A short description of my camping experience in Ibiza follows which was done on the fairly cheap(ish) - I didn't sleep rough until France on the way back, but frequented established camping sites in Ibiza in return for the Euro money that the Johnny foreigner uses out there. Luxury. I'd bought a sub £30 tent a few days prior and had been in two minds about whether it would be worth buying it, for Ryan air et. al charge almost as much for hold luggage as they do for an el cheapo passenger ticket. A tent with its metal and stiff parts isn't allowed as cabin luggage and I didn't consider it an essential, having slept much rougher before, and there was always the possibility of renting or buying a tent once out there, which would have saved lugging it around and paying as much in aeroplane hold costs as the cost of the tent itself. But in the end I bought a tent that fitted in to my rucksack and I reluctantly swallowed the £30 extra cost (£15 each way). Using hold luggage also afforded me the luxury of packing a little more that I could merrily lug up and down Ibiza's parched hills for mile after mile through the heat of the summer day. Actually though, my total baggage weight probably never exceeded 30 Kg, and was probably a lot less. It's quite surprising how much camping gear packs into a small volume and low weight when you look at it when it's unpacked and set up. And an even bigger surprise when it repacks into almost a small an original volume. I might have got away with just my rucksack had I not taken my monster beach towel with me, but that towel has been useful in the past.
There are four main camp-sites in Ibiza. One in Sant Antoni, one in Cala Bassa (both westish of the island), and two near Santa Eularia in the northeastish. I stayed at the first two: Camping de San Antonio and Camping Cala Bassa. They were both so nice I extended my stay at each and decided not to go to camp in the north east.
Camping de San Antonio was my first experience of camping and I thought it was a pretty good campsite. My best ever. There were showers, toilets, 24 hour security at the gate; and Sant Antonio town, the beach and bus station only 10 minutes walk away. [Or hobble, as I did a lot of walking and developed a lot of blisters on my feet. My shoes were not really suitable for the task. The small amount of tightness around my toes that I get away with in England manifested as blisters after walking 10's of kilometres with poorly ventilated shoes and sweaty feet, as I suspect any small irregularities in shoes would tend to do in those conditions. I sorely missed my old trainers, which are much better ventilated, though they weren't when new. I had a pair of beach sneakers with me also, but these gave me blisters in other parts of my feet and offered little protection from pebbles and weren't up to serious hiking. Anyway popping blisters at night can be quite satisfying. Or perhaps I mean a relief. It's surprising how debilitating full blisters can be, unless you ignore them, which was plan B]. Sant Antonio seems to have more going for it in terms of night life than Ibiza town (Eivissa) in my limited experience. Not that I went in any of the clubs or paid any of their exorbitant entry and drink prices; the food in the regular shops was pricey enough for my taste. There are regular buses going to and from San Antonio serving much of the island, until around midnight when the disco buses take over, so it's a good base for night life or when using public transport. I forgot (perhaps intentionally) to take my drivers licence, so I didn't hire a moped or a car and I might have changed my mind about that on occasion had I taken it with me. A bit pricey though. There's a beach by Sant Antonio, but nothing to write home about IIRC. I was half expecting to see drunken 20 year old skin heads running amok in town at night, but it was mostly people just enjoying themselves, and more laid back than a busy city centre night at home, though security is everywhere. There's free WiFi near the fountain in the centre and also interesting things going on outside in and around that area. I quite liked Sant Antoni. The campsite cost 10 Euro/night.
Camping Cala Bassa came next and this camp-site was much better. Far exceeding the best campsite I'd ever been to. It had hot water, showers and even toilet paper in the toilets. Plus a restaurant/bar/shop and Internet + WiFi (which were charged for separately). The owners didn't mind the bar's electrical socket being used to charge electrical devices either, at least off-season (September). This place cost 8.5 Euro/night and it seemed like the Hilton to me. The beach is 10 minutes walk away, but the bus from Sant Antoni direct to the campsite entrance (line #7) is irregular and this service stops entirely early in the evening. But there is a much more frequent #2 bus to Sol Y Mar that operates until midnight but leaves a 20 minutes walk to the camp-site. Just walk 15 minutes along a dirt track heading West, then bear South and you should hopefully come out near the camp-site entrance. It might be worth giving the latter route a trial run during daylight hours though, as it goes through unlit woodland and there other paths that might be mistakenly taken. I carry a small compass the size of a penny that I got out of a Christmas cracker years ago which has served me well. The relative inaccessibility of Cala Bassa wouldn't be an issue if you have your own transport of course. The main beach is 5 or 10 minute walk away and this has fairly clear warm water. Very nice and quite popular, and has restaurants etc . One of the best beaches in Ibiza I gather. I think I got stung by something there. I felt a pain across my forehead while swimming, a bit like a nettle sting but a bit more intense. I got out of the water in case agony, convulsions or projectile vomiting should set in. But the sensation just stayed at this low level of intensity for a few hours and then gradually disappeared. I didn't see any redness or a rash later on, so feck knows what it was. Someone else at the camp-site said they got stung too. There are some IMO even nicer, Caribbean-like, beaches 20 minute walk south west from Cala Bassa beach. Clear waters that contain many fish. I took some bread out with me one time with the intention of seeing whether a fish would take it from my fingers. Umm, yes. Dozens of fish quickly showed up, and some quite large (a foot long). A bit off-putting when there are what seemed like hundreds suddenly around schooling me. So I let go my remaining bread and swam rapidly off to shallower bread-free waters with scenes from Piranha in mind. The fish occasionally nipped or sucked my ankles even when there was no bread reward. The trick to not getting sucked is to not to stop moving your feet and don't feed them bread. Camping Cala Bassa cost me 8.5 Euro/night and was great. They hire out tents for 5 Euro a night too. It's a great place to stay if you like beaches, scenery, a bit of camping luxury and have your own transport. It's not a good base from which to do a lot of travelling around the island without your own transport though.
