Lodging in Ibiza...what're some good spots?

I

IkerCasillas

New Member
I'm looking to set up a large group traveling to Ibiza early in the season for 2012 for 8-10 days to really take the island in. I'm wondering which hotels are most outfitted to fulfilling our travel needs. Something in a quality location, close to both the clubs and beaches. I know it's a small island but I'd like somewhere in close proximity to both that doesn't cost an arm and a leg like a resort hotel. Any ideas?
 
Thanks. I was looking into Playa den Bossa or San Antonio, but it appears Playa den Bossa or Ibiza town would accommodate us most. I do want to explore the entire island for all it has to offer tho. Maybe take a day and hit the links up. Drive the coastlines. The group would be about 15-20 deep, all 20-somethings. Spending daylight hours on the beach and nights in the clubs, but take a couple days to rest and really take the island in.
 
I saw that they're available. How many people do they typically hold, and would they be more inexpensive than a normal hotel?
 
I forgot to mention I'm American. Dunno how the people of Ibiza react to Americans. I know Europe as a whole has us stereotyped as loud and obnoxious. How do they respond to the Americans that come there?
 
I'm American. Been going to Ibiza for 10 years straight now. Never had a problem. Doesn't matter where you're from. What matters is your attitude. If you're there to have a good time, respect the island and its people, and don't act like a doofus, you'll be fine ;)

(and the fact that you know the name of Spain's national goalkeeper should put you in good company :lol:)
 
Morbyd said:
I'm American. Been going to Ibiza for 10 years straight now. Never had a problem. Doesn't matter where you're from. What matters is your attitude. If you're there to have a good time, respect the island and its people, and don't act like a doofus, you'll be fine ;)

(and the fact that you know the name of Spain's national goalkeeper should put you in good company :lol:)
Click to expand...

:D@ doofus!!!
 
My uni is very very American, funny hearing yall talk about i-bee-za, I had to dissuade a bunch from booking spring break there cause the Island was not yet up and running.

However I'd say go for PDB > San Antonio. More international mix + more fun + nicer beaches.

As for the stereotypes I'd definitely classify you guys as louder than the rest of us, but I also find you to be more fun and up for it... At uni I have much more fun going out with the Americans even if they have no idea about house/techno.

I seriously doubt you'd have any problems at all! Just don't get too "crossfaded" and try to control your "**** shows."

I'm ****ing envious I'd actually love to hit Ibiza with 20 Americans, oh well; am going to visit some at USC in summer which will hopefully compensate (although musically I'm concerned).
 
Southern Cal? Hahah, you'll see the most beautiful women the States have to offer there. As for musically? California has its own kind of music, that usually takes 4-6 months to go across the country to the East coast where house music and hip-hop are more predominant. If you want good house in the US, Miami is the destination. A friend of mine is/was a resident and gig DJ at Space, The Cove, and Grand Central in Miami.

I'm not your typical American though, I'm very respectful and laid back. Some of the people I might be bringing though would definitely have that classic American stereotype attached to them. The only problem I'm having right now is my friends underestimating what Ibiza has to offer. Most of them keep telling me 'I'd rather go to Vegas or Miami or somewhere in the Caribbean than Ibiza', but they also have no clue about what Ibiza is really like, neither do I for that matter, and most of them have been to Miami, Cancun, and the Caribbean and such, I haven't though, that's why I want my first big trip to be to Ibiza.

I don't want to party the WHOLE time though, that's why I'd like to go for 7-9 days. Take a couple days to drive the coastline of the island, play a round of golf, relax and really soak in the fact that I'm on an island in the Mediterranean.

And I'd definitely be able to get along with the European crowd. I follow football (soccer) as close as I follow baseball, our American football, and hockey over here. I'm a sports nut. I'd most definitely arrive on the island wearing a Fernando Torres kit just for the fact I'm in Spain.

