summer in review: ibiza

 After Benicassim festival back in July finished we hopped onto a plane having had no sleep for the past two days and headed for Ibiza. This was my first time in Ibiza and it didn't disappoint, we were kind of on a budget so didn't know what to expect but there was plenty to do. We stayed in Ibiza for four nights at Marina Playa Apartments in San Antonio Bay, they were amazing apartments, really clean and stylish and right on the beach. San Antonia bay was a great place to stay, I would recommend it definitely if you're wanting something close to the action but far enough away for a decent nights kip.

Our first day in Ibiza consisted of walking around our room like zombies, not once did we step foot outside and into the sun, even though we arrived at midday, thanks to our wild antics and zero hours sleep the night before. After lying horizontal for what seemed like a very long time and washing our unneccesary amounts of clothing in the bathtub we managed to drag ourselves up and out for food. We ended up eating at Relish which was recommended to us by one of the bar workers in the Bay, the food was wonderful and reasonably priced, I opted for Potato Skins and something chicken based (I can't remember) but it really was a welcome meal after the mostly horrendous food encountered in Benicassim (your chicken burger will never be chicken...). Turns out Relish is rated 6th restaurant in Ibiza so it's worth a visit.

 The next day we hit the beach, our apartments pool area was nice but really lacked in sunbeds so we didn't hang around there once despite the DJ playing cool tunes and the modern feel. We felt refreshed and ready to hit factor 6 all day before deciding what to do with our evening. Although Ibiza is famous for its superclubs we had thought this was out of our budget but ended up spending less in Benicassim than we thought so we started to check out the line ups. We only had two nights which we could chose from so we ended up opting for Andy C & Chase & Status at Amnesia despite having seen C&S at Benicassim just a few nights previous. Our package included a two hour free bar at Linekers with transport to and from the club. Amnesia was huge, I didn't realise the scale of it until I was looking around trying to find people, unfortunately the free bar didn't mix well with my friend and so we had to leave before C&S actually started so we didn't get much of the Amnesia experience. If I went to Ibiza again I think Pacha or Ushuaia might be my choice!

The next day we nursed our hangovers at Ocean Beach Club (one man down avec hangover), we'd had the wrist bands thrown into to our Amnesia package for free and booked a couple of sunbeds. Ahhh it was absolute bliss, one of my favourite days to date! The sunbeds were ridiculously comfy and having waiter service was just amazing compared to our days in Benicassim in a sweaty tent consuming 4 euro vodka. The Pull the Plug acoustic sessions were wonderful and relaxing to just chill and chat to. We had a burger platter which was so yummy and a couple of cocktails. Tonight was the night we were going to see what the West End was all about. The West End in San Antonia is essentially the 'strip' you would find in any other 18-30 resort but its is huge and it a number of connecting streets rather than one strip. The good thing about the West End is that there is something for everyone, we were particularly fond of the 80's/90's bar, and it's cheap; but you might find it a little 'run down' and let's just say not so posh if you're that way inclined. Never the less I had a great night out on the West End, at the end of the day its just one big messy party!

 Our last day was again spent on the beach in a frantic last minute tanning panic, where our backs were 3 shades lighter than our front so I spent most of the day lying on my front reading A Clash of Kings. We had to fly in the morning so we packed up most of our stuff and headed out to Cafe Mambo for a meal. It took us about 40 minutes to walk from our apartments to Cafe Mambo, I think we seriously underestimated the walk around the bay. Cafe Mambo is famous for it's sunset and world class DJ's so it was an amazing way to spend our last night. We got a table one table back from the front sunset view but it was absolutely fine, we timed it well at around 6-7pm as there was quickly hoards of people waiting for seats. We had the sharing platter to start and I had the fillet steak; the steak was lovely but a bit overcooked for my liking. The sunset was as phenomenal as promised and was accompanied by fitting chilled house music; making for a pretty emotional final evening. We got a couple of freebies from the FMIF pre-party then headed into San Antonia souvenir shopping before strolling back to our apartments for our final Ibiza sleep

Ibiza was amazing and I would love to go back there next year or sometime soon, I'd recommend it to anyone. I think you could do it on any kind of budget, huge or small depending on the holiday you want! I'd say plan out your trip so you have something amazing to do every day and night as there's so much going on! When I go again I'd love to check out all the beaches on the island and maybe stay in Ibiza Town. I'd whole heartedly recommend where we stayed as it was reasonably priced with a nice small beach to chill on in front.

Jayde