Tell us how it was - Ibiza 2022

I like reading these, so I thought I would add my own little review....

Dates you were there: 14th - 18th July (originally +2 extra nights to the 20th July!). Flight home to Luton got cancelled due to the airport at home melting in the extreme heat. Very stressful. We saw on the app late afternoon that Luton had closed for a few hours but that our flight was only delayed 2 hours. Got to airport, said delayed till 2.45am...about right...then around midnight it pops up CANCELLED! The thing that infuriated us was that they knew at 9pm that there was a very good chance the flight was getting cancelled but we still had to go the airport...go through the system. Waste of time. For us, it was a nightmare as we had our 4 year old daughter at home, but other people in the queue were buzzing that they were getting 2 extra nights in Ibiza! (no flights home till the Wednesday). The lack of support or information from Easyjet was shocking...

Where you stayed: Migjorn Ibiza Suites & Spa, PDB. Absolutely epic and would stay here again in a heartbeat. Missus sat by the pool all day every day, under the shade, proper chilled out. Music was bang on for what you want during the day, pretty loud, but not intrusive. I recommend booking direct with the hotel as it gives you a point of contact to ask questions, I asked for the best suite they had with a pool view and this was accommodated! Best hotel I have stayed in in Ibiza.

When our flight got cancelled we had to book 2 nights somewhere else, Easyjet were saying you could spend up to £300 per person per night...so £1200! I was nervous about this, in case it was hard getting the money back, so decided to shoot over to San An where hotels were cheaper. The taxi dropped us off right outside the revamped Piscis Park...now a Vibra hotel. Due to the stress of it all and needing a room at 1.30am...we opted to stay here. The phase 'polished turd' springs to mind! £420 for 2 nights. Room smelt a bit, had to move to another one...to give the hotel the benefit of the doubt I will put my bad first impressions down to my mood at the time! Loads of noise late at night, going from soundproofed Migjorn to the opposite here was a shock to the system...never again.

Club nights visited: Clockwork Orange @ Amnesia, Glitterbox @ Hi.

Best night: Glitterbox for me...although both nights were heavy on the retro tunes. I tried to convince the missus to do Black Coffee...but it was probably a wise choice to do Glitterbox overall.

Worst night: Both good, glad we left Clockwork when we did (3am ish) as we heard horror stories of taxi queues at the end...

Best bar: Stuck our heads in Paradise Lost in Ibiza town, cool place. Probably a bit early in the night to get the full vibe though. Base Bar in the port was good for a bit of people watching...

Best place to eat: Ciao Ciao in Bossa, right next door to our hotel and reasonable good quality food. Also had a great meal at La Plaza in Ibiza town...nice to watch the street performers and musicians...the kind of thing I want when I go to Ibiza town.

Best beach and/or beach club: Didnt go to the beach at all on this trip, missus not a fan. I had a wander up and down PDB a few times!

Money spent: Probably£1500 spending money for the original 4 days....not including the additional hotel and flights home! Migjorn was £1200 for 4 nights, which is good value.

Biggest regret: flying Easyjet.

Going back?: Oh yeah. Got flights and hotel booked for the Kevin and Perry event in September....however, I am now having doubts following the 'getting home' problems this time. Missus has said she is definitely not going (doesn't want to leave the little one again), so it's either solo or not at all! Cant change the name on the flight tickets, so cant even take a mate which is annoying...

Top tip: This year, with the taxi problems, always wait and queue in the proper taxi ranks...the queue might look long, but they move quicker. And an obvious one, but for newbies this is very useful, take your own booze onto the rocks at Mambos! You can still have a little tear-jerker moment if you are in the right frame of mind at sunset!
True you can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.
Good job I’m only staying 2 nights at Pisces. Wanted to stay San an for a cheap visit. Managed to bag all inclusive for £250 each. So hopefully won’t be grumbling too much. 🤞🏻
 
Dates you were there: A very eventful 9th July-23rd July (trip 1/2)

Where you stayed: 1 week at Ses Savines Apartments, San Antonio. 1 week at Sandos El Greco, Portinatx

Club nights visited: This was my missus' first visit to the island so we did a fair bit of club and genre hopping. Also spent alot more days sunbathing than usual as I saw a lot more daylight! We then had a chilled week in Portinatx to recover which was a great idea...albeit maybe a little too quiet for me. So here goes:

Saturday - Ants @ Ushuaia: A nice easy early night to start with a nice place to settle the mrs in to a week of dancing. I was also looking forward to seeing Joris Voorn b2b Kolsch having seen them both seperately and them both being decent. It turned out George Fitzgerald stole the show for us who played a really cool bouncy set that got everybody going although at one point he played Bicep - Meli and whilst this is a song I love, it was a bit out of the blue and not in keeping with the set. Voorn and Kolsch were a tad disappointing as it got to a point where it was just long build ups and drops it was basically like EDM. We left at 11. The mrs observed she couldnt believe how many fake teeth there were at Ushuaia.