We're all party people though, the core of the group that is, we're from Delaware, a small tiny state in the armpit of the Mid-Atlantic U.S. and we spend our winters clubbing in Atlantic City, and summers at a beach town that is constantly thumping with party life. And we all get down with house music, though most are very mainstream with the house. We definitely know how to party.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've spent the past 2 New Years in the Caribbean (Barbados, St Maarten/St Barts) and I've got to tell you that it pales in comparison. Boring, overpriced and even the service is surly compared to the Spanish. I've pretty much decided I'm not interested in exploring the region any further.

Cancun is fun but the charm there is being able to travel to places like Chichen Itza or Tulum. There are a couple of decent nightclubs but not on the same level as Ibiza.

Just tell your friends - word from a fellow American - they will have an amazing time. It will put these other places to shame. Really. It's a different level. I've been going back annually for 10 years now and I know others that have been doing it longer (or even moved there!). That's how great this island is.

I'm from DC, by the way. Spent some time in Delaware (Rehobeth beach). Beaches in the Med are quite different from our Atlantic coast beaches as well. Less waves but also less dirty! But you should definitely stay in Playa den Bossa then. It's the beach that will remind you most of home (long, sandy, lots of amenities)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I personally have never been any further south than Richmond, VA, and no further north than Upstate, NY, and no further west than Columbus, OH...I've pretty much been deprived of travel my entire life. Thats why I wanna go all out and just go straight to Ibiza. I have plenty of friends in Miami and they all tell me to come down there, and I'm sure it'd be great, but I wanna get outta this country for once.

I don't know anyone personally thats been to Ibiza but a few people I know have it as their dream vacation in mind. I have 9 people all ready confirmed to go including myself. We'll prolly have a group of about 30 by the time we're ready to book...

By the way, when do you guys think is the best time to book? I was thinking right after the New Year, and for which week do you think is the best? I want to come sometime after everything has opened because I want to go to a different club each night. And is it worth staying in Playa den Bossa or somewhere else in a very close proximity like a 10 minute cab ride away? I wanna have this whole thing mapped out before we get there so we have a sliver of an idea what to expect when we arrive.

DC guy eh? Thats cool you've been to Rehobeth. We spend our summers 5 minutes Rehobeth in Dewey Beach. Rehobeth is more family oriented, Dewey is the party town. I'm sure the waves are almost non-existent in the Med but I'm not goin to body surf! haha...I'm dying to see clear blue water for once instead of the greenish-brown water of our Mid-Atlantic America.

I have plenty of questions to ask you guys though so if you're willing to help I'd appreciate it.

Do you think it would be better to book by a travel agent or... Should we book each room individually by group of 4?
 
I always book myself. You get good hotels at good prices right here on this very website. I've been using it yearly since my second trip in '02. Use skyscanner.net to check for the best airfares.

I remember my first trip abroad (weekend in Frankfurt, 1995). It was a great experience... but I can't imagine if my first trip abroad had been Ibiza. I'd have never gone home :lol:

You can book as early or late as you'd like. I'm going this September and I still haven't booked my trip (although I'll probably book hotel soon). You might be able to lock in cheaper airline deals earlier on.. for many of the Europeans this is important as they're flying low-cost carriers, but not as vital for you. However, if you're going to book US-Madrid or US-Barcelona and then Madrid/Barca - Ibiza separately (could possibly be cheaper) then you'll want to do that earlier as the cheap seats on that second leg will fill up.

You'll want to stay right in Playa den Bossa or, furthest away, Figueretas which is a 15 minute walk from PdB. There are plenty of options in both in all price ranges. From there, it's easy to get into Ibiza Town (and to Pacha) and about 10 minutes from San Rafael (clubs Amnesia, Privilege). Space is right in PdB, as are a few beach clubs including Bora Bora, Sands and Ushuaia.

Ask away. We're here to help :)
 
Haha, well, we're all in our early to mid 20's...I'm probably going to be the least traveled of the group. We'll probably come together and plan everything out in detail closer to Nov-Dec and decide when to stay, where to stay, how to fly, and all that.

