More cats than people: The Mediterranean island that tourism didn’t swallow whole

On the day CNN visited, cats outnumbered visitors on the island's streets. (Miquel Ros via CNN Newsource)

Tabarca, Spain — Spain’s Mediterranean islands have come to represent an ideal of lifestyle and leisure.

Chances are you’re familiar with the Balearic archipelago. Every year, millions flock every year to the islands of Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera to wander whitewashed towns, soak up pristine beaches, embrace the laidback vibes — and, for some, indulge in a bit of partying.

A little farther south lies another Spanish island that captures much of this Mediterranean magic while remaining almost entirely unknown.

Look at a map of Spain, zoom in on its southeast corner and, if you pay attention, you’ll spot an elongated speck of land just off the city of Alicante.

The flat, tiny island of Nueva Tabarca stretches 1,800 meters — just over a mile — and spans only 400 meters at its widest point. Around 50 people live on the island year-round, making it Spain’s smallest permanently inhabited island.

What Tabarca lacks in size, it more than makes up for in natural and cultural heritage. Its insularity has shielded it from the reckless overdevelopment that has scarred much of the nearby Costa Blanca.

Yet Tabarca is far from remote. Officially part of Alicante, it lies just a couple of miles offshore. Several times a day, glass-bottomed ferries shuttle visitors across the narrow stretch of water from the mainland fishing port of Santa Pola.

Even this minimal degree of geographical separation has given Tabarca a personality all its own.

Its distinct character owes much to a remarkable 18th century. The island’s inhabitants trace their roots not to nearby shores but hundreds of miles away — in a historical saga connecting Tabarca to Italy and North Africa.

From Old to New Tabarca

The Nueva in its name hints at the story.

Between 1500 and 1800, red coral from what was then the island of Tabarka, on Tunisia’s northern coast, was a prized commodity.

In the 16th century, the Genoese Lomellini family secured a concession from the local rulers to harvest coral there. By the mid-18th century, the settlement numbered around 2,000, most of Genoese origin.

Then the Ottoman Bey of Tunis, ruler of what is present day Tunisia, had other plans.

In 1741, his forces overran Tabarka, enslaving many residents and sending shockwaves throughout the western Mediterranean. Kings of Spain and Sardinia offered sanctuary to those who escaped and paid ransoms to free those still captive.

Those who reached Spain were offered a place to rebuild their lives — on a small, barren island. Then known as Illa Plana, or flat island, it was renamed Nueva Tabarca in remembrance of their previous home.

The new settlement wasn’t improvised. In line with enlightened ideas of the time, military engineers were assigned to lay out a precise urban grid which is still visible today. Broad, straight streets intersect at right angles, converging on a central square. A fortified perimeter protected the community from the Barbary pirates who regularly raided the Spanish coast.

Meanwhile, not all Tabarkians made it to Spain. Some found refuge in Sardinia, where King Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy resettled them on the islands of San Pietro and Sant’Antioco, founding the villages of Carloforte and Calasetta. Their descendants still speak the “Tabarchino” dialect and maintain a distinct culture.

Recent years have seen efforts to reconnect the three Tabarchine communities after years apart. In 2024, some 75 representatives gathered in Pegli, near Genoa, their ancestors’ home. There is even talk of nominating the Tabarchine saga for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

While that recognition remains a distant prospect, Spanish Tabarca enjoys other official protections. In 1986, it became Spain’s very first marine reserve. Two-thirds of the island remains undeveloped and largely unspoiled. Its surrounding waters and adjacent rocks and islets act as a refuge for marine life.

The urbanized third of the island has adapted to tourism, with many traditional houses converted into short-term accommodation for the growing number of tourists escaping the Costa Blanca buzz.

Island of day-trippers

The charms of Tabarca have not gone unnoticed, even beyond Spain’s borders.

María del Mar Valera, a Tabarca restaurateur and president of APEHA, an association of Alicante hospitality businesses, tells CNN that international visitors can make up to 80 to 90% of arrivals.

Most tourists are day-trippers. Around 20 small-scale businesses cater to roughly 200 to 250 people, though business is strictly seasonal, despite the year-round mild climate. “No one comes here in winter,” she adds.

Visiting on a quiet Friday in early fall, Tabarca’s streets almost deserted. Cats, basking in the afternoon sun, far outnumbered humans. (A study found that in 2023 there were around twice as many cats on the island as there were people). The broad and tidy streets — unusual for a Mediterranean town — amplified the sense of tranquillity.

A few weeks earlier, it would’ve been a different picture.

“At the peak of the summer we may get six or seven thousand visitors, we may have reached 10,000 on some peak day,” says Valera.

Some locals complain that when the tourists leave, the island fades from view — especially when it comes to public services.

A lack of transport options between November and March, when ferry frequencies drop drastically, is a major complaint, says Carmen Martí, president of the Tabarca residents’ association.

“It is very hard to live a normal life when you can barely make it to the mainland and back on the same day,” Martí tells CNN. Some elderly residents have even left due to the difficulty in accessing regular medical care.

The association is campaigning to get the island’s inhabitants similar benefits to those enjoyed by residents of other Spanish islands, such as guaranteed public transport and discounted travel to the mainland.

Martí also supports the introduction of an electronic ticket system to access the island. This, she says, would also enable the local and regional governments to get an accurate idea of how many people visit the island and plan infrastructure and public services accordingly.

Like many Mediterranean destinations, Nueva Tabarca is attempting to find the right balance between preservation and tourism. In May 2025, the city of Alicante passed new legislation seeking to further protect Tarbarca’s architectural heritage.

“We are working to preserve quite a few valuable architectural elements of value that exist on the island,” José Manuel Pérez, head of municipal heritage in the city of Alicante, tells CNN. “Besides the historical downtown, we are also evaluating possible future uses for the island’s fort,” he adds, referring to another of the island’s singular structures, a fortified tower which until not very long ago housed a small military garrison.

The fort’s tower stands like a lone centinel in a half-mile stretch of scrubland on an uninhabited part of the island, a lighthouse and cemetery its only man-made companions.

From there, the high rises of Alicante loom on the horizon, a timely reminder that Tabarca offers something increasingly rare in the Mediterranean: a place built to human proportions.