IBIZA IN THE TIMES
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10321-1026068,00.html
I actually wrote this article about 7 months ago, though jigged it recently. Thanks for Spotlight for the quotes, sd shift some traffic your way.
It's been published alongside a piece by Times staff journo Anabelle Thorpe, kinda ye olde clubbette can still get donw on the 'floor stylee. Mu unedited piece below:
IBIZA: From Cattle Class to Club Class by Iain Stewart
After a decade of tabloid tales that portrayed the island as little more than a budget raver's paradise, Ibiza is shifting upmarket.
Though visitor arrivals fell by five per cent in 2003, the decline predominately affected the island's bucket-and-spade resorts where tourist accommodation is block-booked by UK and German tour operators.
Conversely, the island's independent travel sector is booming. The Ibiza Spotlight website reports that Internet hotel bookings increased by 150 per cent in 2003, with virtually all interest confined to luxury hotels. "We have accommodation in all the popular family resorts, but they are just not selling," reports director Norman Skinner.
The comedown is being felt most in San Antonio – a prosaic concrete costa-style resort almost totally dependent on the package market – where hotel occupancy rates slumped last year, and advance bookings for the 2004 season show no signs of an upturn. Yet in chic Ibiza Town (which includes the historic World Heritage-listed quarter of Dalt Vila), most hotels are reporting strong interest and healthy bookings.
Ibiza's agroturismo sector is also expanding quickly. The island now has over twenty country hotels, with several new finca conversions opening in the last year, offering affluent travellers a rural setting where the ambience could not be more different to the carry-on-clubbing antics over in San Antonio.
Better travel connections are partly the reason for this new interest, with three no-frills airlines (BMIbaby, easyJet and FlyBe) now connecting the island with the UK in summer, and British Airways-owned GB Airways commencing flights in May 2004. Getting to Ibiza for a weekend (a "cheeky one" in club-speak) could not now be easier.
The Balearic islands' tourism director, Tiffany Blackman of IBATUR, acknowledges that price rises following the introduction of the euro have meant that "Ibiza has lost on the family side, but gained more affluent travellers. Ibiza is not a cheap place, and already had a wealthy clientele of music and fashion industry people, but the island was never publicised as such in the UK."
Ibiza Gold Card, a "concierge" travel specialist in partnership with Elegant Resorts, offers weekend packages that start at £1700. Director Ben Turner concedes that exclusive Ibiza "doesn't come cheap, but that's where this new interest is coming from – the cash rich, time poor crowd. Cosmocrats who travel the world without giving it a second thought." For one group of guest-listed Gold Card clients this 'access all areas' treatment resulted in an opportunistic five hour drinking session with P Diddy in the Amnesia club's VIP terrace.
Flexibility, and an ability to tune in to the scene, increasingly seems to be the key to success in Ibiza. Specifically Ibiza, a niche travel operator which specialises in luxury property rentals, confirm "villa bookings are well up this year. Some clients are requesting a chef on site, and we've just arranged a complete party package, including DJ decks and a PA system for another group."
Ibiza's unique appeal is derived from its status as one of the world's clubbing capitals. According to Ben Turner, "Ibiza will always be a central focus for the DJ scene. People with money who have grown up with this music still want to be around club culture without necessarily having to get stuck in the middle of a sweaty dancefloor."
PANELS
Ibiza Travel Operators
Gold Card Ibiza (01244 897099, www.goldcardibiza.com). Concierge travel specialists, catering to monied punters, and linked with Elegant Resorts. Weekend packages typically cost around £2000, but include VIP club entry and drinks, a chauffeur, well-chosen luxury hotel accommodation and gourmet meals in some of Ibiza's best restaurants.
Up Hospitality (0870-011 0034, www.uphospitality.com). Upmarket division of Thomas Cook offering competitively priced deals. Private jet travel can be arranged for £9225, based on a maximum of eight passengers flying to Ibiza for a weekend from Luton.
Specifically Ibiza (0034 971 194 958, www.specificallyibiza.com). Ibiza-based company with an excellent selection of luxury villas (from around £2,200 to £10,000 a week) and apartments. Bespoke options include private catering (from 100 euros a day), party organisation, boat charters and chauffeurs.
Getting There
Ibiza is a two hour ten minute flight from Gatwick, or a two hour 45 minute flight from Glasgow.
Airlines
easyJet (www.easyjet.com; 0870-600 0000) offers daily direct flights from Stansted to Ibiza from £66 one way (including taxes).
Fly Be (www.flybe.com; 0871-700 0123) operates direct flights from Southampton to Ibiza from £100 return; and also offers a queue-jumping Club-In pass for £120.
