Nightlife

In many ways, El Divino Club, Puerto Ibiza Nueva (tel. 97-131-83-38), is the most physically beautiful disco on Ibiza. Open daily in summer only, it prides itself on the supermodels, celebs, and trendies who have graced its premises with their presence. Wear the most hip outfit you packed. The club doesn't open its doors until midnight; it remains open nightly until 6am, but only from June to September. The cover charge is 25€ to 50€ ($36-$73; includes one drink) and up; it tends to be more expensive in summer.

The crowd at the Montesol hotel bar, Vara de Rey 2 (tel. 97-131-01-61), a short walk from the harbor on the main street, is likely to include expatriates, newly arrived social climbers, and Spaniards along for the view. In many ways this is the greatest circus in town, made more pleasant by the well-prepared tapas and the generous drinks. If you enjoy people-watching, sit at one of the sidewalk tables. Montesol is open daily from 8am to midnight.

Despite its age (it's one of the oldest discos on Ibiza, with a nightlife pedigree extending back to the 1960s), Pachá, Av. 8 de Agosto s/n (tel. 97-193-21-30), a spacious split-level disco near the casino, is still hip. Made up of three separate bar areas and dance floors, and only open in the summer, it continues to attract the young and the not-so-young, the bored, the restless, and the jaded. In summer, overheated dancers can cool off in a swimming pool. The music, primarily droning disco and rap, has the cadence of jackhammers. The cover is a painful 20€ to 50€ ($29-$73; includes one drink).

Disco Privilege, Carretera Sant Antoni Km 7, Urbanización San Rafael (tel. 97-119-80-86; www.privilegeibiza.com), is a sprawling nightclub built to entertain 5,000, many of whom seem to rush the dance floor simultaneously. Wander from room to room, stopping wherever you feel the urge, as the interior contains more bars, semi-secluded patios, and romantic trysting spots than most hotels. Dance music, however, will conspire to keep you on the floor dancing, dancing, dancing. The club is open from June to September, daily from midnight to 8am. The cover is 40€ ($58; includes one drink).

There's gambling by the sea in the modern Casino de Ibiza, Passeig Juan Carlos I (Passeig Marítim; tel. 97-131-33-12; www.casinoibiza.com). With the usual gaming tables and slot machines, it's open nightly 6pm to 5am. A separate room for slot machines operates daily from 3pm to 8am. The adjoining nightclub and dining hall offer live cabaret entertainment between May and October, with shows that feature a relatively tame assortment of magicians, comedians, and pretty women in feathers and spangles whose fancy stepping begins at 11pm. Casino entrance is 5€ ($7.25). A passport is required for admission.

With the possible exception of Mykonos, few other islands in the Mediterranean cater to gay travelers as much as Ibiza. A stroll through the Ciudad Ibiza's Old Town reveals dozens of gay bars catering to international visitors; most are open from 9 or 10pm to 3am. Although many close and reopen with disconcerting frequency, one of the most deeply entrenched is Disco Anfora, Carrer San Carlos 5 (tel. 97-130-28-93), a haute-electronic disco that blares away, to the dancing pleasure of a mostly gay clientele, between midnight and 6am every night in summer. The cover charge of 10€ to 15€ ($15-$22) includes the first drink. Other gay sites include Angelo's, Carrer Alfonso XII no. 11 (tel. 97-131-09-68), which serves drinks beginning around 10pm every evening; and Teatro, Carrer de la Virgen 83 (tel. 97-131-32-25), which has an outdoor bar.

Letting It All Hang Out in the Goddess Temple

Ibiza's most controversial erotic club is the Blue Rose, Carrer Navarra 27, Figueretas (tel. 97-139-91-37). There's a hefty cover of 35€ ($51), including your first drink. It occupies what was originally established in the 1960s as the island's first disco. In 1998, amid the same black-and-white floor tiles where flower children used to tune in, turn on, and dance, California-born entrepreneur Joy Borne installed an intensely theatrical, high-class strip joint that's become one of the most popular places on an island obsessed with after-dark diversions. Defined as an American-style "Goddess Temple," where none of the exotic artistes object to getting an occasional bank note while they're on stage, the setting consists of a fireman's pole, equipment for some exhibitionistic acrobatics, and an area committed to exotic, tasteful nudity in a sexually provocative setting. Owned, operated, and for the most part staffed by women, it is open every night from 11pm to 6am. Drinks cost from 10€ ($15) after the first. Although most nights the club is filled with men watching women, Thursday nights feature male dancers performing for women from 11pm to 3am, and male dancers performing for gay patrons from 3am till closing. Most of the dancers come from northern Europe and, to a lesser extent, California.