I like to think of myself as an Ibiza veteran having been several times over the last 10 years or so. However with the last trip being June 2006, I have been reading this forum to get up to speed on the latest on the white island.
I have enjoyed your reviews and banter and wanted to post this review as my first post on the forum in the hope that you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed your reading yours.
Friday 11/9
We flew from Gatwick on Friday evening arriving just after 10pm. Jumped in a taxi to Playa den Bossa about €15. We usually stay at Jet apartments however they were in need of an upgrade 3 years ago and as we weren’t staying for a whole week we decided to try somewhere new and chose Garbi. Best decision we made. Garbi was brilliant. The whole place is modern, clean and cool. The rooms are huge, great showers, air con, fridge, etc. One day we didn’t leave the room until about 7pm and when we got home 6am our room had been cleaned. Love the free wifi throughout, loads of chill out areas, huge pool and the food in the Chill Garbi restaurant is very decent and reasonably priced. Most evenings we started with a few drinks at the bar with prices being reasonable.
Buffet breakfast was also pretty good although we only made to breakfast once as it finished at 10.30am.
Anyway Friday night we took it easy, had a walk around PDB to check out what was new. We weren’t ready for Bora Bora but had a couple of drinks at Delano next door which is very chilled and drinks are quite reasonable in comparison and had a relatively early night.
Saturday 12/9
We made it to breakfast at 10am. It was a lovely sunny day so we chilled all day on the loungers by the pool.
Late afternoon/early evening we walked up the beach for some Bora Bora action. I went with an open mind having read mixed reviews from the last few years but I am pleased to report that it is still as good as ever. Met lots of great people, drinks as expensive as ever and the usual Bora Bora vibe.
Around 11pm we headed back to Garbi and got ready for Hed Kandi at Space. Thanks to a tip on this forum (can’t remember who it was but thanks!) I had downloaded the Ministry of Sound Clubber’s Guide to Ibiza iphone app and had won free guest list entry for myself and 3 friends. There was some awesomely funky house going on in the terrace when we arrived and we pretty much stayed there. The HK decorations are fantastic with lots of sparkly glitter balls and dancers, etc. We called it a night at about 3.30 when the tunes got a bit darker on the terrace.
Beer and water at space were about €8 and €10 respectively.
Sunday 13/9
Got up in afternoon sometime and chilled by the pool. Had a few cocktails at the bar. Bartenders very friendly and made us try the local drink for medicinal purposes obviously! which definitely gets you in the party mood.
We then headed to Delano for dinner as had heard good things about the food. I had one of the cheese burgers which was huge and also delicious, the other food my friends ate was also good by all reports. Also thanks to MOS iphone app I got a free bottle of very drinkable house white when ordering food.
We then went to check out Ushuaia (does anyone actually know how you say that? Please let me know I asked several people and no one seemed to have a clue!). I had done some research beforehand and got us all on the guest list however it turned out that it didn’t matter as everyone was given a wristband upon entry and allowed in regardless of GL or not. I must say it is a pretty cool place and definitely worth checking out. It was great to be able to sit on the cool sand listening to the tunes. However drinks are even more expensive than Bora Bora.
Apparently once the party finishes up at about midnight on Sundays it moves on to a catamaran until 5am. I don’t what the deal is re getting on to that though as we left to head to We Love.
Popped into Tantra on the way and got our tickets for €53. No free drink in September. If we had have been organised and wanted to save money we could have gone it before 6pm for about €35 and got our pass out but can you ever plan ahead or be organised in Ibiza!
The usual shenanigans ensued, including a huge thunderstorm and when there was a break in the rain around 4am we headed home. Unfortunately didn’t get to catch 2 many DJ’s as they didn’t start to 4.30am, gutted, but thoroughly enjoyed the night regardless.
Monday 14/9
Slept most of the day, rained on and off, managed to catch a bit of sun here and there. In the evening the general consensus was to eat at Delano again. Probably would have eaten at Garbi but their restaurant closes at 5pm – definitely missing a trick there.
Ate prawns and goat cheese salad – very nice.
Headed to Tantra for some cheap 2 for 1 drinks before we made our way to Tiesto at Privilege. We had been given a wristband at some point which we were told gave us gave us €15 off the ticket price and that we would have our own queue and not have to wait. I asked the guy so that means entry will cost us €35 and he said yes. We discovered that in fact what this meant was €15 off the door price of €60 meaning it cost the same as a pre-sale ticket and also you had to queue up to buy a ticket once there. So at Tantra we got tickets for €43 which also included a free bus there. We had seen the free buses on other nights and decided that it wasn’t for us and so we caught a taxi for about €15. Walked straight in with our tickets when we got there.