BMIbaby (www.bmibaby.com; 0870-264 2229) has scheduled no-frills flights between East Midlands and Ibiza from £55 return in June.
GB Airways (www.gbairways.com; 0870 850 9850) Return flights from £99 in May from Gatwick.
Iberia (www.iberia.com; 0845-601 2854) has some reasonable fares in the spring months (including flights in March from £159 return via Barcelona).
Many charter airlines now offer much more flexible flights, including some weekend breaks. Try www.cheap-flights.com or www.cheap-ibiza-flights.com for a selection.
Where to Stay
To experience Ibiza in style, the best option is to either stay in Ibiza Town or a rural hotel. As the island is only 30 miles long, it's possible to base yourself in the less developed north of the island and commute to restaurant-rich Ibiza Town or the clubs. All taxis have meters, and rates are fairly moderate.
La Torre del Canónigo, Dalt Vila, Ibiza Town (0034 971 303 884, www.elcanonigo.com. Located in the medieval quarter of Ibiza Town, this historic hotel has spectacular views of the harbour. Huge luxuriously-appointed rooms, some with hot tubs, draw a celebrity clientele including Grace Jones and Jean Paul Gaultier. In May double rooms cost 120 euros, suites are 270 euros per night.
Can Pere Mari (0034 971 187 134, www.canperemari.com). Wonderful family-owned rural retreat set in extensive grounds planted with carob and olive trees. The nine rooms are all tastefully decorated and there's a large pool. Great place to get away from it all. Double rooms (including a healthy breakfast) cost 145 euros in high season, and there are bargain deals available in winter.
Es Cucons (0034 971 805 501, www.escucons.com) Simply stunning agroturismo hotel, converted from a farmhouse that dates back to 1652. Doubles are 225 euros in August, but consider visiting in February, when the rate drops to 180 euros and the thousands of almond trees around the hotel are in bloom.
Bar Scene
Most of the happening bars are located in Ibiza Town. Visiting DJs, dance music professionals and assorted liggers gravitate to the harbourside terrace of the Base Bar on Carrer Garijo, while minted Euro slackers and fashionistas favour the neighbouring Rock Bar next door.
For a more relaxing environment, test the cocktail list in stylish Bar Zuka or at the boho chic surrounds of the Mao Rooms (owned by London's Chinawhite club). Ibiza's uber-hyped sunset is best appreciated at either the Café del Mar or Café Mambo – both are in San Antonio.
This year's most talked about venue is Underground, located just off the San Antonio-Ibiza Town highway. Set in a converted finca, it boasts three separate bar rooms, a large garden terrace and a dancefloor – Jade Jagger hosts parties here. Km5, another leading rural bar located on the Ibiza Town-San José road remains perennially popular and also draws an international crowd.
Restaurants
Most of Ibiza's very finest seafood restaurants are situated on remote cove beaches at the end of dirt roads (unless you arrive by yacht of course). The pick of these are on the south coast: El Boldado (0034 626 494 537) at Cala d'Hort; Yemanjá at Cala Jondal (0034 971 187 481); and La Escollera (0034 971 396 572) at Es Cavallet.
Inland, it's worth booking ahead to eat at Bambuddha Grove (0034 971 197 510) near San Juan, an Asian fusion restaurant set in a dramatic bamboo-and-thatch building. Otherwise, the gastro village of San Rafael has a glut of superb places to eat: formal French food at L'Elephant (0034 971 198 056), provençal cuisine at Clodenis (0034 971 198 545) and delicious Moroccan cooking at the stylish El Ayoun (0034 971 198 335).
Ibiza extras
The owners of the 'La Vida de Riley' catamaran (0034 629 007 356) offer the ideal 'night after' recuperation package: a 'Detox Daytrip' aboard their sleek 36-foot craft. A half-day charter to the tiny island of Espalmador, where there's a natural mineral-rich mud pool, costs 300 euros and includes fruit smoothies and Indonesian food.
Ibiza is one of the Mediterranean's leading yoga centres. Ibiza Yoga (020 7419 0999, www.ibizayoga.com) situated at Benirras beach, offers week-long courses from £375.
Further Information
Spain Tourist Information (020 7486 8077, www.tourspain.co.uk). The website www.ibiza-spotlight.com has a fully bookable hotel section plus comprehensive transport information and club listings.
The second edition of Iain Stewart's Rough Guide Ibiza & Formentera (£6.99) is out now. Pacha magazine, available in the island's leading bars and hotels is also entertaining and informative.
