast. Their story is part of the UNESCO listing that also protects the posidonia meadows between Ibiza and Formentera: the fortified upper town of Dalt Vila, the settlement at Sa Caleta near the airport, and the necropolis of Puig des Molins. Together they show a working harbour island, connected by sea to the rest of the Mediterranean, and they are best seen slowly, on foot, without a car at the door.

Dalt Vila is entered from the port side by gates cut into the Renaissance walls of the sixteenth century. The climb is short and steady, on ramps and steps, with the cathedral at the top and the whole harbour below. Go early or in the evening, when the stone gives back less heat. The walls are a monument, not a climbing frame: stay on the streets and steps, keep off the fragile edges, and let the people who live up there get on with their morning.

Sa Caleta is a low headland of stone foundations beside the water, close to the airport, and it asks for nothing more than careful feet. Stay on the marked route, do not walk on the walls of the dwellings, and leave any shard of pottery exactly where it lies; on a site this old, context is the whole value. Puig des Molins, the burial ground on the hill above Ibiza Town, has tombs cut into the rock and a small museum; opening days change with the season, so check before you climb.

Swimming and the shallow sea

Most of the life in the water is at the edge of the posidonia meadows, where sand gives way to seagrass. A mask and a snorkel are enough to see wrasse, sea bream, octopus and urchins. Look, do not touch; nothing in the shallows survives being stood on, and shells and seagrass are part of the beach's own machinery. A long-sleeved shirt does the work of sunscreen and stays on in the water.

Boats need more care than swimmers. Anchoring over the meadows is regulated by a Balearic decree, and mooring buoys are installed in some bays in summer; use one where it exists, and ask the boat's operator or the natural park office what applies in the bay you plan to visit. Keep speed down near the shore, where swimmers and kayaks are hard to see, and give cliffs and rocky islets a wide berth, since birds nest there and the rock is soft.

The sea here is warm late and cold early. It typically sits around 14 to 15 °C in February and March, reaches 18 to 19 °C in May, 22 to 23 °C in June and 25 to 26 °C in August, then holds 23 to 25 °C into September. Outside the main season, many boat trips and water-sports businesses shut from November to April, so plan the water for the months when the island is set up for it, and check before relying on a hire.