Welcome To Ibiza

Ibiza  is an island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 kilometres (49 miles) off the coast of the city of Valencia, in eastern Spain.

Tourism

Nightlife

Sant Antoni, West End

Sunset at Café del Mar, Sant Antoni de Portmany

Ibiza is considered to be a popular tourist destination, especially due to its legendary and at times riotous nightlife centred around two areas: Ibiza Town, the island's capital on the southern shore and Sant Antoni to the West.^[1] Well-known nightclubs are Privilege, Amnesia, Space, Pacha, Es Paradís and DC10.^[1] During the summer, the top producers and DJs in dance come to the island and play at the various clubs, in between touring to other international destinations. Some of the most famous DJs run their own weekly nights around the island. Many of these DJs use Ibiza as an outlet for presenting new songs within the house, trance and techno genres of electronic dance music. The city has achieved renown worldwide fame as a cultural center for house and trance in particular, with its name often being used as a partial metonym for the particular flavor of electronic music originating there, much like Goa in India.
Since 2005, the live music event, Ibiza Rocks, has helped to redefine the Ibiza party landscape. Bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Prodigy, and the Kaiser Chiefs have played in the courtyard of the Ibiza Rocks Hotel.
Elsewhere on the island, underground music parties are common and enjoyed by the many international musicians, artists, and travelers that are drawn to the unique creative environment of Ibiza.
The season traditionally begins at the start of June with Space and DC10's opening parties and finishes on the first weekend of October with the Closing Parties. A typical schedule for clubbers going to Ibiza includes waking at noon, early evening naps, late night clubbing, and "disco sunrises." Due to Ibiza's notable tolerance toward misbehaviour from young adult tourists, it has acquired the sobriquet "Gomorrah of the Med." Also well-known is Café del Mar, a long-standing bar where many tourists traditionally view the sunset made famous by José Padilla, who has released more than a dozen eponymous album compilations of ambient music played at the location. That and other bars nearby have become an increasingly popular venue for club pre-parties after sunset, hosting popular DJ performers.
The island's government is trying to encourage a more cultured and quieter tourism scene, passing rules including the closing of all nightclubs by 6 a.m. at the latest, and requiring all new hotels to be 5-star.^[18] The administration wants to attract a more international mixture of tourists.^[19]

World Heritage Site

Though primarily known for its party scene, large portions of the island are registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites,^[20] and thus protected from the development and commercialization of the main cities. A notable example includes "God's Finger" in the Benirràs Bay as well as some of the more traditional Ibizan cultural sites such as the remains of the first Phoenicians settlement at Sa Caleta. Other sites are still under threat from the developers, such as Ses Feixes Wetlands,^[21] but this site has now been recognised as a threatened environment, and it is expected that steps will be taken to preserve this wetland.
Because of its rustic beauty, companies and artists alike frequently use the island for photographic and film shoots. A monument ("The Egg") erected in honour of Christopher Columbus can be found in Sant Antoni; Ibiza is one of several places purporting to be his birthplace.

Development

Since the early days of mass tourism on the island, there have been a large number of development projects ranging from successful ventures, such as the super clubs at Space and Privilege, to failed development projects, such as Josep Lluís Sert's abandoned hotel complex at Cala D'en Serra,^[22] the half-completed and now demolished "Idea" nightclub in Sant Antoni,^[23] and the ruins of a huge restaurant/nightclub in the hills near Sant Josep called "Festival Club" that only operated for three summer seasons in the early 1970s.^[24] In 2013, Ibiza property prices generally remained above market value, and many of the development projects on the island have now been completed or continue, as well as some new projects announced at the end of 2012. Since 2009, Ibiza has seen an increase in tourist numbers every year, with nearly 6 million people traveling through Ibiza Airport in 2012. The summer season has become concentrated between June and September, focusing on the "clubbing calendar"^[25] which is currently booming. In recent years, the luxury market has dramatically improved, with new restaurants, clubs, and improvements to the marina in Ibiza Town.^[26]

Transport

Map of roads and Ibiza Airport (on southern point) and water routes (right-click map to enlarge).

