Buses around the island are OK although Ibiza town is the hub and so if you want to get out and about you frequently have to go into Ibiza town then out again. Sta Eulalia is about 1 hour by bus from Ibiza town.

Taxis can be good value if you fill them (4 people) and a good thing is the prices are fixed and posted so you know how much it will cost before you get in.

Driving over there is really easy, the only motorway style road is the one between Ibiza Town and San Antonio.

I would recommend pre booking the car before you leave the UK try Sunwheels. Then you know how much it is going to cost before you go and you just turn up and the car is ready for you. You should need a photo licence for Spain. If you still have the old green paper one then get an international licence from the post office.

If you go with a travel company they will probably organise some excursions. These can be expensive and may include stuff you are not interested in.

If you do get out and about take a look at the caves at San Miguel. The walk along the side of the cliff to get to them is worth the entrance money alone.

Portinatx is nice although it can be crowded in high season, October won't be bad. In fact probabaly everywhere will be uncrowded at that time. In fact some resorts may have shut down altogether. We went out of season a couple of times and by using the car got down to some of the beaches that the boats go to from San Antonio. Because the boats had stopped running we had the beaches to just ourselves and an Italian family.

Thanks for the info. How long does it take in a taxi to get from Santa Eulalia to Ibiza Town? I was told it was only about 5-10 minutes????

Hi De Hi as far vas I'm aware the green licence is perfectly acceptable in Spain unless the rules have changed recently. I think you will find that to drive to San Antonio from Ibiza will take more that ten minutes that is if you want to arrive in one piece allow at least twenty.

i agree,its definatly more than 10 mins by taxi to ibiza town,also depends on time of day,traffic etc. the boat also goes from the harbour at santa eulalia to ibiza town but the last one is 5 or 6,but its a nice leisurly trip,you could go early and get a taxi back. mo.

I would say Sta Eulalia to Ibiza would be at least 30 mins in high season by car. Getting out and into the towns takes the time but once on the roads between towns you can bowl along. Traffic won't be a big problem in October.

As far as I am aware Spain has required a photo licence for many years (20+) although it seems it may be one of those rules that the Spanish people ignore. Could be a different story though if you are in an accident.

If you have a car try Cala St Vincente or Cala D'Hort for relativly unspoiled bays (Cala D'Hort featured in the movie South Pacific where the island offshore was Bali Hi)!

Thankyou all for your replies. I don't think any of us are wanting to drive whilst on holiday but the boat trip across sounds like a lovely idea, will definately bare that in mind. Apart from Ibiza Town and San Antonio, are there any livlier resorts that are a bit closer to Santa Eulalia? Are taxi's expensive? Are there also plenty of them about in Santa Eulalia?

not sure what your looking for in a lively resort,but we like es cana,a bit englishy but culture can be found beleive it or not,its a typical seaside resort,whereas santa eulalia is a town with a beach(loads of good shops restaurants and bars.)as for taxis,again loads,the taxi rank is about halfway along the promanade,where the little market is every day (you will know what i mean when you get there)you walk to the top of the que like in every town in uk,there are loads in a row,never had to wait.at the top of that street is the tourist info place and i think the town hall,a couple of streets behind is the bus station with buses to all over ibiza,fairly cheap.you have to get a ticket from the kiosk not all buses allow you to pay on the bus.we stayed at club siesta in june 2005,if you need anymore info,no problem.

Thing is nothing much will be lively in October. Some of the smaller resorts such as Cala Longa and Puerto San Miguel close down cmplatly on low season and in other esorts many hotels and bars will be shut.

San Antonio, Sta Eulalia and Playa den Bossa are the biggest resorts so something will be bound to be happening in them.

Again the bus services will most likely be less frequent as well at that time of year.

they close the end of oct.saying that some places do shut early say mid oct.but its still busy in the bigger resorts.most bars do shut down in oct to save money on rent ect.its a nice time to go in oct/may.the buses still run to the same time table.if you catch the last week it will be very quite and unreal at the airport.as all the reps try to get home.and good thing about oct is the shop have sales on.very cheap

I think it's really sweet that djwoody thinks that if a bar closes then the kind benevolent landlord stops charging them rent.

Trust me if you have a business in Ibiza then you are paying rent (and a hell of a lot of it) all year round whether you are open or not.

sorry i always thought that was the case.mine you in late oct with not many punters to go round.i can see why.a hard summer and a well earned rest

That's okay, I'm sure that you are not alone. The problem that most ex-pat business owners face in Ibiza is that the property is all owned by Ibicencans who are incredibly greedy and are totally lacking in foresight.

You will probably have noticed that in areas like Santa Eulalia & Cala Llonga a lot of the bars are in poor condition. This is because leases are short and rents are high. Consequently most business owners are not in a financial position to invest in the decor. Additionally, the way that the current tax laws stand, during the months that you are not open you are unable to reclaim any business expenses against tax.

Anyway I won't bang on about it as it isn't relevant to this thread, but it's worth knowing that few ex-pats are getting rich running businesses here, we do it because we love living in Ibiza and don't have any other way of making a living.

