MAN IN SAN AN by Martin Makepeace

One minute it’s all blazing sun, warm salt on your skin and afternoons that melt lazily into incredible sunsets. Summer in Ibiza isn’t just a season, it’s a full-blown mood, a separate economy and a way of life.

The island hums, the sea sparkles like it’s showing off and everyone moves that little bit quicker especially at the start.  You forget what sleeves are. Footwear becomes optional. Life is measured in beach visits, late dinners and how long you can stay out before the sunrise politely taps you on the shoulder.

Then winter rolls in and it’s the yin to summer’s yang. Grey skies, dramatic winds, sideways rain that seems personally offended by your umbrella. Empty beaches with dramatic skies, flip-flops redundant and suddenly you’re reacquainting yourself with layers you forgot you owned. It’s quieter, moodier, almost reflective, Ibiza exhaling after shouting all summer long.

And this winter… well ibiza has been making sure we feel it.

There’s a special kind of island irony in discovering that indoors can be colder than outdoors. With plenty of houses built for airflow rather than insulation and central heating something of a mythical luxury, you find yourself wrapped in blankets, negotiating with portable heaters and wondering how stone floors can hold onto cold with such dedication. You step outside for warmth. You make tea for sport. You develop an emotional attachment to socks.

But even in the chill, there’s a charm to it (honestly). Stormy days makes Rita’s Cantina and Cebo feel like sanctuaries. Dramatic skies turn ordinary coastlines cinematic. Conversations last longer, meals stretch out and the island reveals a quieter personality that summer never lets you see.

And just when you think you’ve fully surrendered to winter woollies, you notice it. A slightly longer evening, a warmer edge to the sun, the familiar whisper that summer is lining up backstage. Before long the heaters will be packed away, the sleeves forgotten again and the cycle will start over. The island will stretch, glow and turn the volume back up to 10. 

This contrast is the real magic of the island. The blazing highs make the stormy lows feel meaningful rather than miserable. Ibiza isn’t just sunshine and sound systems, its balance. Fire and water. Sunglasses and raincoats. Fans and blankets. The yin and the yang that keeps island life interesting.

If you’ve spent any time around San Antonio in recent summers, you’ve seen the silver canisters or stepped over them the next morning. Laughing gas aka nitrous oxide isn’t just a nuisance anymore it’s become one of the town’s most stubborn public-order headaches and according to Mayor Marcos Serra, the real problem isn’t policing, it’s the law.

Serra paints a bleak picture: if Spanish legislation doesn’t change, stopping the sale is impossible. Local police have made around 100 arrests in the last three years tied to distribution, yet sellers often return to the streets within 24-48 hours. The issue isn’t effort, the municipality says it’s already throwing everything it can at the problem, it’s the legal situation. Without the substance classified as a narcotic nationally, enforcement hits a wall.

Security councillor Neus Mateu says San Antonio has become something of a case study. Other mainland municipalities reportedly call to ask how San An handles the situation, from inspections to street surveillance because few places have tried as many tactics. Municipal ordinances allow fines for consumption but that’s about it. Recovering those fines from foreign visitors is nigh on impossible.

So the Town Hall keeps pushing year after year, asking Madrid to tighten the legal framework, pointing to the UK where stricter penalties (including prison sentences) have now been introduced. For now, however, Serra suggests San Antonio is largely fighting alone.

Meanwhile, enforcement continues on the ground. Agents patrol nightlife areas, issue sanctions and even deploy “coexistence agents” tasked with educating tourists about local rules from basic dress codes to bans on public use of nitrous oxide. They’re backed by National Police and can initiate complaints that feed into enforcement action.

But the problem isn’t only legal or behavioural, it’s physical. The waste footprint is massive. The council collects kilos and kilos of discarded canisters and recycling them reportedly costs more than the containers themselves. That expense lands squarely on local authorities with little support from higher levels of government.

Beyond image and cost, officials point to safety concerns. Health risks are widely cited, and last September’s fatal incident involving tourists, linked to a driver allegedly under the influence, sharpened the urgency of the debate around regulation.

