Sant Francesc Xavier
The island's tiny capital, Sant Francesc Xavier, is where real Formenteran life happens away from the beaches — a cluster of bone-white houses around a fortified 18th-century church, with a daily market, the best independent shops and the liveliest evening paseo on the island.
The church and the old town
The Església de Sant Francesc Xavier, built in 1726 with metre-thick walls designed to double as a refuge from pirate raids, anchors the central square with a quiet authority. The interior is austere and beautiful — plain whitewashed walls, a simple retable and the smell of cool stone. It is worth stepping inside even for five minutes to escape the midday heat.
The streets radiating from the church are lined with independent boutiques selling locally made jewellery, ceramics and linen clothing. Avoid the souvenir shops on the main road and instead explore Carrer de Jaume I and the lanes behind the church for the genuinely original pieces.
Markets, cafés and the evening paseo
A small but excellent fresh produce and craft market sets up in the main square most mornings in summer, where local farmers sell figs, almonds, goat's cheese and the island's distinctive dried herbs. The Mercat de Sant Francesc is modest in scale but authentic in character — this is where islanders actually shop.
As the afternoon heat fades, the square fills for the paseo. Pull up a chair at Bar Fonda Pepe, a village institution since the 1960s, order a hierbas ibicencas (the local herbal liqueur) and watch the whole island seem to pass by. It is the most genuinely local hour of any Formentera day.
Sant Francesc Xavier on video
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