In all my times to Ibiza I had never been to Privilege. However having seen Tiesto recently at Victoria Park in London where he just blew me away I was really looking forward to it. I must say I was rather disappointed. The world’s biggest club is certainly not the worlds best and I think it is time for a huge overhaul. The pool in the middle just breaks up whatever little atmosphere there is. Yes the sound and lighting, and 3-d laser effects were amazing and Tiesto was awesome but there was just something missing. I won’t bother with Privilege again.
We discovered that the club is not water tight a huge electrical storm started sometime after Tiesto came on about 2.30am. Very few places on the dance floor were dry and those that were had broken glass beer bottles everywhere – I have never seen this before in any clubs. Space and Amnesia seem to be have a better crowd or cleaners collecting glasses, etc – needs improvement. Water was pouring in through the roof ( I use the term roof in the loosest possible sense!) on to speaker stacks. Surely it was only a matter of time before some catastrophe struck. Sure enough just as Tiesto dropped an awesome mix of I will Be Here the entire sound except for Tiesto’s monitors went. Tiesto didn’t realise as he still had his monitors going until someone had to go into the booth and tell him. He then had to pick up the microphone and apologise and say something about the rain and give us 5mins to get it going again. Fair dues it was back up and running within minutes but it never really got going properly. Then about 45mins later the entire sound went again this time including Tiesto’s monitors and all the lighting on the stage and screen. This time Tiesto did not look impressed but a few minutes and it was all back on again. However the vibe in the room was pretty low at this point and I said to my friends he needs to pull out a massive anthem to get things going again. And he did just that by dropping his remix of Silence and for 10 minutes all was forgiven. Louder Than Boom which I had listened to on You Tube and didn’t really like went down a storm on the massive system however with things never fully recovering and the whole lack of something at Privilege we called it a night at 5.30am.
Thank goodness the rain had decided to take break however the queue for a taxi was ridiculous and there was about one cab arriving every 5mins. We decided to walk up to the main road and managed to get taxi at the entrance. Just as we got in the heavens opened – thank god we weren’t waiting in that taxi queue it would have compounded the disappointing evening.
Tuesday 15/9
Our flight didn’t leave until 11pm so we had paid for an extra night so we could sleep all day turned out to be a godsend as it didn’t stop raining.
All in all had an absolute blast as always do in Ibiza. Favourite clubs are still Space and Amnesia.
I have enjoyed your reviews and banter and wanted to post this review as my first post on the forum in the hope that you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed your reading yours.
Friday 11/9
We flew from Gatwick on Friday evening arriving just after 10pm. Jumped in a taxi to Playa den Bossa about €15. We usually stay at Jet apartments however they were in need of an upgrade 3 years ago and as we weren’t staying for a whole week we decided to try somewhere new and chose Garbi. Best decision we made. Garbi was brilliant. The whole place is modern, clean and cool. The rooms are huge, great showers, air con, fridge, etc. One day we didn’t leave the room until about 7pm and when we got home 6am our room had been cleaned. Love the free wifi throughout, loads of chill out areas, huge pool and the food in the Chill Garbi restaurant is very decent and reasonably priced. Most evenings we started with a few drinks at the bar with prices being reasonable.
Buffet breakfast was also pretty good although we only made to breakfast once as it finished at 10.30am.
Anyway Friday night we took it easy, had a walk around PDB to check out what was new. We weren’t ready for Bora Bora but had a couple of drinks at Delano next door which is very chilled and drinks are quite reasonable in comparison and had a relatively early night.
Saturday 12/9
We made it to breakfast at 10am. It was a lovely sunny day so we chilled all day on the loungers by the pool.
Late afternoon/early evening we walked up the beach for some Bora Bora action. I went with an open mind having read mixed reviews from the last few years but I am pleased to report that it is still as good as ever. Met lots of great people, drinks as expensive as ever and the usual Bora Bora vibe.
Around 11pm we headed back to Garbi and got ready for Hed Kandi at Space. Thanks to a tip on this forum (can’t remember who it was but thanks!) I had downloaded the Ministry of Sound Clubber’s Guide to Ibiza iphone app and had won free guest list entry for myself and 3 friends. There was some awesomely funky house going on in the terrace when we arrived and we pretty much stayed there. The HK decorations are fantastic with lots of sparkly glitter balls and dancers, etc. We called it a night at about 3.30 when the tunes got a bit darker on the terrace.
Beer and water at space were about €8 and €10 respectively.
Sunday 13/9
Got up in afternoon sometime and chilled by the pool. Had a few cocktails at the bar. Bartenders very friendly and made us try the local drink for medicinal purposes obviously! which definitely gets you in the party mood.