Sunday - Glitterbox @ Hi: This was our worst night as i'd only heard good things and it was the one the mrs was looking forward to the most. Carl Craig was in the theatre and this is the 2nd time iv seen him in Ibiza and I still can't tell you what he plays. I can only describe it as "banging" and not in a good way. The crowd too was a few too many pissed up nobheads. We tried the club room which was musically slightly better but its so dark in there we just didnt enjoy it and gave up about 2.30. Not a good start

Monday - We designated this as a rest day which after the failings of Glitterbox turned out to be a mistake as i'd have loved to be at Circoloco for Keinemusik. We ate at Sa Capella which was a really nice meal in unique settings.

Tuesday - Carl Cox @ DC10: I spoke about this in another thread, simply the best night at DC10 ever. If Carl carried on with the live set i'd still be there now. Sensational.

Wednesday - Ocean Beach and onto Nora en Pure @ Cova Santa (pre-noise complaints): Amazed to say this as I swore I would never go and have Wayne spray cheap champagne at me, but O Beach is actually alright! I was expecting maximum pretentiousness but it was just somewhere else to chill and I enjoyed the jacuzzi and bed and it seemed decent value for money. Met a lovely couple from Essex too who ended up leaving us a few beers. In the past I would slag the place off but if someone came to me now I would say it's not as bad as you think! We got to Cova Santa at 10pm for 2 hours of Nora and she was superb

Thursday - Shine @ Eden: Started well with George McCauley warming the crowd up and eventually Fila (who we met at Cova Santa the night before) who I always enjoy as he puts a trance spin on some recent tunes. E.g I enjoyed Argy - Tataki while the mrs enjoyed a Camelphat one. Decent night but the music was far too loud and I think we should have done Afterlife.

Friday - Clockwork @ Amnesia: I wasn't sure what to expect with this but absolutely loved it! The old skool tunes and great buzz combined with not actually being the youngest in there was ace to be part of. When Seb Fontaine played Insomnia I actually got goosebumps! Great vibe all night.

Saturday we travelled to Portinatx

Sunday - Solomun @ Pacha: This was my night and I loved Adriatique, we only stayed for an hour of Solomun as we were flagging at this point but I will see him at Destino soooon.

Best night: Best club night all things considered...probably Clockwork! We also hired a boat one night and moored outside Mambo, the sunset going down as they played Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb which is a song that means alot to me personally was magically emotional and will stay with me forever

Worst night: Glitterbox, by far

Best bar: Bay Bar is my favourite in San An. We really enjoyed the little bar in the centre of Las Dalias too.

Best place to eat: The Pikes Sunday roast needs a mention but the best place was La Ciguena in Portinatx. Amazing food at a good price. Food at the hotel Sandos El Greco was bang on too.

Best beach and/or beach club: Cala D'en Serra and Cala Xuclar were cool but a bit too rocky for me (must pack sea shoes next time). The sunset at El Portixol really nice too, but my favourite was just outside the hotel at San An. The water is so clear there.

Money spent: Oof nearly 3 grand I think

Biggest regret: I really enjoyed Pikes in the day so would like to go back for a night party. We met the poolside DJ who was a girl called Briony from Australia and we wanted to stay for her set but ended up leaving. Also not going to Akasha in week 2 but just didn't have the legs.

Going back?: In 2 weeks today with the lads. Will be a heavier trip for sure.

Top tip: Having a week to recover in Ibiza is wonderful if you can stick to it. The all inclusive helped too!

Observations and/or conclusion: The taxis and the pills really hit and miss this year. I understand the taxi companies simply don't have enough drivers (or that's what I was told anyway) but we waited for 2 hours after Cova Santa as 1 turned up every 15 mins or so. Other times they were there in seconds though! Some pills where really clean and I was absolutely flying but some did nothing but make me feel sad after a few hours.

This was a one-off kind of trip really as we spent alot of the time with our 2 best friends who had decided to get married 5 weeks before we arrived on the island. It was also to show off the magic of the island to my mrs to make her want to come back, and now she wants to go every year so mission accomplished. But next time we will pick our club nights more wisely and probably do a lot less!
Good read Ben 👍 husband and I are staying in Ses Savines in September..
Took him his first trip on our honeymoon last year but didn’t get to any clubs due to covid and just like you, was sooo glad he fell in love with the island (even without the clubs) and ended up then this year we went for his birthday but with the parents 😅

So this September will be his first proper trip for clubs 💃

Glad you enjoyed ocean and Shine at Eden as those are two of the days we have planned 😁

was it the star boats you hired or something bigger when you moored outside mambo?

looking forward to the Lads trip review haha
 
Ah the funny thing is Ben, I feel for sure I saw you in the Wild Corner but I thought you were going to Solomun which is why I didn't say hello! Next time

Ah that's a shame! I'm back in 2 weeks
Good read Ben 👍 husband and I are staying in Ses Savines in September..
Took him his first trip on our honeymoon last year but didn’t get to any clubs due to covid and just like you, was sooo glad he fell in love with the island (even without the clubs) and ended up then this year we went for his birthday but with the parents 😅

So this September will be his first proper trip for clubs 💃

Glad you enjoyed ocean and Shine at Eden as those are two of the days we have planned 😁

was it the star boats you hired or something bigger when you moored outside mambo?

looking forward to the Lads trip review haha

The clubs were a big highlight for my mrs as they are so unique, im sure he will love them! It was star boats yes I booked in advance as I think they do fill up. I couldnt get the date we wanted on spotlight for some reason (assuming they only get a certain number of slots) so I went directly to their website and it was €20 deposit then €180 when you arrive. You get it from 4.30 to sunset so it is worth it. Obviously book with spotlight if you can 😉
 
Ah that's a shame! I'm back in 2 weeks

The clubs were a big highlight for my mrs as they are so unique, im sure he will love them! It was star boats yes I booked in advance as I think they do fill up. I couldnt get the date we wanted on spotlight for some reason (assuming they only get a certain number of slots) so I went directly to their website and it was €20 deposit then €180 when you arrive. You get it from 4.30 to sunset so it is worth it. Obviously book with spotlight if you can 😉
200€/person?
 
Correct and it was maximum of 6 but 4 was about right
200€/person?
Yeah i used them years ago but took the earlier slot, just trying to decide whether to do it again lol always worried to moor too close to the rocks at mambo but suppose smaller boats do go in there to bring people right in off yachts 🤔

I wouldn’t have more than 4 on them, even the 4 felt a bit of a squeeze but then again it ain’t €€€€ your spending for a yacht haha 😅
 
Dates you were there: 7-14 July with my gf

Where you stayed: Hotel Gran Sol, San An

Club nights visited: Music on @ Pacha, ANTS @ Ushuaia, The Martinez Bros @ Hi

Best night: Music On Pacha

Worst night: Every night was good but a bit disappointed for martinez brothers, but Paco Osuna played in the Club Room so that night turned out good anyways

Best place to eat: Bambuddha Ibiza, Santa Eulària

Biggest regret: Was to tired so never went for Paradise @ Amnesia with Hot Since 82, Archie Hamilton and JJ on the lineup.

Going back?: 14-17 october for pacha closing

Top tip: Use bathing shoes when jumping and climbing from rocks into the water 🤪

Observations and/or conclusion: Third time here, going back in October. Love it more for every time i visit the white isle
 
Where you stayed: Blau Parc, refurb looks good in the rooms, ignore the reception area and it feels nice

Club nights visited: None

Best night: Hostal La Torre for sunset dinner

Worst night: None

Best bar: Golden Buddha

Best place to eat: Can Grao in the Bay

Best beach and/or beach club: Calo Des Moro

Money spent: About £2k including rolling over flights for 2.5 years etc

Biggest regret: None

Going back?: Of course

Top tip: Go hiking with @stivi

Observations and/or conclusion: The magic is still there, the kids are still excited, let them crack on with it
 
Where you stayed: Blau Parc, refurb looks good in the rooms, ignore the reception area and it feels nice

Club nights visited: None

Best night: Hostal La Torre for sunset dinner

Worst night: None

Best bar: Golden Buddha

Best place to eat: Can Grao in the Bay

Best beach and/or beach club: Calo Des Moro

Money spent: About £2k including rolling over flights for 2.5 years etc

Biggest regret: None

Going back?: Of course

Top tip: Go hiking with @stivi

Observations and/or conclusion: The magic is still there, the kids are still excited, let them crack on with it
We ate in Can Grao few weeks back and I thought it was really nice
 
