How to have the perfect 24 hours in Ibiza

If you could spend the perfect 24 hours in Ibiza, where would you go and what would you do? To really make your most of the day, timing is the key.

It may sound like a slightly underwhelming way to start your fantastical 24-hour Ibizan romp, but as soon as you’ve checked into your hotel, make sure your next priority is tapas and sangria. Any local bar with an outdoor patio section will do; the idea here is to acclimatise yourself to the sights, smells and pace of Spanish life as quickly as possible. The sweet cinnamon flavoured vino and the salty, nutrition-less snacks will slow your metabolism right down, instantly jacking your overworked Western psyche into holiday mode.

The best place to watch the sunset is San Antonio. Cala D’Hort, Cala Bassa and Cala Conta are further west, but you’re going need a car to get there. In order to keep costs to a minimum, stick to Sa An, where you’ll find plenty of cool bars like Savannah, Café del Mar and Café Mambo along the sunset strip. Alternatively, you can always grab a can of something fruity and sit on the rocks. This is technically illegal, but everyone does it. For a more secluded San An sunset, walk along the promenade until you reach the Golden Buddha, then carry on all the way to the Aquarium and continue to the far end of the peninsula. All you have to do now is sit cross-legged on your organic horse hair rug, inhale wafts of ceremonial tobacco and ask the universe to strengthen your sinful soul as the sun plunges headfirst into the Mediterranean.

Tuesday night is live music night at Ibiza Rocks. Nowadays, there are more live DJ performances and live PA performances on the island than ever before. But if you really want to see a bonafide live band powered by organic instrumentation, Ibiza Rocks remains the only venue on the island capable of showcasing such intricate recitals. Note: the headline bands usually hit the stage at 10pm.

This is a good time to experience Ibiza’s picturesque old town, as well as the aged castle fort of Dalt Vila. At 11pm, the little hippie shops are still open and the local bars will just be getting busy. It’s a vibrant time, brimming with pre-club anticipation, when you can roam around the narrow, dimly-lit streets of Dalt Vila feeling wonderfully civilised and vaguely romantic, without feeling as though you need to roll with a definite plan.

Nobody drinks at the port bars anymore. And neither should you. Instead, veer off from the waterline and head up into the Old Town. Grab a bean bag at Paradise Lost, where the cocktails are far cheaper and far superior to any of the concoctions being served up along the port. Not to mention the fact that there’s also a tangible vibrancy about the local folk who like hang here.

The majority of Ibiza’s major superclubs demand full session action. Pacha, on the other hand, offers clubbers the chance to remain slightly more reserved. The upstairs terrace, complete with lounge seating, is a great place to start the night. If you’re in the mood for a full-bore stomp, you can always head downstairs to the dancefloor to engage Solomun, Maceo Plex or Hot Since 82. However, if you’re in the mood to take it easy, Pacha’s smaller rooms provide a stylish yet bohemian meeting place to hook up with friends over a glass of cava before heading off into the night.

By 2am, DJ Harvey’s infamous Mercury Rising shindig at Pikes will be in full swing. Harvey takes the concept of dropping an expended DJ set to a whole new level, playing literally all-night long and even tuning the soundsystem prior to the start of the event. No wonder his all-encompassing approach to turntable performance has quickly become the stuff of legend.

This amazing dance and restaurant complex remains largely unexplored by British crowds, despite the fact that it is one of the most jaw-dropping venues on the island. The party of the moment is WooMooN, a magical mini-festival of sorts, which conjures up weekly servings of food, art and tribal-house psychedelica to an international audience of hippie revellers and hipster millionaires. The mad mix of sights, sounds and smells takes on new meaning after midnight when the party moves into a huge underground dancehall, similar in design to the old Space Terraza.

Often overlooked by the travelling hordes, Ibiza Underground just keeps on doing its thing, preferring to exert its influence on more discerning souls. As the name above the door suggests, the musical output here is anything but commercial. Quality house and techno is the strict order of the day, with tINI, Rhadoo and Nastia dropping plenty of unreleased edits. Just don’t arrive extra early to this must-see venue; clandestine life at Underground always takes a few hours to heat up.

