SPENDING A WEEK IN IBIZA, WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK.

Sunday 29 May 2016

Hey guys! Sorry for being MIA this last week but if you follow me on Instagram or any other social media platform, you might have seen I've been away in the island of Ibiza having the time of my life - and the sunburn to go with it. I'd been so busy on the lead up to the trip I hadn't really looked into it and I wasn't as prepared as I was with my other holidays, meaning we hadn't booked any tickets for anything and we were simply going to go with the flow. Keep reading to find out more about my time there, tips and tricks to save money and of course where the best places to go are!

Let me start by saying, Ibiza isn't just for the party animals, there's so much more to see than the inside of a club and tanned gods and goddesses at a pool party - but I'm down for all that too. I've never been big on house/techno etc. but Megs (my blonde vegan partner in crime) found a great deal that was too good to pass on - and frankly I needed some vitamin D and to let my hair down for a bit. Furthermore, for everyone who says Ibiza is expensive AF - it's what you make of it, we spent under 300 euros in a week and had the time of our lives, but it also could have been very easy to spend 1000 euros like it was nada. Here's my guide to making the most of your time in Eivissa! 

WHERE TO STAY

In my opinion, I found the best area to stay in was Sant Antoni. Our hotel was bang in the middle of everything we needed, and the bus station was a short 10 minute walk away which could get you to Ibiza town, the airport, or anywhere else on the island for under 5 euros. Not to mention they also have a frequent "party bus" running that takes you straight to the major nightclubs. You can find this up the road by the "egg" next to the Pacha merchandise store - once you're there, you won't able to miss it. 

Sant Antoni has plenty of supermarkets, nightclubs in your typical "strip" holiday destination style known as the West End (you won't find any musicals there though). Some of the more famous bars and nightclubs such as Cafe Mambo, Cafe Del Mar, Es Paradis and Eden are also on your doorstep and a taxi to the airport will cost you roughly 25-35 euros or there's a bus link directly to San Antonio/Sant Antoni town. I think this was the best place to stay considering we could go out and come home as we pleased and didn't have to rely on transport - if you stay near one of the major clubs such as Amnesia, Pacha or Space, unless you're going there every night it's not exactly the best place to be accessible to everything.



WHERE TO EAT

So our hotel was opposite a restaurant known as "The Curry Club" and after smelling Indian food on the daily we finally made a point of going there on our last night, which probably wasn't the best time since I was dealing with a hangover/migraine for the whole day so my appetite wasn't great - nevertheless it was still delicious. The prices are decent and for a 14 euro deal I got a curry dish, popadoms and the dips, naan and a drink which is a lot better than you can get on the promenade. Who said I couldn't be a good rep?

Obviously being in Spain, you're going to have to try some tapas and paella at some point. Since I'm from Gibraltar and eat these things on the regular when i'm home, it was nice to indulge in some authentic patatas bravas and boquerones. As always look around the little lanes, as these seem to be cheaper and less crowded than the restaurants along the port - I'm sorry who pays 13 euros for a small tapa of calamari?! If you head into Ibiza Town, you'll also find the Hard Rock Cafe there and some great restaurants along the Marina. Megan's a vegan which means eating out isn't the easiest thing to do in her case, so for all of you that can relate there were also some great organic and vegan friendly cafes along the town. 

To cheapen things up, we had a kitchenette in our apartment so just found ourselves making food there and eating in the room/pool - after all who wants a big meal before downing 3 vodka redbull's? Which in turn meant eating out more enjoyable as we weren't overdoing it and feeling like pigs.



WHAT TO DO


Party...obviously, but I've dedicated another section for that so here's what else you can get up to on the island. I love walking along the promenade/marina on holiday so this is always a first, especially when you can see a beautiful sunset too. Ibiza old town has some lovely treats to in the form of Dalt Vila - if you're up for the walk make your way up to the church for some great views and some pretty backdrops along the way. Another thing to explore is the Ibiza "Hippie Markets" that take place along the island with the biggest one taking place in Es Cana. 



I must say the beaches in Sant Antoni weren't very impressive, there's one opposite the bars which is full of cars passing by and there's a tiny one at the end of the promenade that was infested with jelly fish so we couldn't go swimming - bummer. However there are some beautiful beaches across the island, specifically Cala Comte, Cala Bassa and Cala D'en Serra. I'm sure there's other great ones but these were the only ones we had time for. For most of them you can take a boat from Sant Antoni straight to the beach for a couple of euros. For all you adventures folk, if you walk across Sant Antoni promenade you'll find tons of ticket offices for water rafting, scuba diving and all that fun stuff. 



WHERE TO PARTY 


Now this is all a matter of preference, and I'm the first to admit I know nada about what DJs are great live other than the ones I hear in the charts. Whatever you're looking for, Ibiza Spotlight offers a calendar online of all the hottest parties across the island where you can also purchase tickets. If you just want to go with the flow, there's plenty of places to buy tickets across the strip and if you're lucky maybe snatch up a few free tickets to the opening parties. When we went some of the clubs such as Amnesia and Space hadn't had their opening parties yet, but we still had a blast at Eden, Es Paradis and the Ocean Club pool party - that only sets you back 10 to 20 euros!



If that's not the kind of partying your looking for, the strip offers everything from RnB, hip-hop to 70's hits if that's what you fancy. As usual it's full of PRs trying to lure you in for drinks with their cheap deals but if you're pretty drunk already you might just end up making pals with them and end up getting free drinks further along the week - #score. Most of the clubs here are usually open until 5am, but somehow we were out until 6:30am and probably the last people on the strip. 



THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND


They speak catalan - incase you're confused that what you learnt in Spanish GCSE and what you're hearing in the supermarket isn't lining up. Although 90% of the island speaks english so you'll be fine either way. 

You're better off pre drinking hard than buying drinks in a club - alcohol is cheap in Spain, we're talking 4 euros for a litre of vodka and surprisingly we didn't die and our hangovers were pretty decent. I think a guy regretted buying us a drink in Eden when a shot of vodka set him back 17 euros. 

Wear suncream - peeling red skin is never sexy even if it's paired with a itsie bitsie bikini and cover up. If you're tanned already, I recommend using JustNatural's Body Nutrititve Serum* or Tanning Lotion to keep your skin nourished and full of moisture - allowing you to tan safely whilst giving your body all the nutrients it needs, and it smells like roses. 



If you're flying from London, Monarch offers some unsociable hour flights (10pm that way and 4am return) but it will only cost you 50 quid. Not to mention you are flying to a party island, so it's perfectly acceptable to party as soon as you land or go out before heading straight to the airport. Just try not to be hangover, there's nothing worse than being trapped in a plane for 2 hours when you can't technically throw up or lie down. 

Head to Cafe Mambo or Cafe Del Mar for the prettiest sunset - you can either sit and enjoy a mojito or BYOB and drink on the rocks in front of the bars. The usually have DJ's playing weekly for your free hearing pleasure including the likes of Martin Solveig and Bob Sinclair. 



GS 

   @GIANAMARIEX | @TEAWITHGI 

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