Resort guide for Ibiza Town (Eivissa)

The capital of Ibiza is a cosmopolitan hub with world-class bars and clubs, countless restaurants, great shopping and an exciting, colourful vibe on the streets.

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Ibiza Town (Eivissa in Catalan) is a grand, cosmopolitan and ancient Mediterranean city located on the southeast coast of Ibiza. It is the capital and, with just under 50,000 inhabitants, also the largest town on the island.

There's great shopping, nightlife, world-beating restaurants, a hugely varied selection of bars and cafes and beautiful historic buildings from the ancient old town, Dalt Vila with its Renaissance defensive wall, to the sublime boulevard of Vara de Rey. This cool city is also hotbed of culture and art with a mix of galleries and museums, plus there are all kinds of cultural events throughout the year. The name for Ibiza in Catalan is "Eivissa", which you will see on signposts all over the island.

Old town

The city is divided into three distinct parts; the first being the Old Town which is the area of the fortified citadel Dalt Vila and the old fishing area just below it around the main drawbridge called Portal de Ses Taules. Dalt Vila is a treasure trove of history; it was founded by the Phoenicians over 2500 years ago and has people living within its walls today. You still find some traces of the Moors, and museums display artefacts from various periods of the island's history, including Phoenician, Carthaginian and Roman.

Around the old port area you will find lanes with cobbled streets and pretty white-painted houses and buildings. In summer there's lots of people strolling around during the day; and at night the area comes alive for the nightly hippy market where you can pick up souvenirs of all types.

If it's pre-club drinks you're after, you must check out the many buzzing music bars next to the harbour: it's a great way to start your night. The harbour promenade was remodelled in recent years giving it not just a fresh feel, but lots of space to walk around and take a peek at the majestic yachts moored up there. A port stage holds several free DJ events in summer; and it is the end point for the annual Ibiza Gay Pride parade.

Ibiza port at night in September

New town

The second part is the New Town that includes everything else on the flat plain on which the newer part of the city sits. There are graceful plazas like the central boulevard of Vara de Rey with its beautiful town houses from the beginning of the last century and the neighbouring Plaza del Parque, great for people watching with its collection of bars on one side and quality restaurants on the other.

Between Vara de Rey and the parallel main road Avenida Bartolomé Rosselló you'll find a sparkling selection of shops: big chains and lots of fashion boutiques. Walking around here you will come across many restaurants and bars, like modern Barcelona-inspired tapas venues with fresh little plates that are hugely popular with the locals.

The Marina

Across from the Old Town, on the other side of the harbour, lies the trendy and hip Marina Botafoch. This area has developed hugely in the past few years with colourful buildings and a big sweeping walkway on Paseo Juan Carlos I, where you'll see skateboarders and a mix of tourists and locals strolling by.

There is a good choice of restaurants and great pre-club venues. Stylish boutiques from international fashion designers give this area a unique feel as do the mega yachts of the super-rich moored here. All this makes it a great area to do a bit of celebrity spotting: don't be surprised if you bump into Leonardo di Caprio or George Clooney stopping by for the summer.

Restaurants

You really will be spoilt for choice with the array of restaurant options available in Ibiza Town.

In Marina Botafoch there are high-end restaurants which combine fine dining, design and entertainment for a very special experience. Many offer a seafront terrace overlooking the fortified old town of Dalt Vila. 

In the fortified old town of Dalt Vila, there is a lovely strip of restaurants located on the cobbled square Plaza de Vila evoking the history of this place, one of the first major settlements on Ibiza. If you follow the small lane at the end of this plaza further up you'll eventually get to the beautiful Plaza del Sol with more restaurants and quaint bars.

Just outside the city walls, in the area around Vara de Rey, there are several eateries with outside terraces, ideal for relaxing as you watch people stroll by.

Cafés and bars

Many pre-club bars line the harbour promenade of the fishing quarter. Since the early clubbing days of the island, this area has been a traditional warm-up spot before hitting one of the super-clubs. With a buzzing, cosmopolitan vibe - you owe it to yourself to go and experience it.

Above here and in and around the small pedestrianised Calle de la Virgen you'll find the majority of Ibiza's gay bars as well as more mixed bars. If you look for it in Google Maps, search for the Catalan name Carrer de la Mare de Déu.

The street of the Virgin is anything but. It collects some of the most colourful people from all over the world: expect a big number of people sporting glitter, feathers, outrageous piercings and sequins traversing the cobbled lane - and not just the transvestites. Regular tourists mingle with the melee amidst music, laughter and one of the coolest cosmopolitan vibes to be had in Europe on one long narrow street.

