Ibiza: Our Happy Place

Hope you all had an amazing bank holiday weekend! I didn’t quite anticipate how many people would be interested in my Ibiza tips and so to save time I decided that instead of emailing everyone its just easier to do a blog post! I did one last year but to save you from trying to find it here is a new one.

Ibiza is our happy place. My husband and I got married there almost 3 years ago and for me its the one place on earth that I would move to apart from London. For anyone thinking of getting married there we used the wedding planning company Deliciously Sorted and a girl called Johanna who is great. Might be hard to believe given my love of clothes but I am actually a hippy at heart and am happiest barefoot on a beach or amongst nature.

Ibiza is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. One of the many things I love about the island is that you can really have any kind of holiday you want. It has a bit of everything. We have been going together for years and experienced it in many different ways. You can go there for the partying aspect which if you love music is amazing (we used to get a villa with friends every summer) or you can go for a week of yoga in the middle of nowhere (there is an amazing yoga instructor we have had one on one lessons with called Opale – if anyone wants her email please get in touch with me!) You can go for a romantic break with your partner or you can go with kids. People often ask me if it is child friendly. Just as a note I would say that my husband and I are pretty chilled and I don’t think we specifically look for child friendly places when we go on holiday, but we have gone with Mila quite a few times and always felt that it was great for kids. Also our children (so far!) both nap from 1-3 so we usually plan lunch around when they nap and they both sleep well in their prams in the evening so we can take them out to dinner. However we first took Mila to Ibiza when she was 10 weeks old and she went to the beach clubs, to dinners, to the Old Town and everyone was super accommodating so in my opinion it was very baby friendly and an easy holiday. And every time we go we think it is a great place to go with family.

  Off-peak is probably better with children and there are always so many families (we love going over Easter) but equally the summer is amazing (we went last August and are going again this August with the girls) Bank holidays are also great because its a short flight away and the island is so small and easy to get around (you need to rent a car though in my opinion) so you get the most out of the weekend. We had booked to go this May bank holiday but my husband is actually going there for a stag that weekend so I am going to Italy with my mum and the girls. What I also love about Ibiza is that you can go to some more glam restaurants if you want (which isn’t really Ibiza but I love doing that every once in a while) but equally you can go to a tiny shack and have the most amazing fresh fish. There is a bit of everything.

Ibiza makes me extremely happy. I cant even describe it – its as if the moment I step off the plane I feel this surge of energy. I don’t know what it is but ever since I went to Ibiza for the first time I felt this pull to the island. (I think many who love the island feel the same way!) There is something really special about it. And because we got married there it has become a place that is even more special to me so I hope my children will grow up loving it as much as we do. Usally when we go on holiday I have an amazing time but I am always ready to come home by the end of it (because aside from the rain I truly love London.) But everytime I leave Ibiza I feel a little bit sad. Like I am not ready to go. Who knows maybe one day we will move and build a life there.

So now to cover the main questions.

When to go? 

This is entirely upto you. We love it both on and off season but it was EXTREMELY hot last year when we went in August (I think the hottest it has ever been whilst I have been there as they were having a heat wave so just bear that in mind.) Easter is a lovely time to go as is September if you want to avoid the crowds and have cooler weather (but I have gone many times over Easter and its around 22 degrees and sunny so very pleasant!)

Where to stay?

I would recommend staying in a villa because they are just SO beautiful but it really depends on how long you are going for (in high season you will find it hard to find a villa for under a week) and how many of you there are. Many villas are 4 or 5 bedrooms and priced accordingly so now that we usually go just the three of us it doesn’t financially make much sense to rent a big villa because it is really expensive. But when we used to go with a bigger group we used this company and they are great. https://www.bonderco.com/villas-to-rent-ibiza

In terms of location I would say get a villa in the Salinas area or near Ibiza town (I would really stay away from San Antonio!) if you want to be close to restaurants and beach clubs. If you prefer something really chilled and think you will stay mostly in your own villa then you can get one in the beautiful North of the island. We personally love to go out for most lunches and dinners and therefore we always try to stay quite close to the areas I mentioned above. Also make sure you rent a car because you will need to drive to all the beach clubs and its just much more convenient than trying to get a taxi back from a beach club (you have to get the beach club to call and usually wait for ages!)

If a villa is not the best option for you then I would recommend staying in an agroturismo if you want something quite chilled out or at the newly opened Nobu Ibiza Bay hotel. We stayed there in August last year and loved it – the rooms are tiny and actually not so child friendly as they are quite oddly designed (and Mila was walking and running all over the place at the time) and also the location in my opinion is quite random (the beach is not great) but it is designed to be a family hotel. It has a seperate kids pool, an amazing kids club and who doesn’t love a bit of Nobu? You get a bit of the Ibiza vibe without it being too much if you are with your family. There are three restaurants: Chambao (serving breakfast which I loved and lunch which I wasn’t such a fan of the one time we tried it), Nobu (which is always great and we had dinner there but you can also go for lunch) and Peyotito (we sadly didn’t try it out as we had so many reservations in other places but I heard good things from friends.) It has a very calming zen atmosphere about it and lots of different areas you can relax in (hanging swing chairs, a gluten free cafe, lots of sofas, big beach beds etc.) And the staff were amazing. It is definitely the most luxurious hotel in Ibiza in my opinion but there are a few other big hotels such as Ibiza Gran and Destino but I personally am not the biggest fan. They are impersonal and you wont get the vibe of the island at all plus I don’t think they are that child-friendly.

