Every evening in San Antonio, people stop what they are doing and turn to face the sea. The sun drops into the bay, the bars along the Sunset Strip fall quiet for a moment, and then the applause starts. It has happened every evening for decades, and it is still the best reason to know this side of the island.
San Antonio, Sant Antoni de Portmany in Catalan, has spent years living down its reputation as Ibiza’s party town. That reputation was never the whole story, and today it is less true than ever. The town has been cleaned up and invested in, five star hotels and serious restaurants have arrived, and the countryside behind it, around San Rafael and Santa Agnès, holds some of the most beautiful and least spoilt land on the island.
This is a short guide for buyers looking at the west: what San Antonio is now, where to look, what it costs, and the two things to check before you buy.
The town sits at the head of a wide bay on the west coast, about twenty minutes from Ibiza Town and the airport. It is a real town with a year round population, schools, a market, a port with ferries and a long promenade that runs from the harbour to the coves.
What has changed is the quality. The council has spent around €20 million on the town centre, pedestrianising streets and smartening shopfronts, and the seafront promenade now runs further along the bay towards Cala Gració. On the hill above town, OKU Ibiza opened as a five star hotel in 2021, Bonito Ibiza followed in 2025, and Madunia’s clifftop restaurant on Cap Negret and Sa Capella, an eighteenth century chapel turned restaurant, have given the area a new kind of evening.
The West End, the streets of bars that made San Antonio famous, is still there. It is concentrated in a small part of town, and it matters far less to someone living in the hills or at the coves than its reputation suggests.
The municipality is much larger than the town, and it offers three quite different ways to live.
The bay and the coves. Apartments and houses along the bay, at Cala Gració and Cala Gracioneta just north of town, and around Cala Salada, one of the island’s best known coves. This is where you buy for the sea and the sunsets, within walking distance of the town.
San Rafael. A small village on the hill between San Antonio and Ibiza Town, with a church, a few good restaurants and views across the island to Dalt Vila. The countryside around it is one of the most popular areas for villas, because it is ten minutes from almost everywhere.
Santa Agnès and Sant Mateu. The north of the municipality is farmland, almond trees and pine woods, with old fincas, dry stone walls and very little building. It is the quietest part of the island and the place to look for a traditional finca with land.
San Antonio is the most affordable of Ibiza’s five municipalities. In September 2026 idealista put average asking prices at around €7,100 per square metre, against around €7,300 in Ibiza Town and more than €8,200 in Sant Josep and Santa Eulària. Fotocasa gave a slightly higher figure of around €7,500 in October.
In practice the range is wide. Apartments in town start at around €600,000 and reach well over €1 million at the coves, while villas around San Rafael typically sit between €2 million and €6 million. Live listings are the only reliable guide, and we would rather give you current figures for what is genuinely available.
The tourist licence. Holiday letting in the Balearics requires a tourist rental licence, and without one a property cannot legally be let to holidaymakers. Apartments in residential buildings in Ibiza cannot obtain one, and new licences for villas are very limited, so a house that already holds a valid licence is worth noticeably more. If letting is part of your plan, have your lawyer verify the licence itself, not just the claim. Long term letting does not need a tourist licence and there is strong demand for it in San Antonio.
The transfer tax. On a resale, the Balearics charge ITP in bands:
| Property value | ITP rate | | Up to €400,000 | 8% | | €400,000 to €600,000 | 9% | | €600,000 to €1,000,000 | 10% | | €1,000,000 to €2,000,000 | 12% | | Above €2,000,000 | 13% |
Each rate applies to the part of the price within its band, so a €1 million resale pays €90,000 and a €2 million resale €210,000. A new build carries 10% VAT plus 1.5% stamp duty instead. Add around 1% to 2% for notary, registry and legal fees.
It suits buyers who want the sunsets and the sea on the west coast at a lower price per square metre than the rest of the island. It suits families, because the town works all year. It suits buyers who want a villa in the countryside ten minutes from everything, which is what San Rafael offers, and those who want real peace and land, which is what Santa Agnès offers.
It suits less well anyone who wants to be in the centre of town in August without the noise of the season, and anyone whose plan depends on letting an apartment to holidaymakers.
San Antonio is the part of Ibiza that has changed most in recent years, and the market has not fully caught up. The sunsets, the coves and the countryside were always here. What is new is a town that matches them.
As anywhere on the island, the advice is to buy the position, not the name. A villa above San Rafael with a view to Dalt Vila, a house at Cala Salada and a finca near Santa Agnès are all San Antonio, and they are completely different lives.
If you are considering the west of the island, tell us how you would use the property, all year, for summers or as an investment, and we will show you the parts of San Antonio that fit. We have homes at Cala Gració, in town and in the countryside around San Rafael.
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