| Ibiza - Daytime |
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Though Ibiza is the Mecca of nightlife, it offers plenty of daytime activities, for all ages.
Las Dalias is definitely worth discovering; an outdoor hippie market and restaurant/lounge/bar. Pick up your beach reading in the second hand book booth, with French, English, Spanish and German titles. Pick up the odd Ibicenco souvenir, or hippie accessories of all shapes, sizes and utility. Sant Jordi and Es Canar are two other markets worth exploring, if one finds this sort of shopping appealing. Worth discovering is also the farmers market in Santa Eularia. |
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| Ibiza Town offers everything from shopping and sightseeing to eating, drinking and just relaxing under the warm island sun. The harbor, La Marina, is a labyrinth of old streets lined with restaurants, cafes, boutiques and souvenir shops. You will pick up clothing only made to be worn in the island’s nightclubs (and maybe in Las Vegas), thinking it’s the most useful piece of clothing ever made (until you get back home and wonder what the hell you were thinking buying, let alone wearing, it). Shopping high-lights in Ibiza Town include Puma, Replay, Custo Barcelona, Ibiza Pimp, the Pacha shop and Merhaba (clothing made locally). But beware of the siesta hours, normally 13.00 to 16.00, when most stores are closed. The charm of Dalt Vila with it’s old cobble stone streets and fortress like protection is definitely a must. |
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Ibiza, accessible by ferry, private yacht/boat, and Jet Ski, is highly recommended. This tiny island has no airport and is much calmer than Ibiza, very laid back; you can enjoy sun and sea, windsurfing and scuba diving in an incredible tranquility. |
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Ibiza has 170km of coastline, and is thereby blessed with endless beaches. The smaller beaches are good for peaceful sunbathing, but the larger ones – like Salinas and Playa d’en Bossa – keep the party going during daylight hours. Las Salinas is a large beach that has taken it’s name from the adjacent salt flats: the white mountains of dry salt, still harvested.
The salt flats are the largest economic contributor/natural resource of the area. Playa d’en Bossa hosts famous Bora Bora and numerous other beach restaurants/bars, or “daytime discos” if you will, where music blasts from mega speakers all day long, and people get to warm up for the clubbing, cool down from the clubbing, or both. It’s the longest beach on the island.
Some calmer beaches include gorgeous Cala Comte; the long fjord-like Cala Llonga with it’s sandy beach; beautiful Aguas Blancas with cosy little beach restaurants (and lots of nude sunbathers); Cala d’Hort is definitely worth a visit due to it’s clear and beautiful view of Es Vedra, the mythic rock off the mainland, though driving there is bit of a hassle; Es Xarcu is a tiny peaceful beach, quite well hidden, with a nice beach restaurant: a great get-away from the clubbing madness; Beniras and most of the beaches in San Antonio are great places to watch the breathtaking Ibicenco sunset.
The island offers plenty of activities for the youngsters not yet of age for the grown-up activities that bring their parents to the island. Go-cart, horseback riding and playing in the water appeal to both youngsters and parents, and make vacation time a bonding experience: jet skis, banana boats, peddle boats, diving equipment, snorkeling, sailing, water skiing, catamaran sailing, kite-surfing, rubber dinghies and windsurfing are amply available toys. |
Text courtesy of ‘Ibiza Virgin: A study of the island and its clubbing cluture’ by Jennifer Eric
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