The takeaway? San Antonio isn’t ignoring the issue, it’s confronting the limits of local power. Enforcement can disrupt, fine, and educate but without legislative change, authorities argue the cycle will keep repeating: confiscate today, clean up tomorrow and see the same trade back on the promenade the next night.

Whether tougher national laws arrive or not, one thing is clear – the fight over nitrous oxide isn’t just about nightlife optics. It’s about public safety, municipal budgets and the reality of governing a global party destination that sits at the intersection of tourism, law, and responsibility.

I’ve just returned from a week in Val d’Isère with a group of middle-aged men clinging bravely to their youth – and occasionally their lower backs. The snow was spectacular, the views breathtaking, and the prices the sort that make you briefly consider selling a kidney on the dark web.

Now I’m back in glorious San Antonio (for a few days anyway), where snow-capped peaks have been replaced by yacht masts. The air smells faintly of spring and optimism and the steepest descent I face is the wobble home from Taberna Cebo on a Friday night.

Somewhere between three flights and a 16-hour travel saga (God bless you Ibiza logistics), I had a revelation:

Ski holidays and Ibiza summer holidays are exactly the same. One just involves thermals. The other involves pretending you look good in linen.

The clothes might differ, in the mountains you dress like a high-vis marshmallow wearing equipment worth more than your first car and at the beach it’s three pairs of shorts, a couple of T-shirts, the latest footwear and the blind confidence you’ll look good and fit right in.

Performance metrics also differ only cosmetically. On ski trips you boast about kilometres covered. In Ibiza you quietly switch your smartwatch off because it’s starting to send wellbeing alerts to loved ones. Both achievements are presented as elite athletic output.

The physical impact is simply redistributed. Mountains destroy your legs and lungs. Ibiza destroys your hydration levels, sleep patterns and occasionally your reputation. Either way, by Wednesday you’re stretching muscles you didn’t know existed and Googling cures normally reserved for conspiracy theorists.

Drinking justification follows identical science.

Beer on the mountain = recovery fluid.

Beer at noon in Ibiza = climate adaptation.

Cocktails at sunset = cultural research.

Nobody challenges this logic. Especially once everyone becomes a relationship expert, crypto analyst and geopolitical strategist after round number four.

And the travelling circus of personalities never changes:

The Organiser – spreadsheet ready, itinerary colour-coded, WhatsApp messages arriving like push notifications from God.

The Early Riser – awake at dawn, constantly checking his watch whilst tutting quietly.

The Late One – permanently explaining where he was and why it “wasn’t his fault”.

The Deluded One – convinced he’s still 25 (not me obviously).

The Casualty – emotionally and physically peaked at the boarding gate.

The Financial Philosopher – explaining that “experiences are investments” while quietly sweating at the card machine.

Après literally means ‘after’, which is just elegant branding for day drinking with scenery. Après-ski, sundowners, accidental pub crawls with new best friends you’ll never see again. It’s themed intoxication, those marketing departments are absolutely stealing a living.

Let’s also acknowledge both skiing and Ibiza are acts of financial self-harm. The correct approach is fiscal dissociation: don’t check the banking app, don’t do the maths and don’t acknowledge Future You – who will be sending angry emails to Present You very shortly.

No matter if you’re in the mountains or at the beach, the truth is universal. You’re escaping. Escaping emails. Escaping adult responsibilities with the growing suspicion your body now makes noises previously associated with antique furniture. Snow and sea are just the background for laughter, questionable decisions and group stories that improve dramatically in retelling.

Now I’m back in home San A reflecting, skiing convinces me that I’m athletic, Ibiza convinces me that I’m sociable. Both convince me that I’m younger – right up until I have to climb the stairs.

For now I’m swapping chairlifts for coastal walks, alpine air for sea breeze and overpriced fondue for menú del día and tapas but next year’s ski planning is already underway. Lift passes have been checked, flights bookmarked – enthusiasm of a teenager, recovery time of a pensioner.

The bottom line is whether you’re bombing down a piste or bombing through sunset drinks, it’s time with your mates doing something you love that actually matters.

