Trip Report: Ibiza
We’ve always been interested in Ibiza due to the party scene but didn’t realise how beautiful the island scenery was. We spent a short 3 days in Ibiza- not enough time, but we are looking to make it an annual trip with the group we went with. In those 3 days we certainly managed to fit a lot in!
CONTENTS (click to jump to section):
Our Trip Summary | Places of Interest | Flights | Accommodation | Trip Conclusion & Top Tips
Our Trip Summary
3 Nights, 2 days
We arrived on a Friday evening, and we were staying 5 minutes from the airport… we had pre-bought tickets to Eden nightclub (one of the bigger, well-known clubs in Ibiza) for their DEFECTED records night. In hindsight we should have a) stayed for a longer trip so that we could b) go out on the Saturday or Sunday evening, not the first night we got there as we were all tired from travelling. The night itself was great, the club had crazy vibes and everything you would expect from an Ibiza experience! (Despite Georgia falling over within 2 mins of being in the club and severely spraining her wrist!)
Saturday, after waking up a bit late (recovering from the night before) and making our way into the main town of Ibiza, it was time for food. We ate some amazing food from Green Café Ibiza it was hearty, tasty and vegan! The view of the marina really made this a nice start to our day. We then took a long stroll into the old town, all the time taking photos of the amazing Castle perched on top of the town itself. Of course, we had some cold beers sat next to the harbour before heading back to our Air BnB for some R&R and a swim in the pool. The Saturday evening was interesting as the Eurovision Song Contest was on and Georgia is a huge fan, so we watched it whilst getting ready to hit the old town’s bars. It takes ages to get a taxi using the taxi app in Ibiza, so we would recommend getting a few phone numbers for the taxi companies. Also be warned that if you go in a group of 5, due to covid the taxis can only take 4 passengers currently (information correct at time of writing) so we had to get 2 taxis everywhere which made things a bit pricey. If you can get accommodation to bars and restaurants that is recommended!
We ended the Saturday with some strong cocktails along the harbour. There is a strip of bars and restaurants, there will be someone at the front of each establishment, offering you different deals in their bar TOP TIP: keep walking until you get a ridiculous offer… we were able to buy our first round, then get a second round completely free as well as a round of shots!!!
Sunday was our most active day, as we wanted to try and pack as much in as we could before travelling back the next day. This is when we realised, we hadn’t stayed for long enough, we also didn’t realise that Sunday is one of the more active nights in terms of clubs! So, we started the day quite late again as we were making the most of the pool at our Air Bnb, we then went to a bar for lunch… we ended up staying here for multiple sangrias (strong again) and they had a DJ mixing house music in the middle of the day. We then went for swim in the sea as we believe that you can’t go to somewhere with a nice beach without dipping your feet in! We then had our eyes on the castle on the hill, and we had been saying since we arrived that we were determined to take the long walk up to the top of the castle! So, we did it. There was a medieval market on at the time which made it busy, but it had a great atmosphere.
We made it to the top of the castle at sunset, so we got some awesome pictures with a view over the main town, with the mountains in the distance. We then made the descent down into the town to find some food and had an amazing vegetable paella, with multiple helpings!
Monday, we sadly had to fly back home mid-morning.
We will be going back to stay for longer and explore more areas, as well as go to more clubs! TOP TIP: We went in late May time, this was only a couple of weeks after the clubs had started opening for the “Season”, the recommended time to visit if you want to see some of the best artists/DJs playing is June to September (although since Covid, the party season has been running from as early as April up until late October)
Places of Interest
The Marina: The marina has multiple viewpoints of the marina itself, the castle, the harbour, and the vast ocean. The airport is close by, so the planes fly-over regularly which makes for great viewing. There are plenty of restaurants and bars to sit in and enjoy these views.
The Old Town: The old town is as expected, charming and quirky. There are many small streets to weave in and out of, plenty of markets to explore as well as interesting bars and restaurants. The area is steeped in history.
The Castle: The castle is free entry and easy to access, there is a large entrance next to the main square in the old town. There are multiple routes to reach the top, we chose the path that a majority were taking, then when we reached the bustling medieval market in the centre, we found a quieter side path that led to a viewpoint across the harbour. We recommend timing your visit to see the sunset over the mountains on the west side of the island. There are a few bars and restaurants situated within the castle grounds that serve some tasty sangria and provide you with fantastic views of the town.
Sant Antoni Port (main Ibiza party strip): A 30-minute drive from the airport/main town area. We really can’t tell you too much from personal experience because we only visited Sant Antoni for one evening, went into the club at 11pm and didn’t come out until the early hours of the morning, we then went straight back to our accommodation!
What we can tell you from research is that the area is home to a large natural harbour, beautiful beaches, and a vast number of clubs. The main clubs are Es Paradis, Eden, Café del Mar, and Café Mambo.
Clubs in general: As previously stated, we only managed to visit one of the “big” clubs whilst in Ibiza… and whilst there are plenty in the famous Sant Antoni, there are plenty more in the main town of Ibiza as well as a couple of super clubs dotted around the island. The most famous clubs (not situated in Sant Antoni) are Pacha, Ushuaia (both situated near the main town, old town, port and airport area) and Amnesia which sits by itself, a 10-minute drive or 30-minute bus journey from the old town area.
Flights
There are only certain days that the U.K flights operate in and out of Ibiza as the airport is small. There is also only a handful of airlines that fly to Ibiza from the U.K due to its size and they are the typical budget airlines, but the flight time is only 2.5 hours. Our tickets cost £94 each for a return and they were on sale, it is noted that the flight prices will fluctuate throughout the year.
Accommodation
If you are planning on hiring a car and wanting to stay in your own tranquil oasis, for a decent price then the Air Bnbs and other villas that are in the middle of nowhere are great, but for us (we didn’t hire a car) it was far too expensive to have to get taxis just to get to the nearest shop. Villa and apartment prices vary across the island, the most expensive places to stay are in San Antoni and the main town, the cheaper areas are the smaller holiday resorts, based along the east coast, further up from the main town.
Trip Conclusion & Top Tips
Stay for longer than 3 days, we would say 5-7 days would give you plenty of time to explore both the cultural and clubbing sides of the island.
Make sure to look up the club schedule before the season begins and plan your trip around your favourite DJs playing at the best clubs… pre-buy your tickets to avoid steep prices and long queues.
Budget for drinks to be VERY expensive inside the main clubs (we are talking €12-20 per drink, even just for a beer)
If you are expecting hot weather then plan your stay between June and September, May was not as warm as we have experienced Spain to be in the past.
Don’t go into the first bar that provides you with a “special offer”, it’s likely that the bars further down the strip have had less customers and will be willing to offer you a better deal.
Check for cultural events such as the medieval market, we didn’t know this was on at the time we visited, had we known we would’ve made more time to visit it thoroughly.
Take mosquito spray (especially if you are staying in remote accommodation): We were next to the airport in a remote location and were bitten all over by mosquitos!
We hope you found our trip report helpful. If you are planning a trip to Ibiza, feel free to get in touch with us for any queries: CONTACT PAGE
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