Back in the day, Amnesia was a meeting point with a few tables and chairs that people sauntered to after a session across the road at KU, the legendary club which later became Privilege. In 1976, before it was known as Amnesia, the club was christened The Workshop of Forgetfulness.
This was based on the idealist principle that people forget their daily problems and tired routines to escape into the unknown.
Fast forward to 1987, when the legend, at least in UK terms, really begins. British DJs Nicky Holloway, Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker and Paul Oakenfold land on Ibiza and you have yourself a year that would change the face of clubbing forever.
On one fateful evening, our wide-eyed and impressionable quartet experience DJ Alfredo leading clubbers through a wild time of electric hedonism in the open-air. Minds blown, they headed back to England with stories to regale their friends.
Although the timeline is hotly contested and the separation of myth from fact blurred, this preceded the first UK Summer of Love in 1988 and the Acid House movement that swept the country. Back on Ibiza, the island went from Europe's best kept secret to a mass tourist destination - and its wild nightlife became its USP. Therefore, Amnesia's role was pivotal.
These days, Amnesia is considered an iconic club. It has two dancefloors; The Terrace (or Terraza) and the Main Room (sometimes also referred to as the Club).
The Terrace now has a roof, but is still famed for its sunrise sessions, when the sun streams through the windows, illuminating the entire crowd. The Main Room is a more cavernous affair, with dark corners and low lighting for a more internalised clubbing experience.
Hundreds of thousands of you are still waiting to discover this iconic clubbing space, so if you can label yourself an Amnesia virgin, here's our guide to making sure you have a top-notch, trailblazing Ibiza experience at one of the island's most loved clubs.
Quick Facts
Number of rooms: Two - The Terrace and the Main Room
Capacity: 5,000
Famous for: Sunrise on The Terrace, marathon opening and closing parties, gorgeous podium dancers, Amnesia bus photo ops, the biggest and best ice cannons on the island
Vibe: Dance until you drop. We keep going!
Go if: No Ibiza trip is complete without a visit to Amnesia - especially your first time! It's essential.
How to get there
Amnesia is situated on the main road between Ibiza Town and San Antonio, near San Rafael.
Taxis can be caught all night long from the rank in San Antonio at the bottom of the West End, along the main road in Playa d'en Bossa and at various taxi rank spots in Ibiza Town.
From these popular destinations, it costs €11-16 in a taxi from San Antonio or Ibiza Town and around €22 from Playa d'en Bossa.
The other, cheaper option, is to take the raucous disco bus. From San Antonio, you can catch a bus to Amnesia from the main bus station, and from Playa d'en Bossa, the bus stop is along the main strip opposite bar Tantra.
Departing roughly every half hour, the journey will cost you just €4 or €5 (depending on the line) and for that, you'll also get an experience buzzing with excitement. No glass bottles are allowed so leave yourself a few minutes before you leave your apartment or hotel to pour your beverage of choice into a plastic bottle.
To say folks on the disco bus are hyper is an understatement - which is just as it should be - but it pays to remember that a) not everyone on the bus is on their way to or from a party and b) bus drivers have breaking points too. So please be as respectful as possible.
After a heady session, your options of retreat depend on your hour of exit.
The disco bus finishes at 06:00 and regular buses resume business at 07:00.
The taxi rank outside Amnesia beefs up its services from around 30 minutes before the club closes, but bear in mind, if you storm through until the final beat, you will of course be waiting a little longer in the queue.
A full list of disco bus timetables can be found here.
The tunage
The breed of electronic tunage reverberating through Amnesia's famous Terrace and Main Room range from Techno to House, and EDM to Reggaeton proving there's plenty of variety.
Amnesia has a reputation for being a Techno club and if that's your bag, then look no further than its in-house production Pyramid. Pyramid is devised by Amnesia's current owner and long-time resident DJ, Mar-T, so it's a real labour of love and has been inspired by Amnesia's Techno parties of old, such as Cocoon.
If you prefer things a bit more palatable, then Amnesia Presents features vocal-driven, sing-along House music you'll know and love played by household names.
Amnesia also boast a strong Spanish turnout - despite its engulfing size, it really feels like a local's club. That's part of the reason why Spanish-language genre, Reggaeton, also has a weekly presence here. Argentine export Bresh looks after Thursday nights.
For the finer details, find our party guide here.
Entrance prices
Expect to pay from €40 to €80 for most parties, depending on the month, but then for flagship Saturday night elrow - perhaps the biggest clubbing brand on the planet - it's not unusual to pay more. Early, pre-sale booking is advised for that party above all others, to guarantee the cheapest price but also just to ensure you get in full stop. It's a very popular party.
Food & drink
Long drinks cost €20 - €24 or more and a beer €12 to €15, 500ml water is €9 to €10, depending on the night and area. The bars upstairs are more expensive. A little tasty gem of a secret is that you can buy burgers and pizzas outside in the smoking area. Some might say cheating is eating, but on Ibiza you're pushed to your limits and that hunger needs to be fed if you want to see the night out to the end.
Dress code
One word: experiment. Ibiza is the kind of destination that encourages you to wear the kind of threads that you'd never slip into anywhere else. Take yourself through the amazing vintage snaps from the '80s and you'll soon discover that this is a place where sartorial statements are made. If you don't want to fish through what some might consider a fancy dress box that's okay, wear whatever will make you most comfortable for a dancing marathon.
DJ set times
These are always published on the wall just as you get into the club, and before you either head to the Terrace to the left or into the Main Room on the right. Increasingly, most nights also release set-times on social media channels on the day of the party. Though with DJs at the mercy of flight delays and cancellations as much as tourists, it's always worth checking the small print "programme subject to change".
Cloakroom / ATM
Amnesia has a cloakroom that's located at the right hand side just as you get into the Main Room. All bars accept contactless/chip-and-pin payments, so you might want to limit the amount of cash you carry. Although at least with cash, you can get a feel for how much you're already spent - and how much you have left!
Amnesia opening and closing party
Amnesia's opening and closing parties are two brutes that have long been considered unmissable to thousands. The line-ups are always stellar and include some of the best Techno and underground House DJs of the moment as well as the club's residents.
These bad boys are not for the weak as they get mega busy, but the atmosphere on the Terrace during Amnesia closing is simply unbeatable - for a lot of island residents it's the party highlight of the year.
Recount that feeling of Christmas morning before you've ransacked the gift pile and you have yourself the same buzz of emotions that you'll be juggling on Amnesia's big closing.
This article is part of our Ibiza Virgins' Guides, packed full of information on how to get the most out of your stay on Ibiza. Check them out.
WORDS | by Aimee Lawrence and Stephen Hunt
PHOTOGRAPHY | by Elliot Young, PHRANK and Michael Tomlinson
