Can you visit Tagomago? Not on foot: the island is privately owned, and its single villa is rented by guests who arrive by helicopter and prefer not to be photographed. What you can do is what we do all season long — take a Tagomago island boat trip, anchor in the clear water on the island's sheltered side and snorkel beneath its lighthouse cliffs. And here is the detail that makes this our story to tell: from our berth in Marina Santa Eulalia, Tagomago is about twenty minutes away.
The island everyone reads about and almost nobody touches
Tagomago is the long green rock on the horizon when you look out to sea from the beaches around Es Canar and Santa Eulalia. The whole island operates as one private villa — one booking, one island — and it collected tabloid headlines when footballers like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo holidayed there. That is the celebrity chapter. The chapter we care about is quieter: because nobody can go ashore, the coastline has stayed exactly as it was. A lighthouse stands on the high point, seabirds nest along the cliffs, and the water around the rock stays strikingly clear deep into the season.
So, the rules, before you plan anything: you cannot land there, and neither can we. What you can do is what boats have always done here — anchor off the island, swim, snorkel and have lunch at the teak table while the most talked-about private island in the Balearics minds its own business above you.
Why a Tagomago island boat trip works best from Santa Eulalia
Most Ibiza charters start in San Antonio or Ibiza town, on the other side of the island. That puts Tagomago at the wrong end of a long day of motoring, which is why many boats simply never come this far. From Berth H17 in Marina Santa Eulalia it is the opposite story: our skipper points the bow northeast, the twin V8s settle into an easy cruise, and roughly twenty minutes later you are crossing the channel toward the lighthouse. That is the entire commute.
A short transit changes the shape of the day. You are in the water while other boats are still underway, and by the time the anchorage gets company around midday, you have already had it to yourself. This is our home water — the same advantage that runs through our east coast route.
In the lee of the island: anchor down, mask on
Tagomago's appeal from a boat is simple: it is an offshore island, so one side is nearly always sheltered. Our skipper reads the wind, tucks the NAVAN S30 into the calm side and lets the anchor go over a patch of sand — never on the seagrass, which is protected here and is precisely why the water stays this clear. The chain rattles out over the bow roller, the engines go quiet, and you hear what makes this anchorage special: very little at all.
From there, the morning organises itself:
- Snorkel the boulders at the base of the cliffs — masks and fins are on board as standard.
- Take the Seabob down for a different view of the rock underwater (€250, briefing included).
- Paddle the inflatable SUP (€50) along the shoreline while lunch is being set up on deck.
Turning Tagomago into a full east-coast day
An honest planning note: Tagomago alone does not fill eight hours — and it does not need to. We treat it as the headline of a third route, alongside our Formentera day and the Es Vedrà and west coast trip. A day that works, again and again:
- 10:00 — cast off from Santa Eulalia, coffee on the aft bench while the coast slides past.
- Morning at Tagomago — anchor in the lee while the light is low and the surface glassy; first swim, best snorkelling of the day.
- Lunch at anchor — the food package (€45 per person) puts a Mediterranean lunch board and fresh fruit on the teak table; the drinks package (€35 per person) keeps the cava cold.
- Afternoon working south — beach-hop through the east-coast coves toward Cala Llonga, stopping wherever it is quietest.
- 18:00 — back at the berth, salt in your hair and dinner plans intact.
Good to know before you book
- You cannot land. Nobody can, unless they have rented the villa. The anchorage is the experience — and it is the better half anyway.
- The skipper is always included. The NAVAN S30 takes up to 10 guests, and you never need a licence.
- A full day is 8 hours, typically 10:00–18:00, with flexible timing.
- Prices are per boat, not per person: from €999 in low season up to €1,600–1,750 in July and August, with fuel charged separately by actual use.
- Mornings are the moment. The east coast tends to be calmest early in the day — tell us your date and we will plan around the wind.
Tagomago has appeared in more headlines than almost any corner of Ibiza, but the best view of it has never been printed. It is from the water, mask in hand, with the lighthouse above you — about twenty minutes from our berth.
