How to do Ibiza holidays in your 30s

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This year, all my friends from school and I turn 30 and so some of us planned a trip to Ibiza to celebrate. I’ve had a few Ibiza holidays before and I have to say the Balearic Island is one of my favourite islands in the whole world. The vibe is super relaxed and chilled and I always have so much fun when I visit. Over the past couple of years I’ve definitely grown up a lot – I now prefer exploring or chilling out to dancing til dawn and so here’s my guide to doing Ibiza holidays in your 30s.

The journey there

I think this year was my favourite for the journey to the airport. We all stayed at my friend’s house, as we were up at about 3am to leave for the airport, and we had rose Bollinger and continental nibbles to kick off the holiday the night before. When you’re in your 30s, you tend to have a little more spare cash so we paid extra for flights from our nearest airport (East Midlands) that were leaving early in the morning. To be fair, the flight was still pretty rowdy (the Ibiza flights always are!) but we all had a mini bottle of Bottega to keep us content.

On this visit we stayed in San Antonio, which is really the heart of the party scene with beach clubs, bars and the famous sunset strip. For four our of five of my Ibiza holidays I’ve stayed here. On my other trip I stayed in Portinatx in the north of the island.

The Ibiza sunset

My favourite thing to do in Ibiza is watch the sunset on the rocks outside Cafe Mambo in San Antonio – it’s really iconic and I always find myself getting really emotional as the sun goes down. Who doesn’t love a beautiful sunset? You’re not really supposed to take your own drinks, but everybody does, so we bought small bottles of Fanta Lemon (a must when you’re on holiday in Spain!), drank some of it out of the top and then topped it up with vodka. Some things don’t change, even in your 30s! Once you get to the rocks you’ll be treated to a great soundtrack of Balearic beats from Cafe Mambo and it really seems like an event. This year we all put our phones away and really lived in the moment.

The best beach clubs

I must say a beach club is my favourite day of a girls holiday. There’s day time drinking, a little bit of dancing, the pool to cool off, and a bed to relax on, what’s not to like?! Ocean Beach is our favourite beach club in Ibiza and we went to Hed Kandi this year. I would definitely recommend getting a bed – they’re right by the pool and you get a lot of the money that you spent on it back in drinks which, while it’s definitely not cheap, makes it more cost effective than just paying for entry and hoping there’s a sun bed free.

Road trippin’

Ibiza is a really small (but perfectly formed!) island and so it’s easy to get around the whole island. I would massively recommend renting a car while you’re over there and just pulling over and stopping when you see something you want to explore. I’ve discovered lots a little beaches with beautiful clear water that are popular with locals but are a bit off the beaten track. Just open your map (paper map, not Google!), point to somewhere and head there!

Other places which definitely deserve a visit include:

Ibiza Town: the capital of the island which has a Gothic-style cathedral and renaissance fortifications, alongside amazing tapas and lots to explore.

Playa den Bossa: if San Antonio is the party capital then Playa den Bossa is its ever so slightly older sister with the longest beach on the island, there are plenty of beach bars to unwind and enjoy a cocktail in on those balmy summer days.

Portinatx: a really quiet resort in the north of the island, Portinatx has a gorgeous beach with crystal clear, shallow water and a couple of beautiful restaurants on the cliff top overlooking the beach.

Es Cana: visit Es Cana for the most famous hippie market on the island. The market happens weekly and is packed with stalls selling kaftans, jewellery and incense. You’ll also get a bit of live music here as there are often drummers setting the beat.

Where to stay in Ibiza

This year I was given the task of booking the hotel (as I probably know the island best) and oh man, did I feel the pressure! A million worries went through my head – what if the location isn’t very good? What if it’s dirty? What if it’s noisy? etc, etc. I needn’t have worried as I did really well with the hotel! We chose to stay in San Antonio as it’s where a lot of our favourite things to do are and I booked the Hotel Playasol Marco Polo I for us and it was great. The bedrooms were clean and modern with air con and the pool area had plenty of beds and a nice atmosphere. There was no DJ so it was pretty chilled outside. Breakfast was also included which I didn’t realise and there was a really good selection of cooked breakfast items, pastries and continental meats – a great way to start the day.

Two years ago we stayed at Ibiza Rocks which we also really enjoyed. The pool area had more of a party atmosphere but the rooms were slightly basic and could do with some modernisation.

Check out more places to stay in Ibiza here.

Where to eat in Ibiza

Fresh Ibiza

We decided against eating at Cafe Mambo this year and headed round the corner to Fresh Ibiza which only opened a couple of years ago. The food was really great – I had the lamb kebab pitta which was really tasty and a good portion size – you don’t want to eat too much when you’re out. We sat outside on the sunset terrace, drank lots of sangria and watched fire performers, there was a really nice atmosphere.

Cafe Bondi

I’ve been here a couple of times before, and I’m always really impressed with the food. Bondi Ibiza is in the main part of San Antonio, just off the beach and it has a healthy/clean eating sort of vibe, serving lots of juices and smoothies. Luckily, they also do cocktails which are incredible – I can highly recommend the sex on the beach. I had a vegetable pitta with sweet potato fries which was really yummy.

Rio

Without a doubt, the best meal of the trip was the dinner we had a Rio. We were looking for somewhere really good to have a paella and Rio was the top rated on Trip Advisor so we headed over. We weren’t disappointed as we were presented with an enormous paella to share between the four of us which was packed with delicious seafood. It was full of flavour and there was plenty left over once we were all full. After this, we headed up to Rio’s rooftop bar to enjoy some more glasses of wine.

So that’s it – how to do Ibiza holidays in your 30s. It’s all about delicious meals with glasses of wine or sangria, beach clubs and sunsets, and hotels which may be slightly pricier than what you would have stayed in when you were 20. I still really love Ibiza holidays and I definitely think the island has got something to offer people of all ages so I’d recommend visiting Ibiza in your 30s. Roll on next year! If you’d like to see what I wore on this girls holiday, check out my Ibiza outfits post here.

Have you done any Ibiza holidays in your 30s? Let me know your top tips for having the best time on the island!

| This post is part of a paid campaign for the Spanish Tourist Office to promote the Balearic and Canary Islands as part of their #SpanishIslands campaign. All views are my own and I have not been instructed on what to include. |