Reopening of Chiringuitos in Formentera

Summer 2025

Formentera, April 18, 2025

Although the calendar tells us that summer officially begins on June 21, here in Formentera we experience it differently. For those of us who live on the island —and also for the many who return year after year— summer starts much earlier. The true sign that the season has begun is the reopening of tourism-related businesses, and among them, some hold a special meaning: the chiringuitos.

With their food and drink service right on the seafront, their unique atmosphere, and music playing as the sun sets, the chiringuitos offer much more than just refreshments — they are authentic symbols of summer in Formentera.

Their return to daily activity marks a shift in pace, the starting signal, the change of rhythm for island residents that lasts until mid-October, when one by one they begin to close and we welcome winter, a slower, more intimate and local time of year.

Yesterday, April 17, coinciding with the Easter holidays, most of the chiringuitos set their calendars to open daily and resume the much-loved service that locals and visitors alike enjoy when they want a cold drink or a snack on the beaches of Formentera.

Full Season

After the rocky start of the 2024 season —when some chiringuitos couldn’t open until mid-July due to delays and complications caused by the public concession bidding process— the 2025 season seems to be entering a period of greater stability for concession holders and their staff, as well as for the visitors who truly missed these spots.

Especially at the start of last season, many of the island’s loyal early-season visitors couldn’t understand why things hadn’t been sorted much earlier to ensure the chiringuitos were open in May and June. Because chiringuitos are much more than just beach bars — they’re social hubs, places where connections are made, which is why their absence is so deeply felt.
This year, in 2025, I hope there are no further administrative hurdles and that from now until the end of October we can enjoy the island’s eight chiringuitos every single day.

Formentera Chiringuitos – Summer Schedule

As has been the case in recent years, chiringuitos have a set schedule with all of them opening between 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning and closing in line with sunset, with a 30-minute window to finish serving the last customers and begin closing up for the day.
I remember years ago, when there were no closing time regulations, and life at the chiringuito would stretch long into the night — and with it, life on the beach itself.
That had to be regulated in the early 2000s, coinciding with a shift in the type of tourism the island began to attract and the direction some chiringuitos were heading in.

Closure of Old Chiringuitos

As a result, the Consell de Formentera permanently shut down several of them, and their concessions were never put up for tender again. Among those former chiringuitos were the one at Ses Platgetes, Chiringuito Fermín at Ses Canyes beach, and the one originally known as Chiringuito Ses Guaratxes in Migjorn.
Another consequence was the decision to establish a unified closing time for all of them, linking the chiringuito experience directly to daylight hours, with sunset marking the end of the day.
Do I personally miss those nights at the chiringuitos?
Yes, I do — just as I miss many other things about the Formentera I once knew and experienced 25 or 30 years ago.
I believe setting a closing time was the right decision, but I also think that not reopening and re-tendering some of the chiringuitos that were shut down back then wasn’t, in my humble opinion, the best call by the Consell.