Marina Ibiza and Ibiza Magna. Straight from the aircraft to the right gate and your yacht.

Almost everyone says Marina Botafoch and means the whole eastern side of Ibiza's harbour, which is a problem the moment a car has to find a specific passerelle. There are three separate operations along that arm. Marina Ibiza takes the largest yachts, up to around 95 metres, on pontoons that range from the quiet inner berths to the ones where the boutiques and the restaurant terraces start at the end of the gangway. Ibiza Magna is the short quay of around 85 berths taking yachts to about 60 metres, the one that appears in every photograph of the island with Dalt Vila lit behind it. Marina Botafoch itself is the older and much larger basin, mostly for boats below 30 metres, with a handful of longer berths.

For a driver they are minutes apart and for a guest with luggage they are not. Each has its own entrance off the Paseo Juan Carlos I, its own barrier and its own security, and the walk from the wrong gate to the right pontoon can be several hundred metres along an open quay in full sun. Give us the marina name and the pontoon or berth number the yacht has been given. The captain's agent will have it, and having it turns a vague arrival into a thirty second one.

Ibiza is a short drive from its quays and a difficult airport to arrive at in high season. General aviation slots and parking are managed tightly from late spring into October, larger aircraft face limits on the apron in the busiest months, and there is a night curfew. Two things follow for a yacht arrival. Ask about the aircraft and the slot early, because a departure time that suits the yacht may not be available to your aeroplane on the day you want it. And expect the aircraft to be asked to drop passengers and reposition rather than sit on the apron all week, which changes the plan for the return leg.

The full picture is on the Ibiza airport and Ibiza private terminals pages. Many parties fly into Palma instead when the aircraft is large. If that is likely for your group, say so at the enquiry stage rather than after the aircraft is confirmed.

In an ordinary week a car can reach the marina gate, set down passengers and luggage and leave. It cannot sit on the quay. Parking along the Botafoch arm is limited and enforced, so the pattern is the usual one: the driver drops at the gate, parks nearby and returns when you message. Crew meet the luggage at the barrier and take it down the pontoon. If the party is large, or if anyone cannot manage a walk on an open quay, tell us before the day and we will set the stopping point with the marina and the captain rather than improvising it.

Plenty of yachts never come alongside at all. In July and August a great many lie off Talamanca, off the Botafoch breakwater or down at Cala Jondal and come in by tender. The landing inside the harbour is settled between the captain and the marina for that stay, so confirm it the night before. A car sent to the old port when the tender is landing at Botafoch is on the wrong side of the water, and the road around the head of the harbour is not quick in season.

Nights here run late and in a particular order: dinner in the old town or at Talamanca, then a club at Playa d'en Bossa or on the San Antonio road, then back to the yacht at four or five in the morning. Hold a car through the night rather than releasing it. Taxis are scarce at closing time and the ride-hailing options on the island are limited.

The season runs from the opening parties in late April and May through to the closings in the first half of October. July and August are the peak, and the first fortnight of August is the peak of the peak: every berth, villa, table and car on the island is committed, and road times roughly double. June and the second half of September give you the same sea and about half the friction.

Two practical points catch people out. Posidonia seagrass meadows around the Balearics are protected and anchoring over them is restricted, which is why the yacht may be lying somewhere less obvious than your party expected. And a day at Formentera is easy to arrange while a late return is not, because the last fast ferries leave earlier than the evening feels like it should allow.