After all, we’re here for a good time, not a long time and if we hydrated, budgeted, slept properly and behaved like responsible adults I’d have absolutely nothing worth writing about.

We travelled to Val d”isere staying at the Hotel Kandahar

Booked with Inghams

Dear Frank

Following your latest announcements on social media.

We’ve seen the videos.

It’s ‘reassuring’ to know that despite last summer’s educational field trip that didn’t end well, you’re still confident that IBIZA NEEDS YOU. That level of deluded certainty, particularly at a safe digital distance does not go unnoticed and although I hesitate to give you the oxygen you crave, I’m going to give you a direct response.

It may come as a surprise to you but the island hasn’t developed the dependency you predicted.

You may remember the practical portion of your prior relationship with a San Antonio nightclub: contracts, costs, relationships, and most of all reality. All the unfashionable details that ended your hands-on involvement before summer really started and you left rather abruptly in your bright yellow sports car blaming everyone except yourself. Since then Ibiza has continued with its usual lack of crisis.

No vacuum formed. No systems failed and nobody called asking for you to come back apart from a few social media sycophants.

Bars opened. Clubs ran at maximum occupancy. Music played. Businesses ran. People who invest years (rather than uploads) carried on doing what they do quietly and repeatedly and by the way we all enjoyed our Christmas dinner so no help needed there either.

This is the recurring misunderstanding of the so called influencers armed with a smartphone and head full of nonsense. Ibiza isn’t an app awaiting an update. It isn’t broken, stalled or holding out for leadership via a ranting (and rather amateur) selfie video.

It’s a functioning, stubborn, occasionally brutal ecosystem (as you know) that filters confidence through experience and keeps what survives and spits out what doesn’t (as you know again).

So while the declarations are noted, let’s restate the position:

Ibiza doesn’t need saving.

Ibiza doesn’t need fixing.

And it doesn’t need Frank the Stagman.

But please, keep posting. The island always appreciates pre-summer entertainment.

Warm regards,

Man in San An

San Antonio is almost ready to debut a bold upgrade, a fully pedestrianised Vara de Rey boulevard. This new corridor is set to redefine mobility, connection and how locals and visitors experience the town.

The final phase is underway and when it opens, locals and visitors will have a direct, walkable link from the urban centre aka the West End to the sunset strip.

The vision is simple, bring sunset footfall back into the heart of the town, boost street life and support neighbourhood shops and hospitality. The new layout adds wider sidewalks, upgraded paving and a lighting scheme designed to make the route safer, brighter and a lot more attractive for strolling, shopping, eating and drinking.

As you’d expect in a small town, the construction phase has been disruptive especially for the businesses closest to the action. Still, confidence is high that once summer foot traffic returns so will the rewards. Better pedestrian flow and a more attractive streetscape typically mean more passing trade, longer linger times and a stronger evening buzz.

Tourism stands to gain as well. San Antonio already ‘owns’ the sunset thanks to its world-famous strip of bars that turn the nightly spectacle into a ritual. The Ibiza sunset is unhurried, golden and always dramatic and this project helps keep that energy flowing through the urban core instead of funneling everyone straight to the promenade and home again.

Another pleasant surprise is that the project is bang on schedule and budget so the Vara de Rey boulevard will open in time for the summer season, adding fresh appeal, better mobility and a much-needed boost to the town’s commercial and social heartbeat.

The is the biggest council-led project in the last decade and even though it’s has happened right under our noses, it hasn’t made much noise yet but once unveiled its impact will be huge. Think back to how the promenade changed everything, this one has the power to redefine San Antonio all over again.

Ahh as the summer is fast approaching, every few days, like clockwork, I read or hear that ‘Ibiza is finished’. Usually by a disgruntled ex-worker or former raver, their social media post soundtracked by a DJ they ‘used to follow before it all went too commercial’, bitterness oozing out of every pore.

Let’s be honest, the phrase doesn’t mean Ibiza is finished. It means their version of Ibiza is finished and that’s not the island’s problem. That’s called time moving forward and let’s face it, nostalgia is a lovely place to visit, not to live.

