14 Things You Need to Know Before Visiting Ibiza Spain

We decided to visit Ibiza, Spain, one year after having an amazing time in Mallorca (the Balearic Island that neighbors Ibiza). It was a fun experience to see the similarities and differences between the two islands and make amazing memories on both.

If you’re still trying to decide which Balearic Island to visit, be sure to check out my guide, Ibiza vs Mallorca | Which Island Is Best For You? Although these islands are just a 2-hour ferry ride apart, they are actually quite different.

And if you plan to visit Ibiza with kids, be sure to check out my guide, 10 Dreamy Places to Visit in Ibiza Spain with Kids. There are some things you can’t miss, like the family-focused boat/snorkel trip we took!

This guide is to let you know the top things we wish we had known before visiting Ibiza, Spain. Hopefully these Ibiza tips will help you in your planning!

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✈️OUR IBIZA FAVORITES✈️

EXCURSIONS:

🤿 FAMILY-FOCUSED Boat Trip with Snorkeling and Paella: 'Meet The Sea' Family Boat/Snorkeling Trip

⛵ Super Fun Boat Trip with Snorkeling in Ibiza: 3-Hour, All Inclusive Boat/Snorkel Trip with Drinks 

LODGING:

🛏️ $ Apartmentos Nort: 1, 2 & 3 bedroom options. Located in Portinatx with an amazing pool & GORGEOUS views. Perfect for families.

🛏️ $$ Can Vistabella Boutique Resort: Absolutely stunning accommodations that, depending on the season, can have a very reasonable price tag. Remotely located in the country/hills with a beautiful pool, restaurant, yoga deck, and outdoor cinema. I would love to stay here.

🛏️ $$$ Hard Rock Hotel Resort: Super popular with multiple pools, beach,restaurants, parties and even a teenager and kids club  

📸 Tours/Excursions: Viator & Get Your Guide
🚕 Airport Transfers with Car Seats: Welcome Pickups
👉 Travel Strollers: Zoe Traveler & Zoe Double
🍼 Baby Carriers: Tula Carriers, Wildride Hip Carriers 
📱 International Data Phone eSIM: Airalo
🚗 Cheap Rental Cars: Economy Bookings
🏠 Accomodations: Booking, Expedia, VRBO, Airbnb
🌎 Travel Insurance: World Nomads
We receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using the above link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.

Is Ibiza, Spain worth Visiting?

If you’re looking for some major beach or party time, then Ibiza is definitely worth visiting.

The beaches are stunning, the water is perfect for snorkeling and boat trips, there are picturesque villages for shopping and wandering, and some really cute restaurants dotted across the island.

And, of course, there is the massive party scene that many people enjoy when they visit Ibiza!

If you’re trying to decide between Ibiza and the neighboring island, Mallorca, check out this guide: Ibiza vs Mallorca | Which Island Is Best For You?.

14 Tips for Visiting Ibiza

1. Ibiza is one of the 4 main Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are a beautiful island chain located in the western Mediterranean Sea, just east of mainland Spain.

They are comprised of 4 main islands and from biggest to smallest are: Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.

We’ve visited both Mallorca and Ibiza and highly recommend both. Mallorca is known more for its varied landscape, including epic mountains and stunning coves. Ibiza is known more for its parties and beaches.

If you’re trying to decide between the two islands, check out this post: Ibiza vs Mallorca | Which Island Is Best For You?

2. You Can Get To Ibiza via Either Airplane or Ferry

We flew into Ibiza from Denmark via a connecting flight in Amsterdam. However, there are direct flights to Ibiza from 87 airports within Europe!

Plus, you can easily get to Ibiza with just one stop from hundreds of locations around the world. You can even hop on a super short flight into Ibiza from mainland Spain or other Balearic Islands. They can be very inexpensive and very fast.

You can also ferry to Ibiza from 3 mainland Spain destinations and Mallorca, one of the neighboring Balearic Islands. You’ll want to compare travel times and ticket costs for the ferry because flying may be faster and less expensive.

