Ibiza

[Slave]

I need Moopy help/advice.

I'm going to Ibiza on Sunday for a week, staying just outside of Ibiza Town. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now I realise I know NOTHING about the place really - I don't want to spend half the week fannying around and missing out on the best places to go.

Has anyone been? What are the best clubs? What decent non-drinking/dancing things are worth checking out - as in shopping, markets, beach activities, etc? What are the drink prices like - I wanted to see Roger Sanchez next Monday but it's €29 to get in (!)

If it comes across like I literally didn't read a THING about the place before booking...you'd be right.

[RobotBoy]

Well, all the superclubs are really expensive. €29 sounds quite low actually.

Space on Sunday afternoon is fun and not too full on but very, very Ibiza. Cafe Mambo in San Antonio (which is the VILE area) is fun for cheesey cocktails at sunset. Both of those are cliches, but worth going if it's your first time in Ibiza.

Restaurant wise, I love Bambuddah Grove (where you can stay on and drink all night if you fancy something more chilled than clubbing), L'Elephant and Sa Capella.

Ibiza Town is lovely though, so you're staying in the right place.

If you can, hire a boat and hop over to Formentera for the day. I think there are ferries too if boat hire's too expensive.

It's honestly a lovely, lovely place to holiday if you stay away from San Antonio.

[RobotBoy]

Oh, drink prices = horrendous in the clubs. Bars not so bad, but still pretty much in line with London prices.

[Slave]

What is so awful about San Antonio, out of interest? Cheesy cocktails sounds lovely - I'm not a MASSIVE clubber (not when it comes to dance music anyway) so I think I am looking more for late evening things to do, restaurants and the like sounds perfect - I want to go to Pacha and Space just because everyone says they are worth going to for the sheer experience.

I'm definitely more into the "sunset Ibiza" thing than staying out 'til 6am.

[RobotBoy]

San Antonio is just a really horrible resort place. It's cheap and horrible, full of 18-30 types. Mambo is the only reason to go there TBH. I'm sure the last time I was there I was drinking cocktails out of pineapples and coconuts and stuff. It's fun!

Las Salinas is good for the Ibiza beach vibe. It's all party music and cocktails, but there's plenty of other quieter beaches too.

[funky]

San Antonion really is dreadful, but Mambo is not the only reason to go there.

The entire sunset strip is idyllic. Not as much as it used to be as it is a tourist trap now, but it's still really special. From the sushi bar at one end right across from Savannah, Cafe Del Mar, Mambo, Kanya and Buddha, with a couple in between I can't remember the name of.

Ibiza town is just magical - very Spanish, particularly by day, loads of great shopping to be done along the port and loads of drinking to be done at night. The gay area is behind the first level of the castle walls at the far end of the port (almost to the pier). Go to the last restaurant and take the stairs into the walls and take a right. That whole area is really fun and not cheesy at all.

Climb the castle walls to the top taking the tourist route during the day, and take your camera. Scenery inside the walls and the views from the top are incredible. Real taste of mediterranean history.

The towns have crap beaches, but you can take a drive to Salinas beach, but instead of going to Salinas, take a left turn onto Sa Trinxa (spelling might be off) were you'll find a nudist beach and a gay beach. The sand is much better, it's much quieter, and the water is clearer. Beware jellyfish though.

Get onto the internet and do a restaurant guide. I haven't been in about 4 years so it's not worth me recommending anything but Ibiza is known to have some of the best restaurants in Europe.

If you're feeling adventurous, the beaches and caves to the north of the island are incredible. The hippy markets are good fun but go on a day when it's not typical as it's much nicer when it's not packed full of Germans and Brits. Also a day trip to Formentera is worthwhile, not much there but it's beautiful and the beaches are great.

Clubs - Pacha is still the best IMO. Music you can dance to, and plenty of pretty space to chill out in and make a full night of it. Best nights are Def Mix and Subliminal, if they're still on. David Morales and Frankie Knuckles are a must if they're playing. Space is very full on. Bora Bora is your spontaneous party on the beach type of affair. I love the intimacy of El Divino but last few times I went it had become very commercial, Hed Kandi etc, full of English. The Spanish nights are better, but quieter. If you like clubbing Amnesia is worth seeing as it's the ultimate club venue, and they have a gay night too I think which I'm sure must be like Vauxhall x1000. Privilege is also massive (still the biggest club in the world I think?) but I never really liked any of the nights there, no atmosphere - saying that, everything will have moved around now so could be good. The live music nights are good though as it's a great venue for live music. Saw Moloko there, amazing.

[funky]

oh and my advice is drink before you go to the clubs and drink water once inside. The prices really are a crime against humanity.

The good bars in Ibiza town tend to get start getting busy about 11pm and are full on by midnight/1am. If you're going clubbing, no point getting there until 1am. Get nice and tipsy beforehand but don't get really drunk as the door staff don't take kindly to weary looking Brits. They've seen their fair share of idiots over the years. You usually get one free drink with your entrance fee so make it last and then switch to water. Consider the cost of entrance as including the 'experience' of seeing an Ibiza club and it won't feel quite so pricey. That's my advice.

[big ron]

San An is funny if you go for just a few hours late on to watch the casualties, its no different to any other 18-30s destination really in that its full of towny tramps puking up and getting fingered.