Ibiza is served by Ibiza Airport, which has many international flights during the summer tourist season, especially from the European Union.
There are also ferries from the harbour of Sant Antoni and Ibiza Town to Barcelona, Majorca, Dénia, and Valencia. There are also ferries to Formentera leaving Sant Antoni Harbour (normally every Wednesday), and daily from Ibiza Town, Santa Eulària, and Figueretes–Platja d'en Bossa.
Several public busses also travel between Sant Antoni and Ibiza Town—every 15 minutes in summer and every half hour in winter. In addition, there are buses from Sant Antoni to Cala Bassa, Cala Conta and Cala Tarida, and to the Airport. From Ibiza there are buses to the Platja d'en Bossa, Ses Salines, the Airport, and Santa Eulària.

Cuisine

Ibiza's local cuisine is typically Mediterranean. Of the most common culinary products of the island are sweets known as flaons. Other savory dishes include sofrit pagès, bullit de peix (fish stew), arròs de matança (rice with pork) and arròs a la marinera.

Cultural references

Pacha, a nightclub in Ibiza

A number of novels and other books have been written using Ibiza as the setting, including Joshua Then and Now by Mordecai Richler, Soma Blues by Robert Sheckley,^[27] Vacation in Ibiza by Lawrence Schimel,^[28] A Short Life on a Sunny Isle: An Alphonse Dantan Mystery by Hannah Blank,^[29] They Are Ruining Ibiza by A. C. Greene,^[30] and The Python Project by Victor Canning.^[31] The 1960 novel Out of the Red into the Blue, by the English novelist Barbara Comyns Carr, is based on the island. Part of The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher takes place on Ibiza. Crucial 'coming of age' sections of New Zealand writer Janet Frame's autobiography An Angel at My Table are set in an unspoiled but impoverished Ibiza of the late 1950s.
The song "We're Going to Ibiza" by Vengaboys also featured the island's notorious nightlife as the ideal location for vacations. In Jennifer Lopez's song "On the Floor", the lyrics include, "Brazil, Morocco, London to Ibiza". In LCD Soundsystem's song "Losing My Edge" the lyrics say "I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988". In JoJo's song "Sexy to Me" the lyrics state, "We gon rock the party like we up in Ibiza". Also the song "One Night In Ibiza" (by Mike Candys) gives the island a central role. Swedish House Mafia has a song called "Miami 2 Ibiza". Approaching Nirvana has a song named "I Dream of Ibiza". The Midnight Beast put out a song about Ibiza called "Pizza in Ibiza". The 1969 film More was filmed on location in Ibiza, and the soundtrack by Pink Floyd features a song titled "Ibiza Bar". The 2004 film It's All Gone Pete Tong was filmed in Ibiza. Also the 2000 film Kevin and Perry Go Large was filmed on location in Ibiza. In addition there is the 1995 French hit Mélissa, métisse d'Ibiza by Julien Clerc. The 2011 video game Test Drive Unlimited 2 is set upon two islands: Ibiza and Oahu (one of the Hawaiian Islands). Both islands have been modeled mostly accurate by using satellite data but Ibiza in the game has a desert added to it to replace cropland north-west of Ibiza Town. "The Cool Kids" member Chuck Inglish references the island in the song "Gas Station". British-Irish boy band The Wanted filmed the video for the hit single "Glad You Came" in and around Ibiza. German luxury fashion house Escada had a fragrance called Ibiza Hippie (in 2003 but now discontinued).^[32] Pop superstar Christina Aguilera mentioned the island of Ibiza in her song "Around the World" from her album Lotus stating, "We're making love worldwide, Brazil to Ibiza, baby just wanna please you". Rap superstar Nicki Minaj also makes reference to the island of Ibiza in her song "Pound the Alarm" stating, "Skeezer please I'm in Ibiza, Giuseppe Zanotti my own sneaker".
In the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, Selina Kyle mentions Ibiza and Bruce Wayne corrects her on the pronunciation (although the correction is still wrong). In The Dark Knight Rises soundtrack, there is a bonus song called "Bombers over Ibiza".
One of Ibiza's arguably biggest contributors to the lavish club scene came in mid-2007, from world-renowned electronic artist Tiesto. After a string of successful releases from his famous In Search Of Sunrise compilation CDs, he released In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza.