Ibiza Gay Travel Guide & Map 2024

Accommodation Tip

Ibiza, AxelBeach Ibiza
Hotel, gay-friendly. ****, from 100 € (April – October)
Modern apartment hotel for gays and friends, located right on the beach in the Sant Antonio bay (20 km from Ibiza Town).
With pool terrace, spa and gym room.
@ Carrer de Cala de Bou 46
Ibiza 07829 Bahía de Sant Antoni de Portmany

About Ibiza and its gay life

When dropouts and hippies began to discover Ibiza for themselves in the 1960s, no one would have guessed that the Balearic island would soon become one of Europe's most popular summer travel destinations. Today, more than two million tourists come to the island every year and the population has more than quadrupled since the 1960s: 150,000 people now live on the island, about a third of them in the capital Eivissa (Ibiza Town). Official languages are Catalan (the predominant accent on the island is called eivissenc) and Castilian (Spanish).

The first tourists came to the island as early as the 1930s – before the Spanish Civil War and the long years of Franco's dictatorship –, including intellectuals such as the cultural critic Walter Benjamin, the Dadaist artist Raoul Hausmann, the architect Le Corbusier and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. The latter were particularly inspired by the cubic, single-story design of Ibiza's old farmhouses.

The most famous sight of the island is the old town of Ibiza Town. Its upper part, Dalt Vila, with the 14th-century cathedral and the 16th-century Renaissance fortress walls, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
The alleys in the lower part of the old town, rather tranquil during the day, come to life anew every night during the summer months, attracting thousands of visitors to its many small shops, restaurants and bars.

In the 1970s, Ibiza's rise as a mecca for party tourists from all over Europe began. During the summer months, international star DJs and newcomers come here to play. The dance palace ›Privilege‹ (formerly ›Ku‹) is considered the largest discotheque in the world. Other famous big clubs are for example the ›Amnesia‹ and the (former) ›Space‹.

The house and techno scene, as well as the aforementioned hippies and dropouts, have contributed greatly to the fact that Ibiza has been considered a particularly gay-friendly destination for decades. There are various queer-inclusive bars in Ibiza's charming old town, and some of the major clubs offer explicitly LGBT-friendly weekly parties. There are several ›hetero-friendly‹ gay hotels on the island, and, for some time now, also an annual Ibiza Gay Pride in June.