Ibiza (Party islands, part I)

Ibiza… the clubbing capital of the world, but it has even more to offer. First it became notorious for its hippy gatherings in 1960-70’s, which provided its fame for liberal atmosphere and were a starting point for the clubbing scene, developed by the likes of Pete Tong. So when I dreamt of going to Ibiza, I of course wanted to see the legendary clubs of the White Isle, such as Pacha and Space, but also had images of some tranquil beaches with hippies like this.

This year the dream has come true and I went there with a friend from Madrid. We stayed at campsite Cala Nova, which is quite far from so called “super clubs” in Ibiza Town and San Antonio, but as I thought it would not be a problem, as there is a direct night bus, “Discobus“, to Ibiza Town. This campsite is certainly a well-kept place with all necessary facilities including supermarket, so if you want to save on accommodation, it could be a good option. The only reminder of the glorious hippy times there is a hippy market in neighboring Es Cana. Unfortunately it is not clothing-optional campsite, which would be beneficial in the summer heat, and I do not know if there are any in Ibiza,

but it is just 5min away from the beach.

The beach is beautiful, quite crowded but with enough private space for such a popular tourist destination. It was probably my first experience at a beach where only small fraction of people were naked. At different times there were just 5-20 nudists, and what was unusual is that the nudist part was in the centre of the beach (where you see sand cliffs on this photo).

There were a couple of surprised faces among passerby, but overall none seemed to care. This made me think that even textile people do not have anything against public nudity when they see that it is not intended to shock anyone. Maybe some of them wonder “why?”, and some, “why don’t I try?”…

Finally there was our first night out. We headed to Pacha to the party of Swedish House Mafia, represented by Axwell and Steve Angello on that night, with warm-up set provided by French duo Arno Cost and Norman Doray. Pacha was the first super club in Ibiza. Now, barely has it any sign of its hippy past and has become a renowned brand with a chain of clubs throughout the globe… The party featured some of my favorite producers, so I was looking forward to hearing them and dancing to the music till sunrise… Although local government tries to diminish predominance of young clubbers among tourists visiting Ibiza and pressures clubs to close by 6am. Unfortunately the Discobus stops working at approximately this time, and then there is no direct bus to Cala Nova. But the Swedes went on well beyond that time and promised they would play till the crowd would stay, and the music and atmosphere was so great, that we could not stop… We had to pay for this joy by an hour trip in a bus and taxi and not being able to sleep normally in the tent because of the heat and noise from awaking neighbors. I had to admit that combination of clubbing and camping wasn’t such a great idea :-/

But we continued sleeping at the beach. Luckily the sand cliff at the naturist section of the beach provides shade in the afternoon.

Nevertheless we went out again on the following night, as we had booked the tickets in advance and I really wanted to hear the mighty Carl Cox, which has been in the top DJ list since it was first compiled 25 years ago. Despite the event was held at one of Ibiza’s hugest venues, Space, the dance-floor was packed. This has nothing to do with naturism (except that maybe it helps me to maintain good stamina necessary for such long nights), but I thought I should put a video from that night…

Surreal!  So if you are into dance music this is the place to be.

… and then again sleeping on the beach and very late lunch at the restaurant next to it…
From that day the waves were quite strong and there was even a bunch of surfers, mostly in the right side of the beach (if you face the sea). Again I was amazed – so many things one could do on this small island. I did not even know that wave-surfing was possible in Mediterranean. Too bad I don’t have a board and the time was too short for taking a course.
But at least I couldn’t resist from buying beach bats with “Ibiza” written with geckos on them, as beach bats seem very popular on Ibiza beaches.

On the last day we went to the biggest official nudist beach of Ibiza – Es Cavallet. The area at the entrance is mostly textile though, but further to the south (right), more and more naturists (and more and more gays among them) appear until it becomes fully clothes-free.

There were some of the best-trained guys I have ever seen (obviously, I did not dare to take pictures). So if it was believed that Greek gods spent winter time in Cyprus, they must have spent their summer vacations in Ibiza =)

But almost at the end of the beach on the right side, there is a bar featuring huge rainbow flags, around which most people were clothed again.

The water was of two contrasting colors – from very intense dark blue in the deep parts, to light turquoise at the shallow shore,

where the bottom is naturally very flat and smooth, somewhat a cemented sand.

So we were totally astonished by visiting just few of Ibiza’s sites.

Unfortunately we did not have time to visit another famous nudist beach, Aguas Blancas, that is recommended by one of my favorite DJs Judge Jules in Ministry of Sound’s guide to Ibiza. And there is certainly much more to explore.

Or is it the time to check out also our report from another clubbing mecca of the Mediterranean with some naturist options, Mykonos!

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