Chilled Ibiza: Experience the Ultimate Sunset Mix

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I drove back west to a place that has lingered in a corner of my mind for a quarter of a century: Punta Galera, where the natural terraces of smooth rock act as shelves for sunbathing like a lizard. Here, on a site that would have been visible from where I pitched my tent, is where the island’s most talked-about new place to stay has made landfall. Booked out well before it opened, this much-talked- about arrival is drawing hordes of wellness-focused travellers to the north of the island. Lying in bed the next morning with the dazzle of a flaming June day filtering through the shutters, I looked up at the ceiling of my bedroom at Can Domo. Though most of my friends here have moved away, a few stubbornly cling on, resisting the sky-high cost of living in a spot that’s become a magnet for the super-rich.

Moving from its party-hard peak, Ibiza has gone through an introspective shift, with a desire to slow life down so it can hit its rhythm again.The old north-south divide is also increasingly redundant: you’re as likely to discover a cool boho scene among the glitz of the south as a whopping heavyweight resort on a wild northern beach. Parts of my mental geography were virtually unrecognisable: Santa Gertrudis, in my day a one-horse hamlet with a couple of bars and a tobacconist, was now a fully grown town of done-up villas with a world-class cocktail bar, Overall, and Bottega il Buco, an outpost of New York restaurateur Donna Lennard’s Il Buco, also found in NoHo and the Hamptons. The passion projects of Rebecca Frayn, who is bringing a spectacular finca in San Vicente back to productive life, and Sophie Daunais and Christian Jochnick, with their ambitious farm-to-table venture Juntos in San Mateo, are remarkable enough to warrant a story of their own. I stood on my balcony and took in the sight below: a beauteous pool, bright young things lounging in swimwear, the gentle thud of house music. Further round the west coast, I stopped for a dip at the pretty cove of Cala Moli, just down the road from the splashy private community Sabina Estates.

Six Senses Ibiza is certainly big and opulent, and involves a massive investment by a powerful international brand, but having visited on the eve of its opening, I’m happy to report that the alarm is mostly unjustified. As an indication of just how far it is from blaring techno around the pool, there are plans to host a classical music event here next year.One of the first wave of agriturismos in Ibiza, Can Domo was recently taken over by the three Spanish partners behind Can Tres on Formentera. The dark-green hillsides dotted with farmhouses in the typical white- washed, cuboid style; the tiendas selling everything from sandals to sardines; the clouds of chalky dust that billowed up on the bumpy tracks among the pines.