Qualla: S'Espalmador https://qualla.com/s-espalmador en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:39:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: S'Espalmador https://qualla.com/s-espalmador S'Espalmador: Introduction https://qualla.com/s-espalmador/ Photo credit Beni Marull, CC BY-SA 4.0. At low tide, you can walk to a private island. A shallow sandbar links the northern shore of Formentera to S'Espalmador, and when the water drops you can wade across the warm shallows to reach it on foot. What waits on the far side is an uninhabited Spanish island of pristine beaches, freshwater springs, and a natural mud-bath that visitors have long smeared over their skin. There are no hotels, no roads, no residents. There is only the sandbar, the yachts anchored offshore, and a silence that money has spent decades trying to buy.

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Image: Beni Marull | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/snch-sespalmador-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full S'Espalmador: A Walk to a Private Island https://qualla.com/s-espalmador/ Photo credit User: (WT-shared) HaydenMink at wts wikivoyage, Public domain. S'Espalmador sits just off Formentera's tip, small and low and separated from its larger neighbor only by that tidal sandbar. Canoeists paddle across the strait; yachts heading between Ibiza and Formentera drop anchor in its lee. The island's appeal is precisely its lack of devel...

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Image: User: (WT-shared) HaydenMink at wts wikivoyage | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/snch-sespalmador-a-walk-to-a-private-island.mp3 0:06 2 full S'Espalmador: Pig Island and the Light https://qualla.com/s-espalmador/ Photo credit David Sim from London, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. Just to the north lies a smaller companion, Illa des Porcs, which translates as Pig Island. The name is not decorative. The islet once served as a hideout and stronghold for pig smugglers working these waters. In 1861 the En Pou lighthouse rose here to mark the southern edge of t...

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Image: David Sim from London, United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/snch-sespalmador-pig-island-and-the-light.mp3 0:06 3 full S'Espalmador: From 252 Euros to 18 Million https://qualla.com/s-espalmador/ Photo credit Samu from Alpedrete, Spain, CC BY 2.0. The economics of S'Espalmador tell their own story. In 1932 the Cinnamond family bought the entire island for the equivalent of 252 euros. For generations it stayed in their hands. Then, in March 2018, despite the Formentera government's efforts to purchase and protect it, the Ca...

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Image: Samu from Alpedrete, Spain | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/snch-sespalmador-from-252-euros-to-18-million.mp3 0:06 4 full S'Espalmador: A Pop Star and the Dunes https://qualla.com/s-espalmador/ Photo credit Cantabrucu, CC0. Even a private island cannot escape scrutiny. In August 2024, Spanish authorities opened an investigation into possible environmental crimes after reports that a music video for Katy Perry's single "Lifetimes" had been filmed among the island's ecologically sensitive sand dunes w...

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Image: Cantabrucu | CC0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/c/h/s-espalmador-wp/snch-sespalmador-a-pop-star-and-the-dunes.mp3 0:06 5 full