The agroturismos aren’t luxurious but they are sweet and although I can be very fussy about hotels I have always been perfectly happy in the ones we have stayed in. But again I stress they are not “luxurious” in case that is what you are looking for. We tried one called Xereca over Easter last year around but others I like include Ca Na Xica (really lovely!), Can Jaume and Can Arabi (next to each other we have stayed in both – basic but cute), The Giri Residence, Cas Gasi, Can Curreu (loved this we stayed there in September 2016 when Mila was very little but the only issue for us was that it is in the North away from the restaurants we usually go to,) Hacienda Na Xamena (amazing views) and Atzaro (great spot.) I have also heard really great things about Mirador Dalt Villa which is a boutique hotel at the top of old town and a few of our guests stayed at the ME hotel for our wedding weekend and said great things. In town there is also Ibiza Corso and Los Enamorados I recently read about in Vogue. Some hotels do not accept children at all during high season so you need to check but I think many agroturismos are very child friendly.

Where to eat/what beaches to go to?

For restaurants I would recommend Sa Punta (has always been a favourite although last year the vibe was a bit off), El Chiringuito (just such a gorgeous beach club), Experimental beach (great for sunsets and the food is delicious), Elements beach (very off the beaten track and basic), Es Torrent, Passion Cafe (we LOVE this for breakfast or brunch – there are a few locations but our favourite is in the Marina bottafoch and its v baby friendly), La Bodega (its a bit of an institution in ibiza), La Granja and Beach House (one of my favs we did our wedding brunch there the day after.) Cipriani if you want a fun scene. Lio is also fun for a night out and Blue Malin is probably the most famous beach club but personally I am not such a fan. La Oliva in town is cute as is Sa Brisa. There is a newly opened beach club called Aiyanna that looks beautiful but we didn’t get a chance to go. Ses Boques is a super off the beaten track tiny little shack like restaurant which has amazing fresh seafood. Sa Caleta, Aubergine, Amante, Ses Escoles, La Paloma, Malibu beach club, Cala Bonita, Cotton Beach Club, La Muella, Potion Juicery and Yemanja are others worth checking out. And if you stay at Nobu Ibiza Bay then as mentioned before they have their own restaurants. We tried out Giri Cafe this time and its a bit of a trek from where we stayed but has a really cute garden at the back.

In terms of beaches I do personally prefer going to the beach clubs of the restaurants I love such as Experimental, El Chiringuito and Beach House but I found this great article which sums up some beautiful more isolated beaches: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/13/10-best-hidden-beaches-ibiza-spain-bays-coves

Where to shop?

Most of the beach clubs have great shops. Beach House, Experimental, El Chiringuito and Sa Punta all have lovely boutiques and I also loved the shop within the Nobu Hotel. Also if you go to Ibiza Town (make sure you check out the Old Town as its stunning) there are lots of cute boutiques. Also recently heard about this woman called Yvonne Sporre who does private sales at her house – she previously worked at Balenciaga and had a trunkshow on Moda Operandi recently so definitely worth checking out if you love fashion. Apparently you can email her – this is her website: yvonne-s.com

What else can you do? 

There are lots of other things you can do in Ibiza – its not just about beach clubs and shopping! You can go on amazing hikes. We did lots last year over Easter. There are three hikes we tried and here is how you get to them:

Hike 1: Es Cubells hike. You start from Es Cubells church (there is a parking lot you can leave your car at) and then walk to the left of the church. The path starts from there and you can choose how long you want to make the hike but you can go all the way down to Ses Boques and have lunch there.

Hike 2: The Es Vedra hike (my personal favourite.) You drive toward Cala d’hort beach and then (you might have to google this to find proper instructions) you basically turn left where there are some rubbish bins and you drive on this random little dirt road for some time until you see a little opening where you can leave your car. The views are AMAZING!

Hike 3: And the third was also really pretty you basically hike to this old lookout tower. You drive to Port de Sant Miguel and leave your car on the main road with parking. Then you walk to the beach and head to the left hand side past a restaurant and your hike starts there. You go along quite a steep forest path with amazing views after which you get to a beach club called Elements (which is closed during the winter so there is nothing there if its closed apart from some fishermans boats.) You then basically have to walk past the boats and sheds and then the hike properly starts from there.

The hikes are SO beautiful and so worth doing. We did all the hikes with Mila strapped into the baby carrier and she loved it too.

Also worth checking out is the Las Dalias Hippy Market. It only takes place a few times a week so make sure you check out beforehand when it is on but you can find some gorgeous bits there.

And lastly – if you can go to Fomentera for a day. I can’t recommend it enough. You can hire a private boat or get the ferry. Have lunch at either Beso Beach or Juan y Andrea – they are both AMAZING and Formentera is so so beautiful. The water is one of the bluest I have ever seen.

If you ever want a concierge company to book you things like babysitters etc then like I said my wedding planner works for a company Deliciously Sorted and they are amazing. They obviously charge a fee but I think you can pay either a one off fee per booking or some sort of weekly fee and then you can use them as many times as you want.

If anyone has any other questions then feel free to get in touch with me by email but hopefully I have covered most things. But have probably forgotten many things because as always baby brain! And really if I haven’t sold it yet then all I can say is GO! It is an extraordinary place.xx

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