Gourmet Traveller

Ibiza is a haven for hippies and hedonists; a refuge for black sheep, misfits and mystics, draft-dodgers and Hollywood stars fleeing scandal. But the Balearic island’s reputation
as a bohemian party playground was earned long before the arrival of the escapists in the 1960s. Its name is derived from Bes, the Egyptian god of protection, music and dance, and the island’s longstanding culture of tolerance and freedom has seduced everyone from the Carthaginians, Romans and Vandals to the Byzantines, Moors and pirates.

Despite the profound impact that latter-day tourism has had on the island, it’s still possible to catch glimpses of the lives of people who farm the rust-red earth and forage for wild food, as they have for generations. When lunching with the locals, propping up the bar in a sleepy village or swimming in a secret cove, the notorious nightlife for which the island is renowned can feel as though it belongs to another place and time entirely.

Food is not the first thing people associate with Ibiza, but a new wave of entrepreneurs is taking its cue from the island’s long-established, family run restaurants, using local produce and serving it in informal settings with the requisite relaxed attitude.

The island’s population skyrockets in summer – nearly six million people visited last year – but there are about 132,000 residents, among them many old island families. Ibizans have retained a sense of identity, even as the island’s popularity has grown. Intrepid visitors will find a place of surprising diversity, immense charm and wonderful produce, made all the more remarkable by the island’s diminutive size. Ibiza is fabulously hedonistic, but also fiercely traditional.

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