A faultless 24-hour romp in the world’s summer party capital wouldn’t be complete without a messy sesh on the Amnesia Terrace, arguably Ibiza’s finest dancehall. Cocoon, HYTE or Music-On – it doesn’t really matter which of Amnesia’s three meridian-level techno brands turn you on the most, the line-ups are guaranteed to be on par with anything Berlin has to offer. The venue always comes into its own in the early hours of the morning, just as the first echoes of daylight start penetrating the roof. We’re not sure why, but at 5am, clublife in San Rafael feels reassuringly feral.

If you happen to be stomping around inside Privilege’s Vista Club side-room this summer, don’t let your mates persuade you to go home early. The glass-panelled walls are perfectly positioned to catch the sun rising over the island. If you’re partying at Hï, the Playa d’en Bossa beach is another good spot to watch the sun rise.

Can’t stop raving? In situations like this there’s only one thing for it – find an afterparty right away, otherwise you’ll be up for hours, jittering around in your hotel suite, while the maid tries to barge her way into your room with her metal trolley. This season, Ibiza’s afterparty dons are Music On. In recent weeks, Cova Santa and the Bora Bora apartments in Playa d’en Bossa have been used to stage daytime gigs which managed to survive visits from the law. How do you score an invite? Simple: stay to the end of the party and enquire, “Marco, where’s next?”

Not just the stuff of urban legend, Ibiza cave raves do actually exist. The whole experience is rather similar to the 90s rave scene back home in the UK. Word gets around that there’s a party happening at some remote spot, usually in the north of the island. A mad early morning drive follows, with lots of frantic phone calls made to lock down the exact position of the site. Then when you get there, still not knowing entirely what to expect, you’ll be led away from the makeshift car park to some subterraneous cave via torch light. Most of the parties are organised by local DJs, although more well-known spots like The Kave sometimes attract the odd international headliner.

Despite all the pre-holiday bravado, few clubbing tourists ever make the pilgrimage to Atlantis. Why? Well, firstly it’s not on the bus route, meaning you need to hire a car to get there. Secondly, clambering down a huge vertical slope after a debauched night out at Amnesia never sounds quite as appealing the following morning. But if you are serious about hiking down to Atlantis, which is located within a mile or so of Es Vedra, try to stay sober the night before, otherwise you’ll turn an unforgettable adventure into a hellish nightmare. Take water and plenty of snacks to boost morale. And don’t make the descent in the middle of the day when the sun is blazing.

Ibiza’s famous hippie hub is best explored in the early morning, before the rest of the island wakes up and starts converging on San Carlos. Stop for a massage or some reflexology, eat at one of the many produce stalls, buy tie-dye clothing, handmade jewellery, musical instruments, old vinyl, paintings, books, incense, oil burners and all manner of weird antiques. The market takes place every Saturday and also opens on Monday and Tuesday nights during the summer. However, if shopping for hippie paraphernalia isn’t your thing, don’t give up on Las Dalias just yet. Check out the island’s most eclectic club night, Wax Da Jam, which serves up quality dub, disco, reggae, hip-hop, funk and soul on selected Thursdays throughout the season.

Even Ibiza’s most remote beaches can get horribly crowded in peak season. If you crave more space and more time alone with your mates, why not charter a rib boat and spend the whole day out on the water? As long as you’re over 18 and have at least 1,000€ stuffed away in your back pocket, you’re ready to organise your own cruise. You can fill a cooler with beers, sangria and baguettes and set off in exploration of the island at your own pace. And with five or six of your friends sharing the expense, a day out at sea won’t cost you much more than a three-course meal and cocktails at some snooty beach bar.

This beach isn’t a beach at all; it’s a weird set of natural rock plateaus that fell into the sea long ago. You can get there by car, but it’s more fun and less expensive to walk. Open Google Maps and plan a route from Cala Gracio via Hostal la Torre, taking the cliff path trail at the dead end in the road. Push through the brambles until you see a thin rock peninsula sticking out into the sea. This isn’t Punta Galera – but you’ll be able to Punta Galera directly ahead of you, with all the people sunbathing on the rocks. All you have to do now is climb down to the little beach and back up again until you get to the road. Having followed the signposts to Punta Galera, cut through the gap in the rocks and start exploring!

