At our apartment in Alicante, we’re lucky enough to have a balcony that looks out over the Mediterranean Sea. 😍 (Being from Missouri I still can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.) And while we love overlooking all the port activity, sailing lessons, and cruise ships, there’s something else pretty interesting that we’re able to see out in the distance on a clear day — the Spanish island of Tabarca.
This summer, we’ve set out for Tabarca twice. First, we rented a boat with a private company since Matt has his Spanish boater’s license. But we learned there are some unique pitfalls to doing it that way — like the fact that you can’t pull into port on the island if you’re just visiting. So for our second visit, we decided to take the ferry along with most people who visit Tabarca.
Here’s what you need to know to plan your own Tabarca Island ferry trip from Alicante!
About Tabarca Island
Tabarca, is the smallest permanently inhabited island in all of Spain, which is pretty cool considering that Spain has 179 islands! And while it’s not very big, it’s still the biggest one in the Community of Valencia (basically the “state” of Spain we’re in). The island itself is only about a mile long and 1/4 mile wide (1.8 km x 400 meters). So it doesn’t take very much time to get around and see everything! About two-thirds of the island — the eastern part — is rocky and uninhabited, with the only sparse buildings an old fort and a lighthouse.
But Tabarca is the place to go if you’re interested in seeing marine life. In fact, Tabarca was designated as the first Natural Marine Reserve in Spain, back in 1986. This is why Tabarca is one of the best places for snorkeling in the area — we saw a ton of groups of people on snorkeling excursions, and we were kind of wishing we were taking part.
More recently, Tabarca has become listed an Area of Special Protection for Birds! So while you’ll definitely see plenty of seagulls, you may find some other interesting birds passing through during your visit. Apparently you can see flamingoes at certain times of the year(!).
While Tabarca is located about 12 miles from Alicante, the route used by the ferries — and recommended to us when we rented our own boat — was to sail south along the coast of mainland Spain toward a town called Santa Pola. From there, it’s less than four miles to Tabarca.
Tabarca Island Ferry with Cruceros Kontiki
We booked our tickets with Kontiki, one of the most popular ferry lines from Alicante to Tabarca. Our trip was on a Wednesday, and we booked our tickets the day before. It cost €23 per person, round trip.
When you make your booking, you are able to select what time you want to depart Alicante. The options were as follows:
- 9:45 a.m.
- 10:45 a.m.
- 12:00 p.m.
- 1:15 p.m.
We decided to take the 10:45 a.m. ferry, especially since the instructions said to arrive 30 minutes before departure time. Unsurprisingly, that really wasn’t necessary, but it did help us ensure we got a good seat for the ride over to Tabarca. The boat left from the marina area of Alicante, right near the Esplanade, at this address:
Kon Tiki
Passeig Màrtirs de la Llibertat, S/N
03002 Alicante, España
Also, the return to Alicante is open — so you don’t have to book your return for a specific time. The the Kontiki ferry leaves the port of Tabarca at 4, 5:30, and 6:15 p.m., so just line up at the port when you’re ready to head back to Alicante.
When we boarded the boat, there was plenty of space for all the passengers. There were two levels, and there was an interior on the bottom level which was great for staying in the shade as long as possible. (There really isn’t much shade at all on Tabarca!) Two bathrooms were located on board, as well as a small snack bar with chips, drinks, etc. The snack bar is cash-only, so keep that in mind.
The time on the ferry passed pretty quickly — it took us about an hour to pull into port on Tabarca.
Things To Do on Tabarca Island
Once you arrive at Tabarca, you’re free to spend your time however you like until you decide to head back to the ferry.
In the “shopping” area, which you’ll reach after passing under the Puerta de Levante, you’ll find all kinds of souvenir shops. Most of them sell things like goggles and water shoes for your trip to the beach as well. (I thought it was interesting that these items weren’t super marked-up from a price perspective, considering it’s basically your only opportunity for buying those things if you arrive to the island without them!)
