Formentera, the smallest and most southerly of the inhabited Balearic Islands, is a sun-bleached mirage adrift in the Mediterranean – a place that seems to exist in its own slowed-down dimension, where the best hotels on Formentera feel like secrets waiting to be discovered. The island is that rare thing – a place where life is lived defiantly outdoors, and its hotels are a reflection of that. Lo-fi beach bungalows, retro whitewashed hostels and deeply luxurious boutique hotels all find their place – on this far-flung slip of Spain it’s the spirit, not the price tag, that counts.