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10321-1026068,00.html
I actually wrote this article about 7 months ago, though jigged it recently. Thanks for Spotlight for the quotes, sd shift some traffic your way.
It's been published alongside a piece by Times staff journo Anabelle Thorpe, kinda ye olde clubbette can still get donw on the 'floor stylee. Mu unedited piece below:
IBIZA: From Cattle Class to Club Class by Iain Stewart
After a decade of tabloid tales that portrayed the island as little more than a budget raver's paradise, Ibiza is shifting upmarket.
Though visitor arrivals fell by five per cent in 2003, the decline predominately affected the island's bucket-and-spade resorts where tourist accommodation is block-booked by UK and German tour operators.
Conversely, the island's independent travel sector is booming. The Ibiza Spotlight website reports that Internet hotel bookings increased by 150 per cent in 2003, with virtually all interest confined to luxury hotels. "We have accommodation in all the popular family resorts, but they are just not selling," reports director Norman Skinner.
The comedown is being felt most in San Antonio – a prosaic concrete costa-style resort almost totally dependent on the package market – where hotel occupancy rates slumped last year, and advance bookings for the 2004 season show no signs of an upturn. Yet in chic Ibiza Town (which includes the historic World Heritage-listed quarter of Dalt Vila), most hotels are reporting strong interest and healthy bookings.
Ibiza's agroturismo sector is also expanding quickly. The island now has over twenty country hotels, with several new finca conversions opening in the last year, offering affluent travellers a rural setting where the ambience could not be more different to the carry-on-clubbing antics over in San Antonio.
Better travel connections are partly the reason for this new interest, with three no-frills airlines (BMIbaby, easyJet and FlyBe) now connecting the island with the UK in summer, and British Airways-owned GB Airways commencing flights in May 2004. Getting to Ibiza for a weekend (a "cheeky one" in club-speak) could not now be easier.
The Balearic islands' tourism director, Tiffany Blackman of IBATUR, acknowledges that price rises following the introduction of the euro have meant that "Ibiza has lost on the family side, but gained more affluent travellers. Ibiza is not a cheap place, and already had a wealthy clientele of music and fashion industry people, but the island was never publicised as such in the UK."
Ibiza Gold Card, a "concierge" travel specialist in partnership with Elegant Resorts, offers weekend packages that start at £1700. Director Ben Turner concedes that exclusive Ibiza "doesn't come cheap, but that's where this new interest is coming from – the cash rich, time poor crowd. Cosmocrats who travel the world without giving it a second thought." For one group of guest-listed Gold Card clients this 'access all areas' treatment resulted in an opportunistic five hour drinking session with P Diddy in the Amnesia club's VIP terrace.
Flexibility, and an ability to tune in to the scene, increasingly seems to be the key to success in Ibiza. Specifically Ibiza, a niche travel operator which specialises in luxury property rentals, confirm "villa bookings are well up this year. Some clients are requesting a chef on site, and we've just arranged a complete party package, including DJ decks and a PA system for another group."
Ibiza's unique appeal is derived from its status as one of the world's clubbing capitals. According to Ben Turner, "Ibiza will always be a central focus for the DJ scene. People with money who have grown up with this music still want to be around club culture without necessarily having to get stuck in the middle of a sweaty dancefloor."
PANELS
Ibiza Travel Operators
Gold Card Ibiza (01244 897099, www.goldcardibiza.com). Concierge travel specialists, catering to monied punters, and linked with Elegant Resorts. Weekend packages typically cost around £2000, but include VIP club entry and drinks, a chauffeur, well-chosen luxury hotel accommodation and gourmet meals in some of Ibiza's best restaurants.
Up Hospitality (0870-011 0034, www.uphospitality.com). Upmarket division of Thomas Cook offering competitively priced deals. Private jet travel can be arranged for £9225, based on a maximum of eight passengers flying to Ibiza for a weekend from Luton.
Specifically Ibiza (0034 971 194 958, www.specificallyibiza.com). Ibiza-based company with an excellent selection of luxury villas (from around £2,200 to £10,000 a week) and apartments. Bespoke options include private catering (from 100 euros a day), party organisation, boat charters and chauffeurs.
Getting There
Ibiza is a two hour ten minute flight from Gatwick, or a two hour 45 minute flight from Glasgow.
Airlines
easyJet (www.easyjet.com; 0870-600 0000) offers daily direct flights from Stansted to Ibiza from £66 one way (including taxes).
Fly Be (www.flybe.com; 0871-700 0123) operates direct flights from Southampton to Ibiza from £100 return; and also offers a queue-jumping Club-In pass for £120.