We then headed to Delano for dinner as had heard good things about the food. I had one of the cheese burgers which was huge and also delicious, the other food my friends ate was also good by all reports. Also thanks to MOS iphone app I got a free bottle of very drinkable house white when ordering food.
We then went to check out Ushuaia (does anyone actually know how you say that? Please let me know I asked several people and no one seemed to have a clue!). I had done some research beforehand and got us all on the guest list however it turned out that it didn’t matter as everyone was given a wristband upon entry and allowed in regardless of GL or not. I must say it is a pretty cool place and definitely worth checking out. It was great to be able to sit on the cool sand listening to the tunes. However drinks are even more expensive than Bora Bora.
Apparently once the party finishes up at about midnight on Sundays it moves on to a catamaran until 5am. I don’t what the deal is re getting on to that though as we left to head to We Love.
Popped into Tantra on the way and got our tickets for €53. No free drink in September. If we had have been organised and wanted to save money we could have gone it before 6pm for about €35 and got our pass out but can you ever plan ahead or be organised in Ibiza!
The usual shenanigans ensued, including a huge thunderstorm and when there was a break in the rain around 4am we headed home. Unfortunately didn’t get to catch 2 many DJ’s as they didn’t start to 4.30am, gutted, but thoroughly enjoyed the night regardless.
Monday 14/9
Slept most of the day, rained on and off, managed to catch a bit of sun here and there. In the evening the general consensus was to eat at Delano again. Probably would have eaten at Garbi but their restaurant closes at 5pm – definitely missing a trick there.
Ate prawns and goat cheese salad – very nice.
Headed to Tantra for some cheap 2 for 1 drinks before we made our way to Tiesto at Privilege. We had been given a wristband at some point which we were told gave us gave us €15 off the ticket price and that we would have our own queue and not have to wait. I asked the guy so that means entry will cost us €35 and he said yes. We discovered that in fact what this meant was €15 off the door price of €60 meaning it cost the same as a pre-sale ticket and also you had to queue up to buy a ticket once there. So at Tantra we got tickets for €43 which also included a free bus there. We had seen the free buses on other nights and decided that it wasn’t for us and so we caught a taxi for about €15. Walked straight in with our tickets when we got there.
In all my times to Ibiza I had never been to Privilege. However having seen Tiesto recently at Victoria Park in London where he just blew me away I was really looking forward to it. I must say I was rather disappointed. The world’s biggest club is certainly not the worlds best and I think it is time for a huge overhaul. The pool in the middle just breaks up whatever little atmosphere there is. Yes the sound and lighting, and 3-d laser effects were amazing and Tiesto was awesome but there was just something missing. I won’t bother with Privilege again.
We discovered that the club is not water tight a huge electrical storm started sometime after Tiesto came on about 2.30am. Very few places on the dance floor were dry and those that were had broken glass beer bottles everywhere – I have never seen this before in any clubs. Space and Amnesia seem to be have a better crowd or cleaners collecting glasses, etc – needs improvement. Water was pouring in through the roof ( I use the term roof in the loosest possible sense!) on to speaker stacks. Surely it was only a matter of time before some catastrophe struck. Sure enough just as Tiesto dropped an awesome mix of I will Be Here the entire sound except for Tiesto’s monitors went. Tiesto didn’t realise as he still had his monitors going until someone had to go into the booth and tell him. He then had to pick up the microphone and apologise and say something about the rain and give us 5mins to get it going again. Fair dues it was back up and running within minutes but it never really got going properly. Then about 45mins later the entire sound went again this time including Tiesto’s monitors and all the lighting on the stage and screen. This time Tiesto did not look impressed but a few minutes and it was all back on again. However the vibe in the room was pretty low at this point and I said to my friends he needs to pull out a massive anthem to get things going again. And he did just that by dropping his remix of Silence and for 10 minutes all was forgiven. Louder Than Boom which I had listened to on You Tube and didn’t really like went down a storm on the massive system however with things never fully recovering and the whole lack of something at Privilege we called it a night at 5.30am.
Thank goodness the rain had decided to take break however the queue for a taxi was ridiculous and there was about one cab arriving every 5mins. We decided to walk up to the main road and managed to get taxi at the entrance. Just as we got in the heavens opened – thank god we weren’t waiting in that taxi queue it would have compounded the disappointing evening.
Tuesday 15/9
Our flight didn’t leave until 11pm so we had paid for an extra night so we could sleep all day turned out to be a godsend as it didn’t stop raining.
All in all had an absolute blast as always do in Ibiza. Favourite clubs are still Space and Amnesia.