Travel Times Via Ferry to Ibiza:

• Barcelona (~8 hours)
• Valencia (~5-8 hours)
• Denia (~2-3 hours)
• Mallorca (~2.5 hours)

3. There’s So Much More to Ibiza Than Partying

If you want to go to Ibiza and party the night away- that’s ok! I just don’t know much about the party scene since we visited Ibiza as a family.

As I may mention again, we hardly even knew the party scene existed had it not been for some side-of-the-road advertisements. We were too busy snorkeling, swimming, lying by the pool, and exploring inland.

So if you are looking for the hidden, non-party side of Ibiza, then be sure to check out all of my Ibiza guides!

It would be a shame to miss out on the gorgeous beaches, the stunning villages, or a relaxing day out on the water.

If you want to search through all of the fun excursions available in Ibiza then I recommend looking at both Viator and Get Your Guide (I personally use Viator the most).

You can search both sites by type of activity and even read reviews!

4. Booking a Rental Car is the Easiest Way to Get Around

To fully enjoy your time in Ibiza, it’s best to get out of your resort (better yet, stay in a villa outside of the main cities!) and explore the island.

It’s possible to visit other areas of the island via bus; however, it will be much easier with a rental car.

It was also very refreshing to climb into a cold, comfortable car away from the heat in the middle of the day (especially when traveling in Ibiza with kids).

I almost always book our car rentals through Economy Bookings. I’ve found that they are almost always the least expensive rental I can find (even compared to booking directly).

Economy Bookings features almost all of the biggest car rental companies (think Sixt, Alamo, Enterprise, Europcar etc), plus smaller companies that may be a child company of one of the larger companies.

You can also see reviews for each of the companies, which I appreciate (especially if it’s a smaller company that I’m not familiar with).

Check out current Ibiza rental car prices on Economy Bookings here.

5. It’s Just Way Too Hot & Crowded in July and August

I know most people have time off for travel in July and August; however, I highly recommend avoiding a visit to Ibiza in those months if at all possible.

July and August are both the hottest and busiest months in Ibiza. And when I say hot, I mean HOT. And when I say crowded, I mean CROWDED.

We visited Ibiza in mid-to-late June, and it was already oppressively hot by mid-afternoon. The temps in June were around 89° F, and the sun was hot.

My favorite way to research the weather of a specific destination is to visit AccuWeather. On AccuWeather, I search for my specific destination and then, in the top bar, select ‘monthly’.

This pulls up a calendar with the expected average high and low temperatures for each day of your selected month in the upcoming year.

However, my favorite feature is to select the month of the previous year in the dropdown menu to see the actual high and low temperatures of each day during the previous year.

I think it was a bit warmer than average during our visit, which definitely made me grateful that we visited in June and not later in the summer.

As far as crowds go, we got to the beach around 9:30 am and were able to secure a spot. However, a couple of hours later, the beach was quite full.

It would be shoulder to shoulder on the beach in July and August, and you’d have to get to the parking lots around 9:00 am, probably, to ensure you easily find a spot.

6. There’s a Variety of OPtions for accommodations

There are loads of different accommodation options in Ibiza. Whether you want a resort or a private villa or something in between, you can find that.

We stayed at a beautiful villa in the middle of Ibiza, and it was SO nice to have a quiet, secluded place to spend the evenings.

Where we stayed can’t be easily booked anymore, but below I’ve listed a few popular resorts in Ibiza, but also three other villas that I’d love to stay at.

The Can Vistabella Boutique Resort is VERY similar to where we stayed, but has a few amazing additional amenities that our rental didn’t have.

Popular Resorts in Ibiza:

• $$$ Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza: Right on the beach, 2 pools, 6 on-site restaurants, weekly prestigious concerts, plus venues for teenagers and kids.
• $$ The Ibizia Twiins All-Inclusive Hotel: All-inclusive, beachfront hotel with a beautiful pool.
• $ Grupotel Ibiza Beach Resort – Adults Only: Beautiful, but affordable beachfront hotel with a private pool. An amazing option to be right on the beach but not so spendy.