Away from all the clubs, one of the best things about Ibiza is its amazing beaches. There are just so many to choose from, each with its own unique characteristics. If you never see beyond the sand at Playa d’en Bossa and San Antonio, maybe it’s time for a change? Even if you’re on a really tight budget you can still swim and sunbathe at a different beach every day simply by making use of the lesser known bus routes. If you’re staying in Bossa or Ibiza Town, why trek off to Cala Nova, Cala Llonga, Cala Llenya, Cala Sant Vicent or Cala Vedella? From San Antonio, Cala Salada, Cala Comte, Cala Tarida, Cala Gracio and Cala Bassa are all accessible by bus. At the very least, spending at least an hour a day on a new beach will help you reenergise. If you’re too cool to ride the bus, hire a beach buggy – basically a souped up quad with a roll cage – and stir up some Mad Max vibes.

Ever fancied swimming alongside the notoriously erratic bottlenose penguin ape, native to Balearic waters? Well, unfortunately you can’t. Like many exotic European species, the BPA died out at the same time as the puff bellied warbler, sometime towards the end of the last century. Nevertheless, aquatic life is still bountiful in Ibizan waters.If you don’t believe us, book a time slot with a professional dive school and explore the paradise scenes off Es Vedrá. Otherwise, snap up one of those great snorkel masks from Decathlon for a measly 30€ and start befriending the marine life at Cala Bassa.

Surely 3pm is a little early in the day to be stomping around to deep house and techno, right? Wrong. ANTS at Ushuaïa is one of the few big parties in Ibiza that truly demands your attention as soon as the doors open. For the first three or four hours, when the sun is still beating down, the party takes place at the back of the venue under layers of camouflage netting, a dynamic which fosters a wonderfully intimate underground atmosphere on the poolside dancefloor. When the show relocates to the main stage later in the evening, the DJs start dropping their big hits and inevitably some of the buzz is lost.

Back in 2013, Australian DJ Liv Nervo chipped a tooth and injured the vertebrae in her back whilst cliff jumping with EDM superhero Steve Aoki in a remote part of Ibiza. If you fancy jumping off some of the best 10 metre peaks the White Isle has to offer, you might consider tagging along with a professional cliff jumping crew. Not only do they know the safest spots on the island, they also carry the right equipment with them should anything go wrong.

Did you have a big one last night? Feeling a tad jittery today? What to do? You could bunker down in your hotel, jack up the air-con, watch old movies all day and pray the maid outside your room finally trolleys off to another floor. That’s what most people do. But wait… why not blast away the cobwebs on San Antonio’s premiere inflatable assault course, Ocean Mania, which you’ll find moored outside Ocean Beach on the S’Arenal Promenade? While your anxiety-ridden buddies sweat it out back at Hostel Come Down, you’ll be bouncing around on the inflatable trampolines and zipping down the colourful slides into the cobalt blue water. Heroic stuff, indeed.

Big waves are a rare commodity in the Balearics. Is it any wonder then that the recently opened Surf Lounge in San Antonio has become so popular? A 1-hour surf session riding the Flowrider artificial wave machine costs around 40€. There’s also a bar, restaurant and pool area laden with cabana beds for those of you who have lost your balance.

A bit like fish and chips symbolises the high watermark of English cuisine, paella is lauded as the local signature dish here in Ibiza. Special rice, spices of garlic and ginger, vegetables and a variety of seafood are all tossed together in a big black pan. For some reason, it’s a recipe that always tastes better when consumed within 20 metres of the sea. Of all the beach restaurants we’ve sampled, the authentic looking outhouses at Cala Gracio, Cala Gracioneta, Cala D’Hort and Cala Jondal offer some of the tastiest fare.

Johnny Lee is Mixmag's Ibiza correspondent