There's hidden fetish shops selling tough-looking leatherwear and sexy underwear shops for men. How very democratic! Head there for around midnight and you'll see the nightly parades advertising the parties in the super-clubs of the island.

Wandering around you'll find plenty of bars and cafés next to the Mercat Vell covered market in Plaza de la Constitución at the foot of the big stone rampart leading to Dalt Vila.

Clubbing

When the bars close their doors, the Ibiza night is just getting started: this is when people start to head to super-clubs like Pacha or other nearby clubs. Read more in our detailed Clubber's guide to Ibiza town.

Shopping

A shopper's paradise awaits you in Ibiza Town. On and in between the boulevard of Avenida Bartolomé Roselló and Vara de Rey, you'll find chain shops and lots of boutiques large and small with everything from high fashion pieces to hand made items using fabrics from Indonesia.

Around the old port area you'll find more boutiques and souvenir shops, which in the summer months are open till 22:00 or even midnight, with many staying open through the winter now too.

Summer hosts a daily hippy market in the narrow streets around the port harbour from late afternoon till midnight as well. The market is perfect for browsing and picking up gifts with finely carved silver jewellery and clothing from India and Indonesia using fine fabrics and often made to a local designer's cut. It's also a great spot to pick up the latest Ibiza DJ CD selections for reasonable money, including ones which you'll be hard pressed to find at home.

Across the water is the stylish and trendy Marina Botafoch. As well as the clothing boutiques nestled among the restaurants there is a new exclusive shopping area dubbed “Marina Ibiza”. This area is transforming nicely after a flurry of development, seeing it become one of the premier destinations for the super rich.

Things to do

There are also plenty of activities in Ibiza Town and the neighbouring resorts, fun things like escape rooms and food tours, sports like diving, excursions on land and water and - highly recommended for a fantastic day trip - ferries to the beautiful sister island of Formentera.

Getting around

Ibiza Town has excellent bus connections to and from all other resorts, including the disco bus, which in summer runs all through the night, taking you to all the super-clubs of the island. Late night travellers can easily get to Amnesia near San Rafael in the middle of the island and the major clubbing resorts Playa d'en Bossa and San Antonio for super-clubs like Ushuaia or Eden.

Small water-taxis are a great way to get around, with regular services taking you from Ibiza Port to the sandy beaches of Talamanca, Figueretas and Playa d'en Bossa. Larger ferries offer boat trips to Formentera, Santa Eulalia and the hippy market at Es Caná.

There are several taxi ranks in the town centre, however, in July and August it can be difficult to get one at night. Taxi fares are reasonable, especially when travelling in a group.

As a pedestrian-friendly town, parking spaces in the centre can be hard to find. There is a large car park by the port, but it is quite pricey in high season. On the outskirts of Ibiza, you will find free public parking with a shuttle service to the centre in the summer season, but you can also walk, it only is a 15-minute stroll into town.

Find detailed info and maps in our Holiday tips - getting around.

Culture

Thanks to its rich history, Ibiza Town is a great place for any culture vulture. The Archaeological Museum is a place to walk into Ibiza's past with many historical treasures from the various necropolis sites across the island.

The Baluard de Sant Jaume at Ronda Calvi in the western part of the city wall of Dalt Vila, also known as the “Bulwark of Jakobus”, contains original Sixteenth and Eighteenth Century military technology with replica weapons and armoury; you can even try on the armour to see how heavy it is.

For an island of its size, you'll be surprised at how many public museums and privately run art galleries there are on Ibiza, though when you look back on its past as a haven for dissidents and artists in the Twentieth Century, it makes pure sense.

The brilliantly curated Contemporary Art Museum features local and international talent and the historic Puget Museum displays photographs and paintings from Ibiza's past. The art gallery Lune Rouge created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté brings works from some of the leading modern artists in the world.

Beaches

Beaches are a mere 15-minute walk away in the suburb of Figueretas, plus a short ferry ride away is the pretty bay of Talamanca with its long stretch of sand. And it is only a short taxi or bus ride to Playa d'en Bossa for its clubs like Ushuaia and Hi Ibiza and the many cool beach clubs and bars that line its famous beach, the longest on the island.

Accommodation

You can stay right in the middle of town or in Marina Botafoch, just a 15 minute walk or ferry ride from the town centre, there is a good choice of hotels and apartments on offer.

In the neighbouring resorts of Figueretas and Talamanca you have the best of both worlds: staying near a beach but within walking-distance of the buzzing town.

Whatever you want to do, Ibiza Town really does have the lot and is a must-visit during your Ibiza holiday.

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