Pikes Ibiza opening
Hello everyone, I’m Katie Knight and welcome back to Ibiza Spotlight. It feels so good to be back reporting from the beautiful island of Ibiza and I couldn't think of a better way to kick off this series of videos than here at the opening of Pikes Ibiza.
With me is Ibiza Spotlight’s nightlife guy and all-round Ibiza expert, Stivi.
"Hi Katie."
Hello, how are you?
"Well, you just said it yourself, it's amazing to be back."
I know. The sun is shining and it just feels like summer has arrived. There's a nice buzz on the island, isn't there?
"There is, absolutely. You know, last year was an odd season in a way. But this year, the vibe's different. You can feel how there's expectation in the air; there's a buzz. In the last few weeks, there's really a lot of people starting to arrive. Not the Brits just yet - we'll speak about that in a bit!"
We're getting there.
"We’ll get there, but you know there's French, German, Dutch, Italians... yeah, it's getting busy. We're heading in the right direction."
Current restrictions
Yeah I agree. I don't want to say the C word too much, because I know we've all heard enough of it, but just quickly talking about it. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we're one of the places in Spain with the fewest active cases at the moment, aren't we?
"Yeah. To be honest, since March we've been in a very good, very stable and favourable situation. Very low incidence. You know, the hospital is almost empty, so it's looking up from that point of view. Now in April and May, the vaccination programme has also started to speed up.
I think as of today, a third of the population has had their first jab. 15 percent have already had both, so I really think that this is the way out of this nightmare."
Yeah, I agree. Even though we do still have a few restrictions, I think it's been good because we're saving our summer really, aren't we?
"We are."
What are the restrictions like at the moment?
"We still have the nightly curfew currently. Right now, it's from 23:00 at night until 06:00 in the morning. But that's changing soon to midnight and I think it's probably going to be the last extension. All of the other restrictions are getting less and less severe. It's my gut feeling, but I think come July we're almost at normalcy."
What about the masks?
"Well right now, outside you still have to wear them - unless you're doing an interview, like us.
You don't have to wear them on the beach or wear them in a restaurant once you're seated. But to get into a shop or supermarket you still have to wear them. Obviously, if you're going somewhere where it's busy with people, you put one on. But I also have a feeling that come July or August, wearing masks outside is going to be a thing of the past.
There's even voices from within the government, saying that now."
What do you reckon summer 2021 is going to look like in Ibiza?
"Well we can see it now already looks much better than all of last summer did. There's new places opening up every day, there's people arriving. It's getting busy and if you compare it to last summer, it was very uncertain.
Now we do know the vaccines are here. They work. Unvaccinated tourists must arrive with a negative PCR test. With that, we have got the situation under control.
I truly believe that we're going to have a fairly normal tourist season. We're probably not going to go back to 2019 levels just like that. But I’m sure it's going to be a lot better than last year."
100 percent. I think going back to 2019 and having a summer like that is still going to take time. Not just here but everywhere in the world. But I agree with you, I think that this year is going to be much better than last year anyway. There's going to be a lot more going on.
Nightlife...
I know this is a hard question - it's the million dollar question.
"I can see it coming!"
What do you think is going to happen with Ibiza’s nightlife?
"Okay. I am sure that at some point this summer, we will be dancing again."
Ahh, I can't even remember how to dance anymore!
"You will, you will! I swear, you will quickly remember. The big question is, in what capacity? What we do know, is that sometime in the month of June ,there's going to be two test events: one outdoors and one indoors.
Once the results from those are back, gradually nightlife is going to start up again.
We shouldn't expect miracles. I think it's logical for everyone to accept it’s probably unlikely we're going to see somewhere like Amnesia, Pacha or Hï filled to capacity. But I think in a first step, maybe in July things start outdoors and then as things improve, vaccination rates go up and the district restrictions reduce further and further, it might well be over quicker than we think. I’m sure we will be dancing this summer."
I hope so. Obviously, you're one of Ibiza’s experts on nightlife. How many people message you asking you what's going on?
"Everyone does! You know, everyone wants this. Yes, Ibiza is an amazing island but nightlife is one of our USPs here."
I know. We do miss it, but we will be back soon. We’ll be dancing together soon.
What's happening at the moment?
As we were saying before, although things are still not 100 percent certain with nightlife, there's still so much going on the island. A lot of things are already open, then there are things that are about to open in the coming weeks.
For anybody who doesn’t know already, what can people expect if they come over?
"Okay, so if you do want a bit of music and a bit of a vibe, daytimes it's at the beach clubs. In Playa d’en Bossa, you've got Beachouse, Nassau and Bora Bora open. Then Blue Marlin in Cala Jondal is opening this Saturday.
The week after, it's Nikki Beach opening and Destino on 27 May. As well as Destino, let's not forget about Lío the night before, which is awesome. Then you've got the sunset spots: Kumharas and Sunset Ashram, Hostal La Torre - gorgeous."
Aww, what a beautiful sunset spot.
"So that's sort of the spots around the coast. Then you have Pikes where we are now. They do events regularly, almost daily. Then you've got Las Dalias doing stuff on the weekend. In the first two weeks of June, you've got O Beach and Ibiza Rocks opening.
I mean, there's loads going on."
Even just walking through the doors here today felt so, so good! Just getting ready to come here felt like a real summer's day. Going back out, seeing people and listening to music.
"We mustn't forget, those people that came last year, they only had the comparison to 2019 when we had a full-on nightlife programme. Obviously now everyone compares to last year, where we had almost nothing. It's already such a massive improvement. I’m genuinely certain, from here it's just going to get better."
Activities
Apart from beach clubs and other daytime events going on, there's so many activities and you're the best person to talk to about this. There's so much you can do here in Ibiza, whether it’s hiking or different sea activities.
Let's talk a little bit about that, what are the different things people can enjoy?
"For seaside activities, I suggest renting a boat either with a skipper or without, maybe visit Formentera?
If you want to get properly active, there’s scuba diving, snorkelling, free diving - that's getting big now, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, kite surfing. On land you have hikes, running, mountain biking, e-bikes are really popular now, yoga, spa days, wellness treatments, playing golf.
Or the most obvious one, just simply rent a car and go explore the island."
I’ve lived here for many years now, and there's so many beautiful spots that ’ve never been to before. There's so many different places to discover.
If anybody is thinking about whether to come to Ibiza or not, even though things with nightlife are not so certain, there's still so much to do, so much to enjoy. The island is as beautiful as ever and we really hope that we get to see you here soon.
For more information on what's open, what's about to open and any activities that you can enjoy here in Ibiza, head over to Ibiza Spotlight and get packing. We'll see you here very soon.
"Well thank you, Katie and as you just said see you all here very soon."
Nightmares On Wax around the pool over there, let's go and enjoy a bit of Pikes!
