Ses Illetes is a long, narrow strip of beach on the western side of the northern spit, with the salt pans on one side and open sea on the other. The sand is white and very fine, the water shallow and preternaturally clear, and the seagrass beds beneath the surface give it that luminous turquoise that photographs well and looks even better in person. It consistently appears on lists of the best beaches in Europe, and while such lists are not infallible, in this case they are not wrong.
Because Ses Illetes lies within the Ses Salines Natural Park, development is tightly restricted: no beach hotels, no beach clubs in the Ibiza sense, no permanent structures beyond the basic. A few boat-based beach bars moor offshore in summer and sell food and drink — an arrangement that keeps the beach itself clear while still providing cold drinks when you want them. The road to Ses Illetes closes to private cars during the peak summer months, which means arriving by bicycle, on foot, or via the shuttle bus from La Savina. This is an inconvenience that keeps the beach more tolerable than it would otherwise be.