The ferry from Dénia to Ibiza and Formentera

Dénia lies 104 kilometres from Ibiza in a straight line across the sea. That is closer than Alicante, closer than Valencia, and it is the reason the Balearic ferries leave from here rather than anywhere else. From Jávea you are at the quay in twenty minutes, from Moraira in a little over half an hour. Two hours later you walk off in Ibiza. Even so, that simple trip has a few things people trip over every year: the check-in time, the difference between the two boats, and, more recently, the permit you need to take your own car onto the island. Here they are, one by one.

Why you sail from Dénia and not from Valencia

Baleària puts the distance from Dénia to Ibiza at roughly 104 kilometres across the water. That makes Dénia the closest mainland port, and it is no accident that the shipping line has its home port here.

In practice the saving is mostly in driving time on this side. From Jávea you are in the car park of the Estación Marítima in about twenty minutes. From Moraira reckon on half an hour to thirty-five minutes, from Benissa or Calpe a little more. Compare that with the drive to Valencia or Barcelona and the difference across a travel day is considerable.

The crossing itself takes about two hours and a quarter on the fastest boat. A morning departure puts you in Ibiza before lunch, which means a day trip is genuinely feasible rather than feasible on paper.

Alongside Ibiza, boats also leave Dénia for Mallorca and for Formentera. Mallorca starts at 81 euros on the price list, Formentera at 80. The Formentera connection is not direct but calls at Ibiza, which has consequences for your journey time that we come back to below.

Be realistic about the drive to the quay, though. The N-332 between Jávea and Dénia fills up in the summer months and the last kilometres through Dénia to the Estación Marítima are slow. Sailing at eight in the morning with a vehicle means standing on the quay at half past six, so leaving around six. That is earlier than most people reckon on.

If you would rather fly: Ibiza has an airport, Formentera does not. For Formentera the boat is the only way in, however you approach it.

The two boats, and why the fast one is not always the fastest

Two kinds of ship work the Dénia to Ibiza route, and the difference is bigger than the words fast ferry suggest.

The Eleanor Roosevelt is the quick one. Baleària lists 123 metres in length, 28 metres across, a service speed of 35 knots, room for 1,200 people and 450 vehicles, and natural gas as fuel. On board there are four classes of seating and lounge, a children’s area, an outside terrace and a shop with a café. Dogs are welcome. The ship is named after Eleanor Roosevelt, the first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

You also pick a kind of seat on board, and that sets part of the price. There is a standard class, a superior, a VIP lounge and two Exclusive lounges. VIP includes a hot or cold drink and a snack. If you travel with a dog there are separate pet friendly seats and enclosed kennels, so dogs do not have to stay in the car, which on many other routes they do.

Alongside it runs a conventional ferry such as the Ramon Llull. That takes longer but carries more freight and is often cheaper.

And here is the trap. The word fast describes the ship, not your journey. To Formentera the Eleanor Roosevelt goes via Ibiza, so you are on board, then in Ibiza harbour, then on board again. Baleària’s own route page gives two hours for Dénia to Formentera while the timetable for the same route shows well over double that on some days. The number on the sales page and the number in the schedule are not the same number.

So do one thing before you book: look in the timetable at the arrival time of your sailing, not at the duration printed at the top of the page. That is the only figure that holds for your day.

What it costs

Baleària’s list prices, as they appear on the route pages:

Dénia to Ibiza: from 68 euros one way. For a return without a vehicle Baleària quotes an average from 99 euros, with a car from 177 euros.

Dénia to Formentera: from 80 euros one way. Return without a vehicle from 115 euros, with a car from 227 euros. There is a Day Trip fare for out and back on the same day from 59 euros.

Ibiza to Formentera: from 30 euros one way, return without a vehicle from 35 euros and with a car from 49 euros.

Those pages also carry a second, much lower figure: 17 euros for Ibiza, 20 for Formentera. That is the resident fare, and it is not for us. The 75 per cent discount is for people living in the Balearics, in Ceuta, in Melilla or in the Canaries, and only on routes connected with where they live. Anyone living in Jávea or Dénia pays the full price. Formentera residents get 89 per cent on the Ibiza to Formentera run, and that passes us by too.

What does apply: 20 per cent off from the age of 60. It covers the Cafetería and Sirena classes, not the price of your vehicle, and not the so-called red dates. Those include the whole summer from 27 June to 6 September 2026, Easter week, and the long weekends around Pilar, All Saints and the Inmaculada. Travel in May or October and you get it. The same 20 per cent exists for Carné Jove holders.