I read here that buying tickets early to the clubs via this website is a good idea, which I'll probably do for the group. I want to make sure we come during a week everything is open and lively.

Being that we allready have 9 people, I suspect by the time we're ready to book we'll have well over 25-30. I've taken some early estimates from Expedia.com just to see how much we'll end up spending on flights and hotels. I set it for Philadelphia-Ibiza and all are around $1000 round trip with limited connections. Mostly from Philly to NYC then NYC to Madrid, or NYC to Paris to Madrid. That doesn't matter though, but saving money would. I figure we're sacrificing a day on each end (10 day total stay, 2 for travel, 8 for fun) for travel anyways.

Some guys mentioned earlier to book an apartment to stay which doesn't seem like a bad idea and would probably be more enjoyable than cramped hotel rooms for a week. What are the price differences in the different lodging choices? And do landlords/hotel owners dislike if we try to fit more people than the preferred maximum in a room? Like I noticed an apartment i researched that is for 4 people, but had an extra sofa-bed that we could place one more person in and possibly save some cash? And I'm not really set on having our whole group stay in the same hotel/apartment complex, so long as were all in the same town, for the same length stay in a close proximity to one another. Booking us all in the same location would be a plus, but I understand this may be hard considering we'll have such a large group.
 
If you've got that many people, I'd look into getting a villa (especially if you've got some people renting cars). A few apartments might also work but keep in mind that a lot of those properties like to rent by the week. Otherwise, look at the options in the apartment hotels. Yes, you will generally be limited to capacity (a 2 bedroom apt with sofa bed might say 4 but I'd bet it's really rated 4-6), but I suppose people can always sneak in :)

For flights I think you'll be better off trying to get to Madrid and then getting separate flights Madrid-Ibiza on one of the local low-cost carriers. That's what I usually do. Maybe check flights out of Newark?

With a group that big I'd be wary about buying all your club tickets in advance as you never know when people will drop out. Maybe pick a couple of big nights when you know everyone is going out and buy those in advance, then wait until you get to the island for the rest (you can pop into an Internet cafe and get them online there, or buy them at various bars around town. Nights generally do not sell out)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Good to know. A villa may be the best bet but do you know how many people generally fit in a villa? If the price is right, we might end up staying 2 weeks if we can save on the lodging. We may also end up renting a few cars just to explore the island some but we'll prolly end up just taking cabs and buses everywhere we need to go.

I understand what you mean about the club tickets, but I wouldn't buy them all until everyone is booked and the club lineups are scheduled, because by then they won't wanna drop out. I'd mainly grab Tiesto's night and Guetta's night. I actually just saw Guetta last weekend in Atlantic City. Tiesto was in AC the week prior to Guetta but I couldn't go. I want to see how they spin a European venue compared to the American influenced sets they likely gave us. The fiesta del agua's are a must for us also. I personally would like to be at a Pete Tong, SHM, and Armin set, which I'm sure the rest of my group wouldn't want to miss either, so I want to plan accordingly.
 
IkerCasillas said:
Good to know. A villa may be the best bet but do you know how many people generally fit in a villa? If the price is right, we might end up staying 2 weeks if we can save on the lodging. We may also end up renting a few cars just to explore the island some but we'll prolly end up just taking cabs and buses everywhere we need to go.

I understand what you mean about the club tickets, but I wouldn't buy them all until everyone is booked and the club lineups are scheduled, because by then they won't wanna drop out. I'd mainly grab Tiesto's night and Guetta's night. I actually just saw Guetta last weekend in Atlantic City. Tiesto was in AC the week prior to Guetta but I couldn't go. I want to see how they spin a European venue compared to the American influenced sets they likely gave us. The fiesta del agua's are a must for us also. I personally would like to be at a Pete Tong, SHM, and Armin set, which I'm sure the rest of my group wouldn't want to miss either, so I want to plan accordingly.
Click to expand...

