If it's nightlife you're after, you've come to the right island. Ibiza has a hedonistic heritage stretching back more than 30 years. Top clubs, on form djs, hot bands, a cosmopolitan mix of clubbers, local residents, freaks, mature partygoers, fresh faces, a wide range of sexualities, and the full alphabet of celebrities - modern Ibiza contains multitudes.

Getting There
Transport to the clubs is problematical, getting back can be impossible.
In an attempt to make life a little easier, some of the clubs put on a bus service, one of them a boat (El Divino), and some will refund a taxi fare if four share - and you all pay to get in to the club - and you can find a taxi to start with (and don't forget the receipt). As for Space, no one has ever remembered how they got there, what they did, or how they ended up on the beach asleep with a stranger. If you do remember how you got there, you shouldn't have been there.

Taxis are almost non-existent in the height of the summer. The island is generally 100s of taxis short. Many taxi drivers also appear to prefer to work through the day, ferrying visitors between the airport and the north side of the island, than clubbers at night.

The fare to Pacha/Space is minimal (€4 (ish) dependent on where you start), and for Privilege or Amnesia it is around €10. For El Divino, take the free boat. Anfora is in Ibiza Town.

The amazing number of clubbers who are needed to keep the clubs open seem to be able to stay out in Ibiza Town all night, before driving to one of the big clubs at two in the morning, then driving on to Space at 9am, or later. All this without drinking or 'chemin'? Bollocks.

It is well past time that the venues closed their (inadequate) car parks, and provided a fleet of coaches to and from the resorts (as the authorities start making hungry noises about enforcing the capacity limits at the venues, they may make more money setting up a private hire company...)

Getting In
You can get into the clubs free:
• Through your London contacts (doesn't everyone know a promoter/DJ/Sky TV producer, who is having a go in Ibiza?).
• Through the bar staff in Ibiza. Make friends.
• Through shagging one of the dancers/club workers (usually to be found in Anfora, if they are available, as they tend to be quite popular).

You can pay to get in :
• At the club door - this is stupid, and very expensive. Only to be done if you really want to show off, or if you have a '10 euro-off' ticket, AND know the standard entry price (i.e. make sure that you get your 10 euros off).
• By advance ticket. Available at most record shops/ CD stalls/ club shops/ clothes shops.... All around Ibiza Town. Check the club flyers, pasted up fresh every night, for more information. or, off the net, from the venue websites.
• Buy a holiday including club entry.
• Buy the 'club mag' which has discounted tickets included. Available at bookshops.
• Buy a 'Not for sale - Free VIP ticket' from a promotion boy/girl.

Clubbers
A weekend out in Ibiza (week if you can manage it) will be everything that you are looking for, if not much more than you thought it would be. Check out the club listings, pick a weekend and go for it, one hour will roll into another, apart from your body packing in, there is no need to stop.

Ibiza provides the definitive clubbing experience.

Drugs are illegal in Ibiza (not that you would know it at times), and the Police do stop and search. If you do carry drugs, and don't want to spend a spell inside a Spanish prison, don't carry more than you intend to take, you could be 'done' as a dealer.

You may on holiday, be tempted to try chems for the first time. 5am, six miles from your hotel, after a night of boozing is not a good place to try anything for the first time. Anyone encouraging you to take drugs are either looking to make some money, have no other way into your pants, or are looking to normalize their own habit.

The Ibiza clubs really are 'legendary', or 'hyped to hell', dependent on your perspective. The clubs offer something rarely found anywhere else, be it size; location; views; atmosphere; a terrace; hype or a mixture of any or all. Not forgetting the DJs (or is that the music?).

If you are into clubbing, for whatever reason (other than sex), you will have a great time.

If you have never been before, or even if you are not into clubbing - check with the bar staff which club/party they recommend, grab some mates and try one of these clubs just once. If you really are looking for a 'gay' night out i.e. 'get the slap on drink too much vodka and trap off', stick to Anfora.

Great Time
You can have a great night/day out and successfully ignore the following points, which aim to give some balance or the 'other side' of a weekend out clubbing...

• As in most cities/resorts, clubbers are, on the whole, off their face and the clubs cater to the people that go there.
• The larger clubs are enormous. Don't arrange to meet any one in there, it just does not happen - take your group towards the toilet with you - otherwise you will never meet up again.
• Different nationalities expect different things from a night out. Attitudes can be come even more polarized on the gay scene.
• The sound systems are great, and the acoustics can be good to appalling.
• Bar service can be SLOW in high season, if not impossible - do not wait until you are totally dehydrated before buying a bottle of water.
• There are almost always queues (lines) for the toilets.
• Drinks can be prohibitively expensive - especially water.
• Tap water can be turned off - if you are looking for a cheap refil.
• Always try to get a free arm band entry fromt he club parades as it can be expensive, up to €40 to get in.
• The straights out-number gays, 1000s to 1.
• The straight men are usually pissed and crashed out on the best sofas.
• 'Anthems' grow. They mature in August/Sept.
• GAY nights: Impossible to distinguish from any other night.
• Road warning: The road separating Amnesia and Privilege is dangerous at the best of times, impossible in the dark and lethal if you are off your face.
• Overcrowding warning. Although no club has yet, to public knowledge, been evacuated in a hurry, some Ibiza clubs appear to let in far more punters than fire regulations in any sane country would allow. It is best to know where the emergency exits are.

Which Club is for You? Check our list of Ibiza Gay and Gay friendly Clubs.