Dates you were there: Sun 31st July to Weds 3rd August

Where you stayed: 2 nights Migjorn in PDB (lovely), 1 night Red Hotel in SA (I was the oldest in there by 15 years, but did the job for a 70 quid one nighter)

Club nights visited: Glitterbox, Amnesia Presents, Fatboy Slim @ Mambo

Best night: Probably Glitterbox, was my first time at one of their nights and it felt fun, inclusive, bright and all round good times

Worst night: N/a

Best bar: Really enjoyed Tuk Tuk in PDB to chill out in during the day (although beware of 14 euro smoothies! Also shout to Mos in PDB for putting the football on and keeping us supplied with meatballs on Sunday evening

Best place to eat: Rita's- love it, always go, love love love it

Best beach and/or beach club: Not really any beach action this time round

Money spent: About a grand I think

Biggest regret: Not paying the extra to take a wheely hand luggage bag

Going back?: Next year my friend, next year

Top tip: Don't take it all so bloody seriously, just do what you like and balls to anyone else. Good life advice in general

Observations and/or conclusion: Honestly, for the first week in August, I thought it was really quiet, particularly PDB during the afternoon. Also much fewer little Englanders around like me. It was BLOODY HOT, particularly around Ibiza Town on Wednesday. San An felt busier around the sunset strip. The West End is now officially a dump and anyone over 21 should swerve the beejezus out of it. Taxis weren't a problem for us, but we weren't going far. Full points for the buses.
 
Dates you were there:
August 6 - 11

Where you stayed:
Hostal Juanita (Ibiza Town): This was only for one night. I'd booked the hotel below (Can Beia) thinking I would only be there those dates, then had to change my dates and add an additional day. The room I stayed in had a shared bathroom which was totally fine by me, but also I only stayed here one night. The location was also good for going out in Ibiza town. Air con worked well, staff were friendly, and it was clean. There is no lift, but only had to take the luggage up a couple of flights. I would stay here again if I was on my own as I'd rather spend money on food/doing things than accommodation.

Can Beia Hostal Boutique (San Antonio):
Absolutely loved this place. The staff were incredibly warm and friendly, rooms were cleaned every day and very quickly. Once I popped out to get some drinks/snacks and it was cleaned right away. It is very nicely decorated. The breakfast is good. I don't normally order hotel breakfast as I find the selection to be minimal, but this was not the case here. It was a quiet location and hotel guests all seemed to respect the quiet atmosphere as well.

Club nights visited:
Only Circoloco/ DC10 -August 8th Really enjoyed the music and atmosphere. I arrived at about 10 pm and it wasn't busy, but was filling up. Everyone seemed happy to be there and was in good spirits. Security seemed more hands off than in any previous visit. I found people to be really friendly and had a lot of great random chats. Terrace got pretty busy, especially for Seth and DJ Tennis, but this was not unexpected. Throughout the years, I have always loved my visits to DC10 and although it has changed immensely since the daytime days, I still love it. One thing I noticed this year, (or maybe I just didn't see it) was that I didn't notice any aggressive behaviour. Even when I've had amazing nights, there have always been instances of some guy charging and pushing through the crowd. No music in the garden, but I don't usually spend my time there anyway.

Best night:
Circoloco

Worst night:
N/A as I only went out to Circoloco. Had been planning another night, but only had one night out this time.

Best bar:
Didn't really go to bars. Had a couple drinks with my meals and that's it.

Best place to eat:
So hard to decide between La Gaia and Es Tragon. Both very different! The price is totally worth it! I also had a really nice meal at Es Ventall which is very close to Can Beia.

Best beach and/or beach club:
I ate at La Escollera; I guess it's not really a beach bar, but the only place I ate at on the beach.

Money spent:
Haven't really calculated it 😬, but my Ibiza trip was at the end of a longer trip, so it definitely all added up

Biggest regret:
Only staying 5 days. I had a 5 year hiatus from Ibiza and had booked a bigger trip around it, so when I booked, I was thinking of just making it a short one due to the rest of the travelling. I definitely packed a lot in, but was kind of tired and would have liked an extra couple of days (at least!!). Also, and still undecided about this one, maybe not, but hiring a car. I have hired a car on every single other visit previously and always recommended that people do this as it's hard to get around.

Going back?:
Of course! I just live so far away, I can only really go when I attach it on to some other travelling.