Outside San An you've got an amazing, beautiful, spiritual place. A big +1 for climbing the castle. Watch the sunset behind Es Vedra, hire a car or bikes and head into the little villages in the centre and the smaller beaches like Benirras, Cala d'Hort and Salinas. I've been every year for the past 10 years, started off just going for the clubs and the dance music and now we stay in the middle of the island in a villa and have private little parties and eat a shit load of good food, and I still find new things to do every year.

If you can hack it then do at least one night at a massive event like cream @ amnesia, do a load of drugs and pretend your in Kevin and Perry, it would be rude not to.

[RobotBoy]

Last time I went, we stayed in a villa outside San Rafael and our nearest neighbour was about 3 miles away. Best. Week. Ever.

[funky]

mmmm San Rafael.

[Slave]

oh and my advice is drink before you go to the clubs and drink water once inside. The prices really are a crime against humanity.

The good bars in Ibiza town tend to get start getting busy about 11pm and are full on by midnight/1am. If you're going clubbing, no point getting there until 1am. Get nice and tipsy beforehand but don't get really drunk as the door staff don't take kindly to weary looking Brits. They've seen their fair share of idiots over the years. You usually get one free drink with your entrance fee so make it last and then switch to water. Consider the cost of entrance as including the 'experience' of seeing an Ibiza club and it won't feel quite so pricey. That's my advice.

That sounds like wise advice actually - I don't really want to spend my holiday vomiting at 6am anyway, I'd like to see both sides of the holiday and fully intend to be up and out by 10.30am.

I don't want to do drugs though. These are all great ideas, thanks guys; I've still no firm ideas as to what to do besides Roger Sanchez on Monday. I'm getting the impression that it could be a week to just feel out the place and see what's what and then go back next year with a better idea. I'm a bit gutted that our outgoing and incoming flights are both early Sunday, we're not really going to be there for a proper Saturday night.

[Mats]

I really want to go to a foam party there. maybe I should scrap the planned Camino next year and go to Ibiza instead

[big ron]

Saturrdya nights never used be that good when I went over to "work" as it was a changeover night for most package holidays. That might not be so true now what with budget airlines.

[Slave]

Thanks for all of your sage advice guys.

We managed to do Space (it was the first night and quite EMPTY in comparison to the other nights) which I quite liked but really felt the start of the season let it down. Roger Sanchez wasn't as good as I'd hoped, he didn't really have much identity as a big-name DJ. We did Amesia on Wednesday which was the start of La Troya - the place was PACKED but we made the mistake of buying a pre-bar all-you-can-drink ticket and ended up arriving at Amnesia around 12.30. Once the place was full and the entertainers were doing their thing it was quite the spectacle, but inevitably being there so early it was a bit of a DRAG waiting for it to start. I hated the music, it was just a monotonous thumping beat in the main room ALL NIGHT.

But Pacha, WOW, what a night. In a sense I can't imagine EVER having a night out like that again and I'm certainly not keen on going out in the UK anytime soon because I know nothing could compare. The vibe in there is fantastic, and to my mind it's the only club that we went to which felt like an "Ibiza club" (the others were nice, but I didn't feel they couldn't be replicated elsewhere). It was packed and full of so many different people, I loved the rooftop terrace. David Guetta was launching his "F*** Me I'm Famous" night and he was on another level. I have SO much respect for him as a DJ rather than a commercial chart star - he worked the room into a FRENZY and perhaps the biggest difference compared to any of the other clubs was that he played recognisable songs. I wasn't expecting to go to clubs and here a range of chart music, but the moment he started playing 'When Love Takes Over', 'Club Can't Handle Me', etc. was mindblowing, I have never seen ANYTHING like it in my life. It was utterly euphoric and I think at one point I was so happy I actually cried, the crowd just erupted and it was like the happiest, safest place on earth. That was what I had been waiting for the whole week to experience.

Otherwise we did get over to Formentera and hired a bike which was nice. I wasn't sold on the idyllic beaches people kept going on and on about, but the whole thing was a nice change of pace. As was the sunset strip in San Antonio. I can quite understand why people would not want to stay there - we sat in Café Del Mar for a few hours and I had to just keep facing away from the pavement as hoardes of young women swigging wine from bottles paraded the boardwalk.

I think I know what I'd do more/less of next time. It really threw me the first day, I really struggled with the clubs not getting busy 'til 3am. Going for a few drinks early evening, then a meal, then going to sleep until midnight seems to be pretty much what people were doing - and actually in a way it gives you so many more hours for your day. It's probably the first holiday I've been on that I wouldn't say dragged, but I certainly felt like I got a GOOD week out of it which didn't fly by.

The major sticking point - everything was so expensive, I think that was a shame from my point of view because I hadn't saved a massive amount of money. I didn't mind paying roughly £17 for a cocktail in Pacha because I thought it was well worth it, but paying upwards of a tenner in a bar was SICKENING and the one thing I absolutely DESPISED was the amount of people flyering ALL DAY LONG. I didn't get more than 30 minutes of peace at the beach until someone wandered along and tried to sell me either dodgy sunglasses or a boat trip or club entry, etc. The same went for just walking down amongst the bars; I suspect it's just a difference in culture and a result of the competition in the area but it REALLY pissed me off, people following you down the street BEGGING you to get a cocktail with them.

If I went again, I'd definitely do Pacha more than once and I'd try and spend more time at Bora Bora, etc. I loved the whole vibe down there and I'm glad I experienced it. But I'm not sure I WOULD go again because for the money I ended up spending on drinks/basic amenities, I could probably go further afield.