Formentura. I took the (fairly pricey) ferry out from Eivissa with the decision on whether I would sleep 'wild' on the island open (the hotels looked pricey), once I'd had a bit of a reconnoitre. Camping isn't allowed anywhere on the island, though putting down a stealthy sleeping bag would be easy enough to do. Lighting a fire would be a definite no-no. I hired a bicycle and cycled between a few nice beaches wearing my rucksack and sports bag and got hot and I didn't feel great enthusiasm for more of the same when ferry decision time came. So I didn't stay the night. Had I researched it a bit more (google maps), or found a place of luxury, such a place to buy water close to a decent sleeping spot, I might have stayed. There are probably loads of such spots. It looks like a great place to go if you like beaches and like getting ripped off on the price of everything.
I hadn't bought a return ticket to Ibiza as I wanted to keep my travel options open (plus the return flights were expensive) and in the end I booked a cheap flight to Barcelona and headed to France where I flew back cheaply. I tried a campsite in France, which was a bit carp, and also slept wild, which was also okay. But that's another story.
Next day after arrival back to the UK and the easy availability of things such as television, internet, hot water and the toilet (with toilet paper) still seems like quite a luxury. I think my feet had all blistered out before the end of my holiday as they seem okay already. My shoes may take a few days before the stink disappears though.
I hope the above is useful to all contractors who fancy a nice holiday for sub £100 (excluding food and buses which can become expensive). If I went again I probably wouldn't do as much exploring and that would bring the price down.
Top tip: Don't sleep on even a small slope. The co-efficient of friction between a sleeping bag and mat is low and at about 4:00 in the morning you will wake to discover that you have migrated to the bottom of the mat and all your carefully laid sleeping quarter preparations will have been for nought. I was lucky I didn't get a pine-needle puncture.
Actually, this wasn't such a short post after all. I hope it will at least have been useful to all IT contractors considering sleeping rough on Ibiza.
There are four main camp-sites in Ibiza. One in Sant Antoni, one in Cala Bassa (both westish of the island), and two near Santa Eularia in the northeastish. I stayed at the first two: Camping de San Antonio and Camping Cala Bassa. They were both so nice I extended my stay at each and decided not to go to camp in the north east.
Camping de San Antonio was my first experience of camping and I thought it was a pretty good campsite. My best ever. There were showers, toilets, 24 hour security at the gate; and Sant Antonio town, the beach and bus station only 10 minutes walk away. [Or hobble, as I did a lot of walking and developed a lot of blisters on my feet. My shoes were not really suitable for the task. The small amount of tightness around my toes that I get away with in England manifested as blisters after walking 10's of kilometres with poorly ventilated shoes and sweaty feet, as I suspect any small irregularities in shoes would tend to do in those conditions. I sorely missed my old trainers, which are much better ventilated, though they weren't when new. I had a pair of beach sneakers with me also, but these gave me blisters in other parts of my feet and offered little protection from pebbles and weren't up to serious hiking. Anyway popping blisters at night can be quite satisfying. Or perhaps I mean a relief. It's surprising how debilitating full blisters can be, unless you ignore them, which was plan B]. Sant Antonio seems to have more going for it in terms of night life than Ibiza town (Eivissa) in my limited experience. Not that I went in any of the clubs or paid any of their exorbitant entry and drink prices; the food in the regular shops was pricey enough for my taste. There are regular buses going to and from San Antonio serving much of the island, until around midnight when the disco buses take over, so it's a good base for night life or when using public transport. I forgot (perhaps intentionally) to take my drivers licence, so I didn't hire a moped or a car and I might have changed my mind about that on occasion had I taken it with me. A bit pricey though. There's a beach by Sant Antonio, but nothing to write home about IIRC. I was half expecting to see drunken 20 year old skin heads running amok in town at night, but it was mostly people just enjoying themselves, and more laid back than a busy city centre night at home, though security is everywhere. There's free WiFi near the fountain in the centre and also interesting things going on outside in and around that area. I quite liked Sant Antoni. The campsite cost 10 Euro/night.
