Ibiza Travel Guide

IBIZA ( Eivissa in Catalan) is an island of excess. Beautiful, and blessed with scores of stunning cove beaches, towering cliffs and dense pine forests it's nevertheless the islanders ( ibicencos ) and their visitors who make it special. However outrageous you may want to be (and outrageousness is the norm here) the locals have seen it all before - and remain determinedly blasé about the thousands of lotion-smeared tourists preening themselves on the beaches during the day, in preparation for an all-night session in the bars and clubs.

For years Ibiza was the European hippie escape, but nowadays it's the extraordinary clubbing scene that most are here to experience. Home to seven of the most famous venues in Europe, the island can lay a strong claim to be the globe's clubbing capital, with virtually all of the world's top house DJs, and many more minor players performing during the summer season. Visit the island between October and May and you'll find a very different, much more peaceful island - just one club (Pacha) and a few funky bars remain open through the winter months. Ibiza Town , the capital, is the obvious place to base yourself: only a short bus ride from two great beaches - Ses Salines and Es Cavellet - and rammed with bars, restaurants and boutiques. Sant Antoni de Portmany , a large, high-rise resort on the western coast, is far less cosmopolitan in character - largely catering to young British clubbers - but can almost match Ibiza Town in the hedonism stakes, its wide bay and "sunset strip" lined with groovy chill-out bars. Santa Eulària des Riu , the only other real town, is a mundane little place that's popular with holidaying families - fairly featureless except for a pretty hilltop church. Around the entire shoreline of the island, you'll find dozens of exquisite cove beaches ( calas ), many all but deserted even in high season, though you'll need your own transport to reach the best spots. Inland the scenery is hilly and thickly wooded, dotted by a series of tiny hamlets, each boasting a stunning whitewashed village church, and an atmospheric local bar or two.

Salt attracted the Greeks, and after them the Phoenicians and Carthaginians , who made the island a regular stop on their Mediterranean cruises - to such an extent that Ibiza has hundreds of Punic burial sites. Under Roman rule the island continued to prosper until dropping into the familiar pattern of Spanish history, occupied successively by Goths and Moors before being liberated by the Catalans early in the thirteenth century. Thereafter decline set in and, despite occasional imperialist incursions, Ibiza was effectively an abandoned and impoverished backwater until the middle of the twentieth century, when it began to acquire status as the most chic of the Balearics.