There’s a specific genre of Ibiza commentary that goes like this:

• It was better in the 70s/80s/90s

• It was better before VIP culture

• It was better before influencers

• It was better before people like (insert name) arrived

Translation: It was better when I was younger.

Ibiza has never stood still. That’s literally why it’s survived. The island has reinvented itself more times than most destinations have opened new beach bars. Hippies. Rockers. Ravers. Superclubs. Yacht culture. Wellness retreats. Digital nomads. Every era arrives swearing it’s the last authentic one…and every era is wrong.

Change is the engine, not the enemy. The people shouting ‘Ibiza is finished’ always forget one thing. Ibiza has always been about freedom and freedom evolves. Music evolves. Culture evolves. People evolve. Prices evolve (no shit Sherlock). The island absorbs new energy and filters out what doesn’t fit. That’s not decline, that’s survival.

If Ibiza had frozen itself in someone’s ‘golden era’, it would’ve become a museum and nobody flies across Europe for a museum with a curfew.

While I’m at it, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the myth of the ‘Real Ibiza’. Here’s the secret nobody likes to admit, there has never been a ‘Real Ibiza.”

Was it

The barefoot bohemians?

The underground DJs?

The sunrise afterparties?

The luxury villas?

The spiritual retreats?

The world-class restaurants?

The chaotic, beautiful collision of all of the above?

Exactly.

Ibiza has always been layered. The people who claim it’s lost its soul are usually the one’s no longer at its centre.

Relevance isn’t measured by your comfort zone and thats exactly why the White Isle remains a global reference point for music, culture, hospitality and overall experience. It still sets trends that ripple across the world. DJs still dream of residencies here. Creatives still come here to reset. Entrepreneurs still come here to experiment. Travelers still come here chasing something they can’t quite name.

That doesn’t happen in places that are ‘finished’, that happens in places that are alive.

Forward is the only direction that matters and Ibiza has never promised to stay the same. In fact, its entire identity is built on transformation. Every generation arrives thinking they discovered it. Every generation eventually claims it changed too much. Meanwhile, the island keeps doing what it has always done. Evolving without asking permission.

The magic of Ibiza isn’t that it preserves the past, it’s that it keeps creating the future.

So the simple message to all those keyboard warriors is don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. Ibiza isn’t finished, it’s just not yours to freeze in time and that’s exactly why it’s still one of the most relevant places on earth.

San Antonio’s dynamic young mayor Marcos Serra showed up at FITUR 2026  – Madrid’s annual international tourism trade fair – with a clear message: it’s time to update the narrative for San Antonio. Less of the ‘party capital’ clichés – Ibiza’s 2nd largest town wants to be a year-round destination built on gastronomy, culture and sport.

To make the point, Serra rolled out a press offensive aimed at travel, food and tourism media. The pitch? San Antonio as a place where you can eat well, train hard and of course, catch the sunset with a soft or hard drink. 

The sports front is already pulling weight. Major events like the Ruta de la Sal sailing race, the Ibiza Trail Marathon and the Vuelta Ibiza MTB cycle challenge draw athletes and fans outside the classic summer window – a direct push against seasonality.

Culture is getting its moment too. The much hyped Okuda San Miguel’s splashy mural on the West End’s main thoroughfare has garnered plenty of headlines and become a neighbourhood catalyst, drawing foot traffic, new restaurants and fresh retail. Next up is the exciting new pedestrian-friendly Vara de Rey boulevard which will link the sunset strip with the urban core of the town.

A massive move by the council to strategically link the town and let’s not forget the recent purchase of the iconic Torres Cinema that promises to add more historical significance to the destination with a firm nod to its colourful past. 

Winter programming was on the agenda too in Madrid – from the much coveted Christmas market to the now-iconic World Rice Contest of the ‘Arroz de Matanzas’ both helping to keep the island warm even when temperatures drop. Meanwhile upgraded hotels and a broader mix of tourist markets are pushing forward at pace the whole strategy.