Beautiful Villas in Ibiza:

• $$$ Can Lluc Suites & Villas Ibiza’s Peaceful Getaway: Gorgeous villa with private pool, garden, and hill views, and delicious restaurant.
• $$ Can Vistabella Boutique Resort: Absolutely stunning accommodations that, depending on the season, can have a very reasonable price tag. Remotely located in the country/hills with a beautiful pool, restaurant, yoga deck, and outdoor cinema. I would love to stay here.
• $ Apartmentos Nort: Beautiful, but affordable villa with gorgeous views and pool

7. The Water is so stunningly blue and crystal clear

I just can’t get over HOW BLUE the water is in Ibiza. All of the beaches are the classic crystal clear, turquoise blue Mediterranean Sea color.

The water is so gorgeous everywhere we went that I almost stopped appreciating it!

Of course, it became much easier to appreciate it once we arrived home from our trip and were sitting inside during less-than-ideal weather, scrolling through pictures from our trip 😅.

The water is perfect for snorkeling, which leads me to my next point.

8. Ibiza Has So Many Amazing Snorkeling Spots

We really got into snorkeling in Ibiza… I mean, how could we not??? It all started with our boat trip with snorkeling that we took on the second day of our trip.

There are so many boat trips in Ibiza to choose from, but we picked this family-focused boat trip with snorkeling, SUPs, an authentic paella lunch, and even an onboard treasure hunt.

If you’re visiting Ibiza with kids, check out the prices and availability of that boat trip here.

It was absolutely amazing. We loved our time snorkeling so much that we picked up a snorkel from a beach shop and used it at every beach we visited after.

The water in Ibiza is just SO clear and made for snorkeling. It was super fun to be able to see under the surface, and it was the perfect beach activity.

I highly recommend looking into the huge selection of boat/snorkel trips in Ibiza and seeing if you find one that looks fun to you.

But if you’re not up for a boat trip, just pack a snorkel or buy one there and enjoy snorkeling from the beach.

9. Getting out on the water may be the best part of your trip

I’m going to sound like a broken record; however, I highly recommend booking a boat trip in Ibiza. We booked a snorkeling trip for the second day of our week in Ibiza, and it was one of the best decisions we made.

We had such a good experience snorkeling that we purchased our own and proceeded to snorkel at every beach we visited after!

Since we were traveling with kids, we booked this AMAZING family-focused snorkeling trip with kid-sized gear, SUPs, an onboard treasure hunt, coloring pages, and even a home-cooked paella lunch.

If you’re not visiting with kids, there are SO many boat trips to choose from. Such as a 3-hour snorkeling trip with drinks included, a 6-hour beach hopping cruise with drinks and food, or you can even book a full-day private sailboat trip (how dreamy would that be 😍).

I recommend searching on Viator and Get Your Guide to find the perfect excursion for you (I personally use Viator more).

You can search by type of boat trip you want and even read reviews.

10. You Need to Get To the Beaches around 9:30 AM

In order to secure a parking space and a good spot on the beach, it is vital that you arrive at any beach around 9:30 or 10:00 am.

We visited Ibiza in June (so not yet peak crowds)and were lucky to get great parking and perfect spots at each beach we visited. However, this is because we always arrived between 9:30 and 10 am.

If you want to visit Ibiza in July or August, you may want to aim for arriving closer to 9:00 am because the crowds can be thick.

Besides crowds, the summer heat can get intense in Ibiza. In June, it was plenty warm by 9:00 am to want to be by the water. Walking back to our car around 1:00 pm in the midday heat was always killer.

Some of the beaches have very limited parking, and some even have remote lots that require a shuttle bus and/or a long walk once the main lot is full.

I can’t imagine arriving at the beach at the hottest part of the day, not being able to find parking, trekking from a distant parking spot, to then search for a space on a crowded beach. No, thank you.

Just arrive early, you’ll thank me later.

For full details on the different beach parking situations we encountered, check out this post: 10 Dreamy Places to Visit in Ibiza, Spain.