Cheapest months according to Baleària itself: April and May, and the end of September and October.

Ibiza’s car rules, tighter since 2026

This is the part that catches most people out. For a few years now the island council of Ibiza has capped the number of cars on the island, and for 2026 that cap has been tightened sharply.

Period: 1 June to 30 September 2026 inclusive. Outside that window nothing applies.

Cap: 17,668 authorisations a day, 2,500 fewer than in 2025.

How you arrange it depends on your ticket, and that matters. Buy a return with Baleària and the line handles the authorisation automatically and pays the fee where one is due. Buy a one way and Baleària covers only the first day, leaving you to register and pay for the rest of your stay yourself at ibizacircular.es. That alone is a good reason to book a return straight away.

A few cases need nothing at all: cars registered for tax in Ibiza, official and public service vehicles, freight transport and agricultural machinery. And motorbikes and mopeds fall outside the scheme entirely: no registration, no fee. If you ride a scooter here, none of this touches you.

Other cases do have to register, even when nothing is payable. Residents of Mallorca or Menorca, for instance, people with a second home on Ibiza, people with reduced mobility, and cars only in transit to Formentera. Motorhomes must book a campsite in advance and do pay.

Enforcement runs on automated number plate reading. If your details are wrong, the system sees it. Fines run up to 10,000 euros.

One change for 2026: the day you arrive and the day you leave no longer count towards the length of your stay.

Formentera’s car rules, tighter still

Formentera does the same thing, only harder. The island is 83.2 square kilometres with 38.5 kilometres of road, and in July and August the population goes from 13,400 people to more than 44,000. Hence Law 7/2019 and the system called formentera.eco.

Period: 1 June to 30 September 2026.

Cap: 10,287 motor vehicles in total. The share set aside for private use is small: 1,732 cars and 122 motorbikes. Quads have a quota of zero, to spare the island’s dirt tracks. Motorhomes and caravans are also on zero, because camping is banned on the island and there is no infrastructure for them. So if you tour the Costa Blanca in a motorhome, Formentera is closed to you.

Fee: in June and September, 6 euros a day for a car with a 30 euro minimum. In July and August, 9 euros a day with a 45 euro minimum. For motorbikes and mopeds it is 3 euros a day (15 euro minimum) and in July and August 4.50 a day (22.50 minimum). Hybrids pay half, electric cars pay nothing.

You apply at formentera.eco: you give the dates you are coming and the type of vehicle, and pay there. You can look up the status by number plate on the same site. Driving without the permit can cost you up to 1,000 euros.

The shipping line says it plainly itself: you can simply hire a car or a scooter once you are there and skip the whole circus. On an island with under forty kilometres of road, that is usually the sensible call.

How early you have to be on the quay

This is where it often goes wrong, because the margins are wider than at an airport and so people underestimate them.

With a vehicle: 90 minutes before departure. That covers Dénia to Ibiza and Formentera. Arrive later and Baleària does not guarantee your place on board.

Without a vehicle: 60 minutes before departure.

On the short hop between Ibiza and Formentera it is tighter: 30 minutes with a vehicle, 15 without.

Watch the exception on the way back: from Formentera to Dénia boarding starts 60 minutes before departure, and not the other way round. That is how the conditions are written.

For parking, the Estación Marítima in Dénia has two kinds of area. P1 is for short stops of up to 60 minutes and costs 1.50 euros an hour, or 26 euros for 24 hours. P2 and P3 are for longer stays at 1.10 euros an hour, or 15 euros for 24 hours. In both, the first 45 minutes are free, which is enough to drop someone off and hand over your cases.

If you are away for a week, 15 euros a day adds up. Work out whether a taxi from Jávea or Moraira comes out cheaper. If you do want to park, you can reserve a space as an extra when booking your ticket, by phone on 912 660 215, or at the desk.

The port of Dénia itself, and the little solar boat

The ferries do not leave from the centre of Dénia but from the Estación Marítima on the far side of the harbour basin. Walking round the water is a fair distance.

Dénia has come up with something neat for that. La Panseta is a small boat that shuttles back and forth between the town centre and the terminal, free of charge. It is twelve metres long, takes sixty people and runs entirely on the eighteen solar panels on its roof. It has been sailing since August 2013 and makes around a hundred crossings a day in high season, about sixty-five in winter.

For anyone arriving by public transport or leaving the car in town, that solves the problem neatly. And it is a good way to start the day: you are already on the water before you board.

The terminal is more than a waiting room. Baleària has its head office there and the building is also used for cultural events. There are check-in desks, a waiting area and somewhere to eat.