The problem that most ex-pat business owners face in Ibiza is that the property is all owned by Ibicencans who are incredibly greedy and are totally lacking in foresight.

thats an incredibly sweeping statement

during the months that you are not open you are unable to reclaim any business expenses against tax

i dont know about that but one other factor to consider is that they dont have to pay staff contributions etc when they are shut - the downside is that if you open just for say new years eve you have to pay the whole month

anyway - if you are in santa eulalia then the buses go direct to most places in the north, if you go south then you normally have to changeover in ibiza town (bus does go to san an direct via ibiza town)

taxi to ibiza town in the height of summer is about 15-20 minutes - if youre using a taxi at night, go to bar cosmi early and have a beer and see how the taxi rank is as sometimes there can be long queues

Regarding greed. I was told many years ago by an ex pat managing a business out there that before each season starts the businesses get togther and fix prices. So all the car hire companies won't undercut each other and keep prices high. etc.

where do they meet ? do they hire out a back room at a large restaurant or get a conference room at the royal plaza and meet mobster style ?

how do they get the online hire companies to turn up ?
*shakes head*

:offtop, sorry I just want to clear something up.

The problem that most ex-pat business owners face in Ibiza is that the property is all owned by Ibicencans who are incredibly greedy and are totally lacking in foresight.

Actually the Ibicencans were/are very sagacious in their foresight.
Prior and especially after such programmes as "Ibiza uncovered" the Island's economy suffered badly because of the media coverage given to "party Island", therefore there was a concerted effort by the governor of the Island to try and repair the damage.
You will have noticed the increase in the prices for a holiday on the Island and this was to attract a more "middle aged mature kind of tourist" who are probably able to afford the prices of decent accommodation and hopefully deter the young clubbing fraternity, some of whom would doss down anywhere, even on the beach, so the beach was one target area to focus on and now it is illegal to sleep the booze off on there,(during the night) or finding out the hard way that the Policia give you a kick in the ribs to get up and remove yourself.

They also wanted to deter establishments being rented by ex-pats who wished to make a quick buck and then run, leaving behind the damage that they may have done by trying to turn Ibiza into another typical British "Costa" like the ones on mainland Spain.
Once the culture has gone, it is extremely hard to regain it back, so again the way to deter this was to increase the rents.

Whilst tourism is essential to the Island and finding the right balance to attract tourists and catering for their needs is important, it is also important to remember that an influx of foreigners will not only erode the culture, but also push property prices up and this will put many natives out of the housing market.

Greedy or wise.?

Sanji

sanji i seriously think that you have no idea how things work in ibiza which is a totally different kettle of fish to benidorm. ibiza's clubbing market is a quite affluent one and young clubbers probably spend far more money (and yes a lot of it goes on drugs) than your average joe sixpack and his wife and kids.

rents for bars and other premises are ridiculously high - not because any ibby wants to improve the lot of the island - but purely for personal gain. our island's fame and reputation has certainly not come from any ibicenco contribution other than being lucky enough to be sitting on some prime real estate when tourism rolled in

as for price fixing, nepotism, and protectionism it exists here and is institutionalised. even you ade will know of the efforts by ibiza town council to keep us in the middle ages with their unfair protection of shops selling over priced tat and with poor customer service. you'll know of the favouritism shown to family members by top ranking politicians, architects, company bosses and prospective golf course owners...i could go on.

it's one reason why our holiday season lasts only a few months and not all year - because nobody cares enough to get off their fat backsides and put the effort in - they want it all, as ususal, for doing nothing.

i'm with casper on this one.

this is getting off topic but what sanji is saying is that the past 7-8 years or so, the consell *has* attempted to change the islands image

i'm not going to say that there is any collusion, nepotism or anything going on by our local politicans and main players - i'll leave that for others...

ibiza is unique really as the local economy and structure cant really apply anywhere else in europe - i'd be interested though to see how andorra works as i suspect its probably very similar

young clubbers probably spend far more money (and yes a lot of it goes on drugs) than your average joe sixpack and his wife and kids

i'm not sure how you work this out ?

if you mean they spend 80% of their spending money in clubs and on drugs then how on earth can that money filter through to local businesses - percentage and probably cash wise, joe six pack and family arguably spend more on local businesses - and as far as the high end spenders that the consell are trying to promote ibiza to, then the clubbers come way down the list...

</off soapbox>

So Sanji.....The Police don't allow anyone to sleep overnight on the beach?
Have you actually been to the beach in Playa D'en Bossa recently?
The Pedelos and stacks of sunbeds on the beach all the way up from Bora Bora to the last of the Fiesta Hotels are used every night by both groups of clubbers and also African beach touts as makeshift campsites.
Every night from the Don Toni hotel you can see them sitting around in circles and if you walk up the beach from town as we always do every night on our way back to the hotel, you stumble across many people sleeping there.
And unlike many other holiday resorts there never seems to be any trouble on the beach at night, they never interfere with you and seem happy to be enjoying their own company.
We have seen Clubbers of all nationalities sleeping on the Bossa beach, Africans and Slovaks who seem to spend the entire summer on the beach, but never....not even once, have we seen a police officer on the beach at night....only when Bora Bora kicked off one night when there was a drugs raid.