Top tip:
-Explore the island. I honestly NEED to do this each time I'm there and definitely need my alone/exploring time to recharge for the evenings. As much as I love the energy/chaos of DC10, I need to find that beach/place to swim where I'm the only one there. And, this is completely possible, even in the peak season of August. You just need to walk/hike down. If you're not used to it, I would recommend making sure you have a trail app such as AllTrails or maps.me. When I arrived at busy beaches, I just couldn't... had to leave. Favourite spots this year to swim alone (mostly) were:
  • Ses Balandres - done this before a few times. The trail is pretty easy to follow.
  • Walking from Ibiza town through PDB, then along the coast, through the trails to La Escollera. When looking for a place to stop and swim there is a quiet(er) little cove about 3/4 way through. In some sections the water is coming in pretty strong to the rocks.
  • Punta Galera - walked from San An along the coast - pretty easy to follow. When you get to the rocks, (where everyone has has their towels laid out) keep going all the way up and around to the right. There was a spot away from everyone just around a corner. Throughout the afternoon, it was in the shade and no one else was round. From here, you can walk down the rocks, depending on how you feel about climbing down rocks - you have to hold on a bit. It might be better to have a pair of water shoes. (I had a pair of vibram five fingers).
- Do a hike with @stivi :)
-Take the discobus. I took it for the first time when I came last time in 2017 and then again this year. I'm surprised I never took it before. Very cheap and convenient and no worries about waiting for a taxi or having to drive (bad idea!) after. It also now stops at DC10.
- If you find you're waiting too long for a taxi, take the bus! Easy and cheap. Harder to get to the North of the island. When I arrived at the airport, I could see the bus was right there and looked at the long queue for the taxis. Easy decision. Some drivers were still enforcing masks, so make sure you have a couple spare if you're taking the bus.
- Read the restaurant reviews and eat some good food. There are so many amazing choices from street food to Michelin star restaurants. Book ahead for the pricier/fancier ones
- If you can, ask the restaurant/ hotel to help you book a taxi when you need one.
- airport queues were smaller than expected
- bring water shoes or something similar if you plan on jumping off rocks/cliffs
- you don't need to take a taxi from PDB to Ibiza town; it's close enough to walk

Observations and/or conclusion:
This has been my longest stretch without an Ibiza holiday - 5 years! Has it changed immensely over the years? Absolutely, but so have I! I still found new places to eat, swim and explore. I definitely can't do two nights in a row anymore! I think back to when I was out 9 nights/days in a row.....How!??! (well I know how, but still!). The cost of accommodation is still so high. I get that I was there in peak season and that it's also expensive elsewhere, but it adds up so much. In regards to hiring a car, not sure if the prices will drop next season. I remember laughing uproariously when I saw the cost of a 5 day car hire. I think, with buses, walking and the taxis, I still spent much less than I would have if I'd hired a car, but it would have been nice on a couple of the days to have had some more time to explore further afield. Makes a difference if you have more than one person to share the cost. I also don't think I've ever been in peak, peak season before. July yes, but not beginning of August.

I wrote about this in another post, but in regards to the San Antonio vs PDB debate, I'd pick San Antonio hands down. Years ago, I would have said the opposite, but since Space is gone, and what Space was (day parties etc) and Bora Bora soon to be, I don't see that PDB has a lot to offer. I also found, when booking, that the low/mid range hotels are much more expensive in PDB than in San An. In San An, you also feel like you're in a real town (with way more food/ restaurant options) as well, whereas I did not feel that in PDB. I also just felt that it hasn't been updated since the early 2000s. Sure, it's closer to the airport/ DC10/ Ibiza town, but I really didn't like the vibe/atmosphere.

Don't think I will ever go to Hi; it has always been Space for me and I want to keep it that way!

One thing I've noticed on the forums recently, is that people seem to be concerned with age. Please don't be! There are honestly all ages. Even though August may be a bit younger, I never felt out of place. I think I just don't care! Having said that, I recall one of my first forum posts back in 2004 when I was 27, I think I asked the very same thing and was concerned that I was too old!! (🤣🤣). I think when we are in our late twenties/ thirties, we think we are more concerned with being 'old' and I actually thought that throughout my late twenties and early thirties when going out clubbing. Now that I'm much older than that, I don't care at all and don't think I'm old. I actually really enjoyed observing/watching the the groups of really young people on their holidays. They were clearly having the best time!

Ibiza was the last stop on my holiday and it wasn't even on my original holiday plan, but so glad I got back in the game. Hopefully I'll be writing another review in 2023!
 
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