BMIbaby (www.bmibaby.com; 0870-264 2229) has scheduled no-frills flights between East Midlands and Ibiza from £55 return in June.
GB Airways (www.gbairways.com; 0870 850 9850) Return flights from £99 in May from Gatwick.
Iberia (www.iberia.com; 0845-601 2854) has some reasonable fares in the spring months (including flights in March from £159 return via Barcelona).
Many charter airlines now offer much more flexible flights, including some weekend breaks. Try www.cheap-flights.com or www.cheap-ibiza-flights.com for a selection.
Where to Stay
To experience Ibiza in style, the best option is to either stay in Ibiza Town or a rural hotel. As the island is only 30 miles long, it's possible to base yourself in the less developed north of the island and commute to restaurant-rich Ibiza Town or the clubs. All taxis have meters, and rates are fairly moderate.
La Torre del Canónigo, Dalt Vila, Ibiza Town (0034 971 303 884, www.elcanonigo.com. Located in the medieval quarter of Ibiza Town, this historic hotel has spectacular views of the harbour. Huge luxuriously-appointed rooms, some with hot tubs, draw a celebrity clientele including Grace Jones and Jean Paul Gaultier. In May double rooms cost 120 euros, suites are 270 euros per night.
Can Pere Mari (0034 971 187 134, www.canperemari.com). Wonderful family-owned rural retreat set in extensive grounds planted with carob and olive trees. The nine rooms are all tastefully decorated and there's a large pool. Great place to get away from it all. Double rooms (including a healthy breakfast) cost 145 euros in high season, and there are bargain deals available in winter.
Es Cucons (0034 971 805 501, www.escucons.com) Simply stunning agroturismo hotel, converted from a farmhouse that dates back to 1652. Doubles are 225 euros in August, but consider visiting in February, when the rate drops to 180 euros and the thousands of almond trees around the hotel are in bloom.
Bar Scene
Most of the happening bars are located in Ibiza Town. Visiting DJs, dance music professionals and assorted liggers gravitate to the harbourside terrace of the Base Bar on Carrer Garijo, while minted Euro slackers and fashionistas favour the neighbouring Rock Bar next door.
For a more relaxing environment, test the cocktail list in stylish Bar Zuka or at the boho chic surrounds of the Mao Rooms (owned by London's Chinawhite club). Ibiza's uber-hyped sunset is best appreciated at either the Café del Mar or Café Mambo – both are in San Antonio.
This year's most talked about venue is Underground, located just off the San Antonio-Ibiza Town highway. Set in a converted finca, it boasts three separate bar rooms, a large garden terrace and a dancefloor – Jade Jagger hosts parties here. Km5, another leading rural bar located on the Ibiza Town-San José road remains perennially popular and also draws an international crowd.
Restaurants
Most of Ibiza's very finest seafood restaurants are situated on remote cove beaches at the end of dirt roads (unless you arrive by yacht of course). The pick of these are on the south coast: El Boldado (0034 626 494 537) at Cala d'Hort; Yemanjá at Cala Jondal (0034 971 187 481); and La Escollera (0034 971 396 572) at Es Cavallet.
Inland, it's worth booking ahead to eat at Bambuddha Grove (0034 971 197 510) near San Juan, an Asian fusion restaurant set in a dramatic bamboo-and-thatch building. Otherwise, the gastro village of San Rafael has a glut of superb places to eat: formal French food at L'Elephant (0034 971 198 056), provençal cuisine at Clodenis (0034 971 198 545) and delicious Moroccan cooking at the stylish El Ayoun (0034 971 198 335).
Ibiza extras
The owners of the 'La Vida de Riley' catamaran (0034 629 007 356) offer the ideal 'night after' recuperation package: a 'Detox Daytrip' aboard their sleek 36-foot craft. A half-day charter to the tiny island of Espalmador, where there's a natural mineral-rich mud pool, costs 300 euros and includes fruit smoothies and Indonesian food.
Ibiza is one of the Mediterranean's leading yoga centres. Ibiza Yoga (020 7419 0999, www.ibizayoga.com) situated at Benirras beach, offers week-long courses from £375.
Further Information
Spain Tourist Information (020 7486 8077, www.tourspain.co.uk). The website www.ibiza-spotlight.com has a fully bookable hotel section plus comprehensive transport information and club listings.
The second edition of Iain Stewart's Rough Guide Ibiza & Formentera (£6.99) is out now. Pacha magazine, available in the island's leading bars and hotels is also entertaining and informative.
Maybe mañana.