Go to Cocoon at Amnesia mate and Circo Loco at DC-10. You might not have heard of any of the djs but if you want to get an idea about European clubbing it's an absolute must.

Consider doing the openings? Or the closings? In my experience that's the liveliest time with the best atmosphere. Personally I found openings (end of may) > closings (end of september).

As for me, yeah I am very excited about hitting Cali, I love it there + now I know people my age studying at a party uni it should be pretty sick. My friend wants to show me American "raves" but I have reservations; she makes it seem like it's all about UV paint, glowsticks etc and the music is seemingly more electro-house rather than tech-house. We shall see though. I'm probably more excited about hitting frat parties and all that stuff, although Rap / RnB / Top 40 is not my thing I think I will have to learn to get by...
 
I wish I could stay there all summer, then I'd do it all, but thats a dream not likely to come true. Doesn't matter if I don't know the DJ's, just a personal want of mine to see those big names in a place like Ibiza. I know I won't see em all, I definitely wanna check out each of the clubs though. Opening is probably what we're going to go for, but don't some of the clubs open earlier than others? Or is there one week in which they all have an "opening week" party even though some of the places have all ready been open?

Cali is amazing. No place like it. It's not a paradise like Ibiza is touted as, but it's just a world of its own. USC is regarded as the school for the beautiful people. As for the rave scene in the USA, it's near dead. The real raves were illegal parties staged in abandoned warehouses that you'd usually have to go to one location in order to get directions to the real location. They don't really exist anymore. You are right though, the only 'raves' now are glow paint parties that are sponsored and legal, which makes them have the rave vibe, but not a legitimate 'rave'. Any music in America is gonna have that Hip-hop and R&B touch to it, with Electro house beats now...it's whats really catching on over here. 5 years ago the two were on different spectrums, now the two genres have come together which is really making its own distinct sound, but different to the European sound especially. More vocals, bars and hooks, refrains, etc... like I said before tho, California has it's own music that usually takes a few months to make it across the country. Very hip-hop and dance influenced....Indie Pop stuff. If you wanna hear the best Tech-House the States have to offer, you need to go to Miami. A couple good friends of mine are tearing it up with their minimalist tech-house offerings, DJs Hectik Rivero and Mika Materazzi, check em out.

Campus parties will surely be where you'll want to be at tho. USC is (I believe) the 3rd largest university in the States, behind Texas and Ohio State, but the girls at USC are on another level. Katy Perry ain't lyin in that song, you'll see.
 
Yeah that's a good point; the opening weekend I'm hitting has:

Friday. Pete Tong @ Pacha Opening // Saturday. Zoo Project Opening // Sunday. Space Opening // Monday Circo Loco @ DC-10 Opening.

Amnesia doesn't open for a bit afaik, Cocoon opening is mid-June. No idea with regard to Privilege. There will also be beach parties and such, Ushuaia for sure, Bora Bora, Sands (I'm guessing) which should be quite lively.

If you did 2.5 weeks starting the last weekend of May you would be able to do most of the openings I reckon. Could be a plan. Also my 5 day schedule will be very hectic which is perhaps not what you're after.

Thanks for your insights, I've heard much about Miami, definitely my music and WMC / Ultra look amazing. Fully intend to check it out eventually.

Last time I was in Cali (start of 2009) it did feel like paradise. Somewhere I could definitely live unlike Ibiza. Yeah I've been pretty lucky actually. USC has a year abroad programme at my uni and through one girl I met a bunch of other USC girls on a separate USC run four month programme. My experience thusfar definitely corroborates what you're saying, stunning blonde California girls from Newport and ****, ridiculous. Also I don't know if it's standard in American college life but the girls I've met seem to have pretttty loose morals. Fairly curious.

Musically we have nothing in common though. Based on what you're saying I might just give the raving a miss. This kinda thing would do the trick though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paz7EmaKzOg . I would be content with one such party and just doing frat parties otherwise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top