Ibiza's Town Resort Guide (Eivissa)
Ibiza Town is the largest city and main hub on the island. There are bars, clubs, and restaurants that are among the best in the world, as well as great shopping, galleries, and lively street life.
Ibiza Town, which is called Eivissa in Catalan, is a large, cosmopolitan, and old Mediterranean city on the island's southeast coast.
There's great shopping, nightlife, world-class restaurants, a huge variety of bars and cafes, and beautiful old buildings, like the Renaissance defensive wall around the old town of Dalt Vila and the beautiful boulevard of Vara de Rey. This cool city is also a centre for art and culture. There are a lot of galleries and museums, and all kinds of cultural events happen all year round, and beautiful old buildings, like the Renaissance defensive wall around the old town of Dalt Vila and the beautiful boulevard of Vara de Rey. This cool city is also a centre for art and culture. There are a lot of galleries and museums, and all kinds of cultural events happen all year. Ibiza is called "Eivissa" in Catalan, which you can see on signs all over the island.
Old town
The city is split into three different areas. The first is the Old Town, which includes the fortified citadel Dalt Vila and the old fishing area just below it, centred on the Portal de Ses Taules drawbridge. Dalt Vila is a treasure trove of history. The Phoenicians built it over 2500 years ago, and people still live there today. There are still some signs of the Moors, and museums have things from the Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Roman eras on the island.
In the old port area, there are narrow streets with cobblestones and pretty, white-painted buildings and homes. During the summer, there are a lot of people out and about during the day, and the area comes to life at night with the hippy market, where you can buy all kinds of souvenirs.
If you want drinks before going to the club, you should go to one of the many lively music bars near the harbour. It's a great way to start your night. In recent years, the harbour promenade has been remodelled, giving it a new look and lots of room to walk around and look at the beautiful yachts docked there. During the summer, a port stage hosts several free DJ events, and it is also where the annual Ibiza Gay Pride parade ends.
Restaurants
There are so many restaurants in Ibiza Town that it will be hard to decide where to eat.
There are high-end restaurants in Marina Botafoch that combine fine dining, design, and entertainment for a unique experience. Many have a terrace by the water with a view of the old town of Dalt Vila, which is surrounded by walls.
In the fortified old town of Dalt Vila, there is a lovely row of restaurants on the cobbled square, Plaza de Vila. These restaurants bring to mind the history of this place, which was one of the first major settlements in Ibiza. If you keep going up the small alley at the end of this plaza, you'll end up at the beautiful Plaza del Sol, where there are more restaurants and small bars.
In the area around Vara de Rey, just outside the city walls, there are a number of restaurants with outdoor terraces where you can sit back and watch people go by.
Cafés and bars
The fishing quarter's harbour promenade has a lot of bars that are open before clubs open. Since the beginning of clubbing on the island, this area has been a common place to hang out before going to one of the superclubs. You owe it to yourself to go there and feel the buzzing, cosmopolitan vibe.
Most of Ibiza's gay bars and mixed-gender bars are above this area and around the small pedestrian-only Calle de la Virgen. To find it on Google Maps, enter the Catalan name Carrer de la Mare de Déu.
This is not at all the street of the Virgin. It brings together some of the most colourful people from all over the world. The cobbled lanes will be full of people wearing glitter, feathers, sequins, and crazy piercings, not just transvestites. On one long, narrow street, regular tourists mix with the crowd. There is music, laughter, and one of the coolest cosmopolitan vibes you can find in Europe.
There are secret places where men can buy sexy underwear and leather clothes that look tough. What a democratic idea! If you go there around midnight, you'll see the nightly parades that promote the parties at the island's superclubs.
Next to the covered Mercat Vell market in Plaza de la Constitución, near the big stone rampart that leads to Dalt Vila, there are a lot of bars and cafes.
Clubbing
When the bars close, the night in Ibiza is just getting started. This is when people start to go to superclubs like Pacha or other nearby clubs.
Shopping
Ibiza Town is a great place to go shopping. Between the streets of Avenida Bartolomé Roselló and Vara de Rey, there are a lot of chain stores and small and large boutiques that sell everything from high fashion to handmade items made with fabrics from Indonesia.
Around the old port area, there are more boutiques and souvenir shops that are open until 22:00 or even midnight during the summer. Many of these shops are now also open during the winter.
In the summer, there is a hippie market every day from late afternoon until midnight in the small streets around the port. The market is a great place to look around and buy gifts. You can find jewellery made of finely carved silver, and clothes from India and Indonesia made from fine fabrics and often cut to a local designer's style. It's also a great place to get the latest Ibiza DJ CDs for a reasonable price, even if you won't be able to find them at home.
The chic and trendy Marina Botafoch is on the other side of the water. In addition to the clothing shops and restaurants, there is a new area called "Marina Ibiza" that is only for high-end shopping. After a rush of new construction, this area is becoming one of the most popular places for the very wealthy to live.
Things to do
There are also a lot of things to do in Ibiza Town and the nearby resorts. There are fun things like escape rooms and food tours, sports like diving, tours on land and water, and ferries to the beautiful sister island of Formentera, which are highly recommended for a great day trip.
Getting
around
Ibiza Town has great bus connections to and from all the other resorts. The disco bus, which runs all night in the summer and takes you to all the best clubs on the island, is one example. Late-night travellers can easily get to Amnesia near San Rafael in the middle of the island and the major clubbing resorts at Playa del Carmen, Bossa Nova, and San Antonio for superclubs like Ushuaia or Eden.
Small water taxis are a great way to get around. They run regularly from Ibiza Port to the sandy beaches of Talamanca, Figueretas, and Playa d'en Bossa. Larger ferries take people to Formentera, Santa Eulalia, and Es Caná, where there is a hippie market.
There are several taxi stands in the town centre, but it can be hard to get a taxi at night in July and August. Taxi prices are fair, especially if you are travelling with a group.
As a town that is easy to get around on foot, it can be hard to find a parking spot in the centre. There is a big parking lot near the port, but it costs a lot during peak season. On the outskirts of Ibiza, there are free public parking lots with shuttles to the city centre during the summer. You can also walk to the city centre, which is only a 15-minute walk away.
Culture
Ibiza Town is a great place for history buffs because it has a long history. The Archaeological Museum is a place where you can step into Ibiza's past. It has many historical treasures from the island's different necropolis sites.
The Baluard de Sant Jaume at Ronda Calvi in the western part of Dalt Vila's city wall, also called the "Bulwark of Jakobus," has replicas of weapons and armour from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. You can even try on the armour to see how heavy it is.
For such a small island, Ibiza has a lot of public museums and privately run art galleries. This makes sense, though, when you consider that the island used to be a safe haven for political dissidents and artists in the 20th century.
The Contemporary Art Museum is a great place to see both local and international artists, and the historic Puget Museum has paintings and photos from Ibiza's past. Guy Laliberté, who started Cirque du Soleil, opened the art gallery Lune Rouge. It has works by some of the best modern artists in the world.
