Tag: Balearic Islands

Top Takeaways from Ibiza 2025

NIGHT CLUBS ARE BACK BABY

In truth they’ve never been away however 2025 has solidified Ibiza as the clubbing capital of the world (stop crying your heart out Las Vegas et al).

UNVRS has raised the bar with sheer size and production and other clubs have benefitted on the back of it by offering more old school nights.

For example, Chinois in Ibiza Town has been consistently going about its business and has started to reap the fruits of its labour.

While other destinations spend millions trying to reinvent the EDM genre, decades of unforgettable summers, legendary nights and word-of-mouth stories created a self-reinforcing myth with people coming to Ibiza expecting the best party of their life – and the island consistently delivers.

Ibiza doesn’t just host club nights, it invented the blueprint, perfected it and, as we have seen in 2025, never stops evolving.

BARS ARE HAVING A TOUGH TIME

There are some notable exceptions to the rule but the humble Ibiza bar that had its heyday in 80/90/00s aren’t having a great time in the not so roaring 20s.

Daytime clubs are thriving, and with some strong new additions such as Clap House and Soho Farmhouse the sector is getting busier and attracting a more cross section of people with a plenty of choice.

The Ibiza club scene is ‘best in class’ so perched between day & night is your traditional Ibiza bar which is steadily losing its audience.

Zero spontaneity from the Instagram herd means that if a bar isn’t on the to-do list because of some gimmick then it’s more than likely going to be struggling during peak season, relying only on shoulder months for footfall.

INFRASTRUCTURE IMAGES

The October storms were a wake-up call for the Balearic Government with urgent improvements long overdue.

The Island bounced back quickly but despite the political manoeuvring and blame game plenty of questions remain as the early warning system sounded late, homes and businesses were inundated, tunnels were flooded and many roads were closed.

There’s lots of work to be done and what exactly is the tourist tax for? With a rumoured $400M unspent in the kitty if it’s not for improving the customer and resident experience then what’s the point of continuing to charge our biggest commodity?

PIKES / 528 BREAKOUT

The creators of Manumission and Ibiza Rocks have struck gold again with 528 Ibiza which was arguably the breakout venue of the summer (UNVRS notwithstanding).

The legendary Pikes has been on the circuit for a few summers and has become more mainstream through its sheer popularity and now with the addition of 528 in the San Antonio hills, the shackles have been thrown off and some incredible artists have revelled in the open air amphitheatre.

It’s been a slow burner for a couple of years but it’s now well and truly on the map. The ‘older’ crowd has never had it so good.

GEN Z – THE NEW WEEKEND WARRIORS

Generation Z are setting the Ibiza agenda with 3 nights now the official average stay on the White Isle. It hits the the sweet spot with a pre-planned itinerary that includes a beach club, a big club night, a recovery day and a final blow-out. Anything longer equals rapidly diminishing returns for their money.

Trips are now planned around Specific DJs, beach club and nightclub days/nights and content for their TikTok and Instagram accounts.

Gen Z’s philosophy is that they can capture the Ibiza experience in a long weekend with a high-intensity, fast-paced experience. A short, stacked trip feels more exciting than stretching it out.

So it’s Ibiza Thurs–Sun then another city later in the year. Great for the big venues but not so much for the small family businesses that have relied on mass tourism for decades.

THE CHANGING FACE OF SAN ANTONIO

For years San Antonio has been undervalued compared to Ibiza Town and Santa Eulalia because of image not fundamentals but the biggest long-term gains come from perception change, not perfection.

Ibiza Town is already priced for excellence whereas San Antonio is being re-priced upward.

The local government crackdown on cheap alcohol and bar crawls is a clear message against low-spend mass tourism. The noise has been reduced but the spend per visitor has increased – in other words fewer tourists, more money.

On an island that has been saturated, San An is where the value is especially as Gen Z & younger Millennials fit the new mould perfectly.

Whisper it loudly because the haters won’t believe you but San Antonio isn’t becoming another Ibiza Town it’s repositioning itself as Ibiza’s west-coast lifestyle and music district.

Have a great festive season, thanks to everyone who read my blog posts and listened to my podcasts in 2025.

WINTER TOURISM: A CONSPIRACY OF COMPLACENCY?

 

In today’s guest blog Frank Leavers gives his views on winter tourism in the Balearic Islands.  Frank is a journalist and broadcaster who writes for the Majorca Daily Bulletin and other English language titles in Spain and beyond.

I have to say that the recent weather here across the Balearics has been wonderful, so much so that everyone I know has been saying the same thing i.e.……. it’s a pity that the islands seems to have shut-up-shop as if to spite themselves. To be perfectly honest I’m not sure what the authorities can do, but it seems such a pity that already tumbleweed is blowing through the streets of resort towns the length and breadth of our region. I know that I am not being particularly original, but could it be that in this regard, the local authorities and hoteliers are their own worst enemies?

Yes I know that you cannot keep a resort open upon the whim of a week of unseasonably warm weather, but it seems to me that sometimes we should be able to be a little quicker on our feet and think positively, so as to be more able to react to changing situations. In saying this, I can almost see the eye rolling and harrumphing reaction that last sentence will provoke within the ‘industry’ as it metaphorically stacks chairs on tables and closes its doors to the world. “We’re shut; now go away and find a place in another country that might appreciate your off-season business.” Could it be that local tourism and those who operate within it have become lazy and complacent and are quite happy for the island to operate on a four/five month per-annum calendar?

Looking back and trying to be honest; were we just a magnet for non-spending pensioners who would smuggle bread rolls into their hotel rooms, or is that something we have been ‘sold’ by the regional holiday industry in subsequent years as a sort of excuse, come alibi, to salve the consciences of the powers-that-be? Forget rose-tinted-glasses, if my memory is correct and properly intact, there was a lot more to winter tourism here than gaggles of pensioners escaping from northern Europe trying to keep warm in the winter.

Yes I know that I am being provocative on this issue; but has it ever occurred to anyone else that over the past decade, this industry has chosen to basically close the doors to the islands rather than to either suffer extra labour costs, or compromise other hotels within their large corporate groups elsewhere in the world? And then we have local and central government……aided and abetted by the trade unions, which because of their various inflexibilities are quite happy to pay out millions upon millions of euros in unemployment benefits rather than to stay open for winter business even if it was promoted on a bit-by-bit yet broad basis.

Indeed, it is only now that the authorities have woken up to the fact that many affluent mid-range tourists take winter breaks and are not wedded to the idea of lying on a beach for short week (or long weekend) but want an ‘activity’ holiday that might include cycling or walking in the mountains and along our many beautiful beaches whilst taking in Balearic culture and gastronomy. Come on, it really isn’t rocket science surely?

Quite rightly, amongst publications such as the Ibizan, Majorca Daily Bulletin and individual lobby groups and individuals there has been pressure brought to bear on budget airlines to continue flying over the winter period to regional and national outposts in the north of England and Scotland in particular, areas particular poorly served by winter flights. Yet, I suspect that I am not alone in thinking that unless you wish to stay with family or friends, or have a taste (or pocket!) for corporate 5 star hotels in Palma or Ibiza Town it would be hardly worth the effort.

I have a friend who is a very senior insider within the industry and he tells me that it wasn’t that long ago that in general the Balearic Islands had a “robust” winter holiday profile and it wasn’t any cyclical recession or financial downturn that put an end to that ten or more years ago. No, it was the industry itself that had grown sated by short-term profits and felt that winter tourism here in these islands was hardly worth bothering about given their growing ‘foreign’ portfolios, regional government apathy and local trade union intransigence.