Serra’s bottom line? Collaboration between the public and private sector is the engine that lifts infrastructure, raises standards and brings in a more diverse and sustainable kind of tourism.

We’ve heard it all before but now it’s being backed up by clear actions. There really is a new chapter loading for San Antonio.

It’s prime booking season for spring and summer holidays so let me jump on the bandwagon and give you 9 reasons (amongst many) why Ibiza should be there or thereabouts when deciding on a cheeky weekend getaway or a full blown summer splurge.

1. Crystal-Clear Waters
Come for the nightlife, leave in awe of the nature! Ibiza is home to stunning Mediterranean beaches and hidden coves with turquoise water. Its beaches are the jewels on the crown, from Ses Salines to Cala Conta, so many beaches ideal for swimming, sunbathing, snorkelling or simply relaxing with a drink by the sea.
My fave: Cala Escondida at Cala Conta

2. Legendary Party Scene
Ibiza is pure hedonism if that’s what you want. The White Isle delivers legendary club experiences with some of the biggest names in electronic music and iconic superclubs like UNVS, Pacha, Hï, Amnesia, Ushuaïa, Chinois and many more. Throw in world-class beach clubs and boat parties, these are the moments that define a summer party holiday.
My fave: Early evening drinks at O Beach watching the madness unfold

3. Incredible Music Events & DJs
When arriving in Ibiza the billboards will draw your attention showing off Ibiza’s summer calendar packed with the world’s biggest DJ’s, parties, festivals and weekly club residencies. Daytime boat parties, open-air sets, sunset vibes, special events and much more, it’s guaranteed that 2026 will be rich with incredible experiences. Music truly is the language of the soul.My faves: Sunset at Cafe Mambo/Cafe del Mar and Groove Armada at 528

4. Chill and Wellness
Beyond beaches and nightlife Ibiza has a peaceful side too. Yoga and wellness retreats, eco-friendly hotels, amazing hiking routes, pine forests and iconic spots like Es Vedrà, Ibiza is beloved by those seeking relaxation and personal renewal for good reason.
My fave: Morning hike to Bills Paradise

5. Culture, Markets & Local Flavours
The real secret of Ibiza is an island that combines a unique party culture with simplistic old-world charm. Explore the UNESCO-listed Dalt Vila old town, the vibrant hippy markets of Las Dalias and Punta Arabí and enjoy Mediterranean cuisine with local dishes such as bullit de peix – a delicious fish stew & sofrit pagès a hearty traditional stew combining various meats, potatoes, and vegetables.
My fave: a cheap menu del dia at a restaurant chatting to the locals

6. Amazing Food & Dining Experiences
From beachside chiringuitos with incredible views serving fresh seafood to top-end restaurants with eye watering prices to traditional Ibicencan hostelries. Ibiza’s food scene has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade with more choice than ever and offers something for everyone no matter the taste or budget.
My fave: Lobster paella at Cala Bassa Beach Club

7. Formentera by Boat
Formentera is a WOW and needs to be seen to be believed. Its uber-relaxed vibe is the perfect counterbalance to the white isle and makes for the perfect day trip whether by ferry or boat charter. With its picture postcard beaches and world famous restaurants it mixes old and new beautifully. Alternatively take a picnic and relax on a white sandy beach watching the world go by.
My fave: Easy food at Tiburon restaurant with amazing views

8. Mixture of Vibes: Party and Relax
The true X-factor is keeping a group of friends or family happy on every level and this is where Ibiza excels. Whether you want non-stop nightlife or tranquil beach days and spa time, Ibiza offers a unique blend of high-energy and chill-out experiences, perfect for different travel styles in one incredible trip.
My fave: Hike in the morning menu de dia for lunch then sunset at Kumharas

9. Early Booking Means Better Options
Ibiza is one of the worlds top summer hotspots so booking early for 2026 helps secure the best villas, hotels and experiences, often with better availability, early-bird discounts and more time to plan your perfect itinerary. It’s a shameless plug but also good advice.
My fave: Booking a villa in the hills of Ibiza with like minded friends