Speaking of the beach… you can swim almost anywhere you want on Tabarca. But all of it is pretty rocky, including the main beach, Playa de Tabarca. Which means two things.
One, your beach umbrella may not stay upright super well, especially if it’s windy. (Ask me how I know this.) You’ll probably need to rely on big piles of rocks to help hold it up. And like I mentioned, there’s really not much shade on the island so having an umbrella is still crucial.
Two, it can be pretty painful walking to/from the water! You might want to buy some water shoes if you don’t have some already. I think they’re on my list of things to buy now — we’ve been to enough rocky beaches by now that I’d definitely be recouping the investment!
There are also other coves around the island that could be good for snorkeling. You could go for a walk around the rocky part of the island, like Matt did on our last visit. Or you can read up on pirate history on Tabarca while lounging on the beach. Tabarca is a small island but you can definitely choose your own adventure as far as what you want to do.
Where To Eat and Drink on Tabarca Island
There are several little bars in the shopping area. I liked Idus de Marzo, Taberna Engañosa — the bartender was really nice and it’s a good place to cool off with a drink before/after heading to the beach!
Most of the restaurants are near each other right next to the port. And it seems like you might need a reservation at many of them. For example, during our first visit, we went to Restaurante Gloria Playa. We called several restaurants for reservations early in the day, but they were all sold out already. But luckily, Gloria was able to fit us in.
During our second visit, we decided to bring our own food and snacks from Alicante for lunch, which meant we didn’t need to deal with making a reservation, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Leaving Tabarca with Cruceros Kontiki
We definitely thought that we had “booked” the trip to leave Tabarca at 4 p.m., so we went to line up at the port around 3:45 p.m. Turns out that since it was an open-ended return, it didn’t matter if we had missed that boat in the end. However, we were slightly concerned when we saw the Kontiki boat fill up with passengers and pull away, with us still very much in line.
But not to worry! There was another boat right behind it, and we had no problem getting a seat.
Something to keep in mind is that there are several different ferry companies that all leave the island around the same time. There are workers at the port who try to help control the chaos a bit by helping you make sure you’re in the correct line. They also gave each of us a red piece of paper/”ticket” which was for Kontiki. I think the other ferry companies had a different color.
On the way back to Alicante, I sat inside for a bit (again trying to stay out of the sun) until about halfway through the journey when they started blaring some song over the speakers. Unfortunately a speaker was right in front of my face and it was so loud that I left my seat to go up to the top deck where Matt and our friends were sitting. Inexplicably, when the song finished, they played the exact same song again. No explanation or context was given for this.
And after about an hour on the boat, we arrived back to the same place we’d left that morning, in Alicante.
Final Thoughts: Tabarca Island Ferry from Alicante
Overall, it was a much less stressful ordeal to pay the €23 for an organized trip from Alicante to Tabarca with Cruceros Kontiki — compared to renting our own boat. (That experience had some kinks that we would need to work out for next time. Maybe I’ll go into that in the future here.)
I felt that the 4-ish hours we spent on the island was plenty for what we wanted to do, and it’s nice that there are so many different departure times offered from both Alicante and Tabarca — which means you have a lot more control over your time there, instead of having to adhere to rigid schedules.
And I thought Kontiki was a good ferry company that clearly knew what they were doing. It’s not a glamorous experience by any means (reading the reviews, I feel like some people go into it with unrealistic expectations of what a ferry ride is) but it gets the job done — the job of shuttling you from one place to another safely.
I would probably choose Kontiki for my next ferry trip to Tabarca — unless I decide to book some sort of snorkeling excursion with transportation included.
Plan Your Tabarca Island Trip: Ferry and/or Snorkeling
Kontiki Ferry: Book Cruceros Kontiki here
Best Tabarca Snorkeling: Guided Snorkel Excursion // Speedboat Tour to Tabarca Island with Snorkeling // Snorkel Trip in Tabarca Island (from Santa Pola)
Have you ever been to Tabarca — or had you ever heard of it? Would you do a snorkeling tour or just check out the island itself? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
This site contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
Leave a Reply