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jdsolo

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Hey all

I'm planning on heading to Ibiza next summer and I need some help planning based on your experiences.

Just to give you a background, I'm an American and I've never been to Europe. I'm thinking about making Ibiza one of my first stops before heading to the mainland. I'll most likely be traveling alone.

I'm debating between Barcelona and Valencia as my very first stop. From there, I'll take a flight to Ibiza.. Then after about 4-5 days, I'll head to London.

Would Barcelona or Valencia be better in terms of both quality and the price of the ticket from said city to Ibiza? Depending on how much I enjoy the place, I'd stay there anywhere from 2-4 days.

Also, would it be advisable to buy one way tickets from online sites such as travelocity or discount european carriers (of which, I don't really know any). I'm planning one way tickets all the way because I won't be returning from Barcelona/Valencia. I honestly don't know where I'll end up (maybe Paris or Amsterdam) so to keep things flexible. I'll be traveling around Europe for about a month.

Back to Ibiza.. From reading around, I'm guessing the "party" place to be is San Antonio (I'm 25 years old)? Or Bora Bora? I'm not really sure. All I know is that I'll be in the partying mood by the time I get to Ibiza so I'm looking for the best place where I'd be able to meet new people and have a great time.

Also, I'm not really sure what kind of clubs there are. Are they all house and techno music? Or are there clubs with American-club/bar style music (aka. rap, journey =P , etc)? Because reading about all the different clubs on this forum is really confusing for someone who's never been there and has no experience with European style partying =)

Anyways, that's a long post so I'll end it here.

I appreciate any help!

- Joe
 
Hey there. A fellow American here (although living abroad). That's quite an exciting plan you've got there... I remember my first trip to Europe. Frankfurt. Really not much to see there, but it was one of the most exciting trips I've ever taken!

OK, Here's what I'd do if I were you. Get yourself a round-trip ticket to London. Then buy some low-cost airline tickets London-Ibiza (EasyJet, Ryanair, Thompson, Monarch), then Ibiza-Barcelona (Vueling, SpanAir, Air Europa) and then Barca-London or train from there or however. I think that'll be your cheapest option, especially if you book this far in advance.

Obviously, with that, I'm suggesting Barca over Valencia. I haven't been to Valencia, but if this is your first visit to Spain then Barca is a must.

The big clubs in Ibiza play the 3 main genres of electronic dance music - house, techno and trance. You'll find occasional parties and smaller places with other formats but that's the main part of what you'll hear. I'm not sure if you've read just the forums or also the main Ibiza Spotlight site. If you haven't check out the clubber's guide on the main site. Link is at the top of this page.

Re: where to live. There are 2 main places to be: San Antonio and its suburbs (the San Antonio Bay are) - that's on the west side of the island - or Playa den Bossa (PdB) and Figueretas in the southeast.

PdB is right next to Ibiza Town so you've got the city nearby. Places like Bora Bora (it's a beach club, not a whole beach ;) ) Ushuaia, Sands and the club Space, which hosts some of the best parties. The clubs DC10 and Pacha are also relatively close by. I prefer PdB over San An because I like the location, the beach clubs, and the atmosphere.

San An probably has some better budget options, the sunset strip of bars, and the West End of the town has a lot of bars and smaller nightclubs. Beaches near the town are poor but there are others not too far away and down in the Bay area.

Again, check out the main Ibiza Spotlight site because the resort guide section explains both areas in more detail.
 
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i love valencia. scores for me every time over barcelona, therefore i'd advise our us friend to go to barcelona - generation gap and all that.
 
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Morbyd, thanks for the suggestions! I hadn't noticed the clubbing guide link before. I'm just starting to read over it but it looks like a great resource.

I don't think I'll be buying a roundtrip ticket from the States to London. That means that within a month, I'll HAVE to be back in London to catch a flight. I've traveled throughout Asia and that was one thing that I always hated (but had no choice at the time), being forced to return to someplace.

haha @ stephen.. Are you implying that Valencia is for older people?

What's an armball thing? lol
 
jdsolo said:
What's an armball thing? lol
Click to expand...
When discussing soccer with Brits, you should (aside from always calling it football) be careful never to use the word "armball" to refer to the offense of handball, even if the ball actually hit the player's arm. You will be ridiculed. Ruthlessly. For years to come. You've been warned. ;)
 
Morbyd said:
When discussing soccer with Brits, you should (aside from always calling it football) be careful never to use the word "armball" to refer to the offense of handball, even if the ball actually hit the player's arm. You will be ridiculed. Ruthlessly. For years to come. You've been warned. ;)
Click to expand...

Better to be ridiculed than excluded eh John?
 
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Morbyd said:
When discussing soccer with Brits, you should (aside from always calling it football) be careful never to use the word "armball" to refer to the offense of handball, even if the ball actually hit the player's arm. You will be ridiculed. Ruthlessly. For years to come. You've been warned. ;)
Click to expand...

Sounds like you've had a personal, tramautic experience :p
 
On the subject of armball etc. does anyone have a link to that youtube spoof of USA covering the world cup? Think it got posted up here somewhere, I was trying to find it to send to my brother.

Sorry for the thread hijack jd, what dates are you aiming to be over?
 
I'm looking at around June or July 2011. Depending on what I get leave. I'm guessing that would be at the height of the summer partying?

You guys don't think it'd be better to just fly to Barcelona and then to Ibiza, instead of going to London to Ibiza?
 
June is opening party season. The 2nd half of the month is my favorite time to go.

If you're not buying a round-trip ticket for the US-Europe-US part of the journey then sure, fly in to Barca and back home from wherever you'll end up. My initial suggestion was based on potential to reduce costs since it seemed you were saying that your final European destination was London.
 
Funny thing....Ibiza was my first trip out of North America (and obviously first trip to Europe). Earlier this year I went to Cuba which was fantastic but Ibiza blew Cuba out of the water by far!!!

I too was REALLY lost when it came to the music in Ibiza (being from Canada). Since experiencing everything for myself, I now know exactly what DJ's I want to see, what clubs to go to that I like the best, etc. July and August are the most expensive times to go to Ibiza. I was looking at going last August but held off a couple of weeks and booked the beginning of September instead (saved myself a small fortune).

You could look at flying open-jaw meaning fly from the US to Barcelona and then pick an "end" destination and fly from that destination to the US again all on one ticket. That is what I will be doing next year (fingers crossed my boss will let me have 3 weeks vacation all at once). I am planning on flying Toronto - London (then taking several cheap flights book separately - 1 to France somewhere, 1 to Ibiza and 1 to Barcelona) and then flying Barcelona - Toronto. The Toronto/London and Barcelona/Toronto will all be on one ticket. I can find them for just over $1,000 CAD taxes in at this point (this past year I flew Buffalo - Atlanta - Madrid - Ibiza and then was supposed to fly the same back but after spending 6 hours in Ibiza airport, missed all connecting flights home due to a major delay. I got put up in a hotel and everything for a night in Madrid and flights re-booked for the next day from Madrid - Philidelphia - Buffalo then just drive across the border into Canada).

Like Morbyd, I much prefered PDB over San An. I stayed in both locations when I was there however San An was a much cheaper option (with that being said, when I plan on going back next year, I am planning on staying in PDB. I liked the atmosphere MUCH better, I liked that Space, Pacha, Bora Bora, etc. were all pretty much "right there" and who can forget about waching the planes land just a few kilometres away??).
 
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