Dénia’s harbour is a working fishing port and a marina at the same time. Below the castle lie the boats that land their catch on the quay in the afternoon. If you have an hour to spare before departure, that beats the waiting room.

Formentera without a car: how that works

Read the permit rules and the logical conclusion is: leave the car behind. That works perfectly well, because the link between Ibiza and Formentera is one of the busiest short routes in the Mediterranean.

The crossing takes 30 minutes. A boat leaves roughly every 45 minutes and in summer that adds up to almost thirty sailings per port per day. There is barely anything to plan: you get on the next one.

What there is to do is quickly listed, because the island is small. The La Mola lighthouse on the eastern point, the Ses Salines natural park with its salt pans and flamingos, and a string of coves along the shore. The beach at Ses Illetes turns up in almost every European ranking. The whole island is protected land, and you notice: there is hardly any tall building, and outside La Savina and Sant Francesc it is quiet.

Every boat arrives at La Savina in the north of the island. That is Formentera’s only sea entrance and everything on the island runs from there.

If you travel without a vehicle there is an OPEN ticket valid for a year that lets you sail whenever you like. Handy if you do not know what time you want to come back, or if you plan to go more than once.

On Formentera itself you hire a bicycle, an electric bike, a scooter or a car. Baleària sells the hire as part of the ticket. On an island with 38.5 kilometres of road, a bicycle is not a sporting choice but a practical one: you are anywhere within the hour.

Electric mopeds and motorbikes even travel free to Formentera on some sailings. That is policy rather than a promotion: the island is actively steering towards less exhaust.

A day trip, or a night on the island

A day trip to Ibiza works well on a morning sailing. Two and a quarter hours out, two and a quarter back, and a day in the town or on a beach in between. Do count the check-in: at 60 minutes before departure at both ends you are away longer than the crossing time suggests.

For Formentera there is a special Day Trip fare from 59 euros, out and back the same day. It is the cheapest way to see the island, but bear in mind that your route runs via Ibiza and you are on the island for fewer hours than you think. Anyone who genuinely wants to see Formentera is better off staying a night.

The season makes a large difference to the price. Baleària itself names April and May and the end of September and October as the cheapest months, with more availability and more frequent offers. That happens to be exactly the period when neither island’s car rules apply, since those run from 1 June to 30 September.

In other words: travel in May or October and you pay less, need no permit, and can take the car without any paperwork. For anyone living here and not tied to school holidays, that is easy arithmetic.

If you do travel in high season, book the whole package in one go: the crossing, the parking space in Dénia and, if you are taking the car, the return ticket that handles the Ibiza authorisation. Arranging those three separately costs you time and sometimes your place, because the car quota is finite and the parking booking runs through the same reservation.

July and August are the reverse. Prices are higher, everything has to be arranged in advance, and there is a real chance the car quota is full. Book early or go without one.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the crossing from Dénia to Ibiza? About two hours and a quarter on the fast boat. The conventional ferry takes longer.

How far is it? About 104 kilometres in a straight line. Dénia is the nearest mainland port.

Can I take my car? Yes, and your motorbike or bicycle. But between 1 June and 30 September you need a permit for both Ibiza and Formentera.

Do I have to apply for the Ibiza permit myself? Not if you buy a return with Baleària: they arrange it and pay the fee. On a one way you arrange it yourself at ibizacircular.es.

What does the Formentera permit cost? 6 euros a day for a car in June and September with a 30 euro minimum, and 9 euros a day in July and August with a 45 euro minimum. Electric cars pay nothing.

Can I take a motorhome to Formentera? No. The quota for motorhomes and caravans is zero.

And a motorbike to Ibiza? Yes, with no registration and no fee. Motorbikes fall outside the Ibiza scheme.

How early do I need to be there? 90 minutes before departure with a vehicle, 60 minutes without.

Do I get a discount for living here? No. The 75 per cent resident discount is for people living in the Balearics, Ceuta, Melilla and the Canaries. From 60 there is 20 per cent, except in summer and around the holidays.

How do I get from Ibiza to Formentera? By boat, every 45 minutes, in 30 minutes. Formentera has no airport.

Where do I land on Formentera? At La Savina, the island’s only port.

What does parking in Dénia cost? 1.10 euros an hour or 15 euros for 24 hours on the long stay area. The first 45 minutes are free.

About the authorLeonie

Leonie lives on the Costa Blanca. She writes about daily life on the coast: the markets, the walks and everything you only discover once you actually live here.