11. Ibiza Town’s Old City (Dalt Vila) is a Unesco World Heritage Site

Besides beaches and parties, there are also some very picturesque villages to explore in Ibiza. My favorite is Dalt Vila, which is the fortified old city of Ibiza Town.

Dalt Vila is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a history dating back thousands of years. The current wall surrounding the city dates back to the 1500s!

It’s a pedestrian-only town with gorgeous, white-washed buildings with beautiful pops of color on the doors and windows.

There are great restaurants, cute shops, and amazing homes where people still live today, and a cathedral plus castle remains at the top.

There is also the Ibiza and Formentera Archeological Museum you can visit in Dalt Vila!

12. There are a lot of cute, interesting places to eat & Shop in Ibiza

Ibiza has quite a hippy, down-to-earth vibe as far as the shops, markets, and restaurants are concerned. In Dalt Vila (the old, fortified city of Ibiza) there are loads of cute shops with flowy dresses and beaded jewelry.

Santa Gertrudis also has a lot of great shopping, some of the stores are pretty high-end, and other stores with more realistic prices.

There are also SO MANY cute restaurants in Ibiza. At other places we’ve visited, restaurants lining the beaches aren’t known for their good for or aesthetic. However, every restaurant I saw at the beaches we visited in Ibiza was so, so cute.

The restaurants overlooking Cala d’Hort have gorgeous views, and the restaurant at Cala Gracioneta is so secluded and quiet. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us to visit any of these restaurants. However, we did visit others.

You’ll probably come across people suggesting to eat at La Paloma. It’s a very cute, garden restaurant in Ibiza that feels like you’re eating at a tea party with the colorful mix-and-match plates.

We left a bit disappointed in the cafe’s lunch food. It was good, but didn’t feel like it was as good as the price suggested. Their dinner menu may be better.

However, it is a shockingly good kid-friendly place to eat with a playground and coloring books, and a kids’ menu.

Vivi’s ice creamery has delicious homemade ice cream, and if you’re looking for an inexpensive local hangout, get the ham & cheese bocadillo at Bar Costsa in Santa Gertrudis.

One restaurant we didn’t have the time to visit but really wanted to was The Boat House– It has AMAZING reviews.

13. Ibiza is a great place to Travel as a family

Of course, Ibiza is known as a huge party destination; however, it’s also a really great place to travel as a family! We hardly would have known the party scene existed there had it not been for some advertisements we saw.

If you haven’t already, check out my guide to visiting Ibiza with kids.

It’s full of all of our favorite things we did, including gorgeous, family-friendly beaches, picturesque villages, family-friendly places to eat, and all about the family-focused snorkeling trip we took!

14. Paella originates from Nearby Valencia, Spain

Paella is a delicious, Spanish rice dish with origins in Valencia (the area just west of the Balearic Islands). It’s usually characterized by rice and saffron with various meats and vegetables cooked in a large, round, shallow pan.

You can find paella at loads of restaurants in Ibiza. The seafood paella is popular; however, I prefer the chicken or vegetable version.

We were served home-cooked paella on our boat trip (lots of boat trips in Ibiza offer that if you look for it). But you can find it all over the island.

And those are my top Ibiza travel tips! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. I’ll be sure to get back to you!

☀️BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER BALEARIC ISLAND GUIDES☀️

- Ibiza vs Mallorca | Which Island is Best For You?


Looking for more about Ibiza, Spain?:

- Is it Worth It To Visit Ibiza in June?

- Our Guide to Ibiza Spain with Kids: The Hidden Side of the Island

- 7 of the Most Beautiful Places in Ibiza Spain To Escape the Party Scene

- Is Ibiza Family Friendly?

Looking for more about Mallorca, Spain?

- 15 Amazing things to do in Mallorca with Kids + Map, Itinerary & Tips

- 10 of The Most Beautiful Places in Mallorca Spain

- 14 Things You Need to Know Before Visiting Mallorca Spain | Top Travel Tips

- Your Essential Guide to Cala Llombards Beach in Mallorca

- Is it worth it to visit Mallorca in May? 

- 7 Fantastic Things to Do in Old Town Alcudia Mallorca

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