Camping Cala Bassa came next and this camp-site was much better. Far exceeding the best campsite I'd ever been to. It had hot water, showers and even toilet paper in the toilets. Plus a restaurant/bar/shop and Internet + WiFi (which were charged for separately). The owners didn't mind the bar's electrical socket being used to charge electrical devices either, at least off-season (September). This place cost 8.5 Euro/night and it seemed like the Hilton to me. The beach is 10 minutes walk away, but the bus from Sant Antoni direct to the campsite entrance (line #7) is irregular and this service stops entirely early in the evening. But there is a much more frequent #2 bus to Sol Y Mar that operates until midnight but leaves a 20 minutes walk to the camp-site. Just walk 15 minutes along a dirt track heading West, then bear South and you should hopefully come out near the camp-site entrance. It might be worth giving the latter route a trial run during daylight hours though, as it goes through unlit woodland and there other paths that might be mistakenly taken. I carry a small compass the size of a penny that I got out of a Christmas cracker years ago which has served me well. The relative inaccessibility of Cala Bassa wouldn't be an issue if you have your own transport of course. The main beach is 5 or 10 minute walk away and this has fairly clear warm water. Very nice and quite popular, and has restaurants etc . One of the best beaches in Ibiza I gather. I think I got stung by something there. I felt a pain across my forehead while swimming, a bit like a nettle sting but a bit more intense. I got out of the water in case agony, convulsions or projectile vomiting should set in. But the sensation just stayed at this low level of intensity for a few hours and then gradually disappeared. I didn't see any redness or a rash later on, so feck knows what it was. Someone else at the camp-site said they got stung too. There are some IMO even nicer, Caribbean-like, beaches 20 minute walk south west from Cala Bassa beach. Clear waters that contain many fish. I took some bread out with me one time with the intention of seeing whether a fish would take it from my fingers. Umm, yes. Dozens of fish quickly showed up, and some quite large (a foot long). A bit off-putting when there are what seemed like hundreds suddenly around schooling me. So I let go my remaining bread and swam rapidly off to shallower bread-free waters with scenes from Piranha in mind. The fish occasionally nipped or sucked my ankles even when there was no bread reward. The trick to not getting sucked is to not to stop moving your feet and don't feed them bread. Camping Cala Bassa cost me 8.5 Euro/night and was great. They hire out tents for 5 Euro a night too. It's a great place to stay if you like beaches, scenery, a bit of camping luxury and have your own transport. It's not a good base from which to do a lot of travelling around the island without your own transport though.
Formentura. I took the (fairly pricey) ferry out from Eivissa with the decision on whether I would sleep 'wild' on the island open (the hotels looked pricey), once I'd had a bit of a reconnoitre. Camping isn't allowed anywhere on the island, though putting down a stealthy sleeping bag would be easy enough to do. Lighting a fire would be a definite no-no. I hired a bicycle and cycled between a few nice beaches wearing my rucksack and sports bag and got hot and I didn't feel great enthusiasm for more of the same when ferry decision time came. So I didn't stay the night. Had I researched it a bit more (google maps), or found a place of luxury, such a place to buy water close to a decent sleeping spot, I might have stayed. There are probably loads of such spots. It looks like a great place to go if you like beaches and like getting ripped off on the price of everything.
I hadn't bought a return ticket to Ibiza as I wanted to keep my travel options open (plus the return flights were expensive) and in the end I booked a cheap flight to Barcelona and headed to France where I flew back cheaply. I tried a campsite in France, which was a bit carp, and also slept wild, which was also okay. But that's another story.
Next day after arrival back to the UK and the easy availability of things such as television, internet, hot water and the toilet (with toilet paper) still seems like quite a luxury. I think my feet had all blistered out before the end of my holiday as they seem okay already. My shoes may take a few days before the stink disappears though.
I hope the above is useful to all contractors who fancy a nice holiday for sub £100 (excluding food and buses which can become expensive). If I went again I probably wouldn't do as much exploring and that would bring the price down.
Top tip: Don't sleep on even a small slope. The co-efficient of friction between a sleeping bag and mat is low and at about 4:00 in the morning you will wake to discover that you have migrated to the bottom of the mat and all your carefully laid sleeping quarter preparations will have been for nought. I was lucky I didn't get a pine-needle puncture.
Actually, this wasn't such a short post after all. I hope it will at least have been useful to all IT contractors considering sleeping rough on Ibiza.
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