Lyrics familiar from the Vengaboys, describing an island associated with clubbing, general partying, and drunken excess, and perhaps not somewhere that you would want to take the family. But after a brief stop in Ibiza Town on a cruise a few years ago, where we were pleasantly surprised by the historic town centre and pretty beach, a short break to Ibiza sounded as though it would suit our family perfectly.
We spent a week at the Fiesta Hotel Cala Nova in Es Canar to the north east of the island. The hotel adjoined Cala Nova beach, with a very short walk through the small town to Es Canar beach.
Both children were beautifully behaved all week. It helped a lot that we didn't pay for wi-fi at the hotel, and with our phones firmly locked in the safe they had plenty of attention! Having said that, I did manage to read three books on my Kindle, so they did manage to occupy themselves for quite a time as well.
We spent a lot of time at the beach. Harry re-discovered the joys of large scale sand construction, culminating in a very impressive road and tunnel system on our final day. Both beaches near to us were lovely, but we also took a bus one morning to Santa Eulalia just down the coast which was well worth a visit, it's a much larger town with a very clean beach, a little market and plenty going on. If we went again I think we'd take much more advantage of the very reasonably priced bus system to explore some more of the island.
We also spent time at the hotel swimming pool. The children's area wasn't huge, but it had a few slides and it was wonderful to watch their confidence increase throughout the week, even if they both still refuse to get their faces wet!
I kept Mia's hair up in plaits most of the time as it became so unruly with all the salt air and the sand. It makes her look so much older, she's definitely a proper little girl now.
Late each afternoon we went for a walk into Es Canar and almost always managed to get Mia to go to sleep in her pushchair, meaning that Ram could enjoy a beer for as long as Harry was kept busy by an ice-cream.
There weren't a huge number of kid's activities at the hotel but there was Mini Disco every evening which they both loved, definitely worth keeping them up a bit later than usual (and they did reward us by sleeping very slightly later in the mornings than they usually do!) One night we also enjoyed a trained parrot show, a bit tacky perhaps for the adults but absolutely enchanting for the little ones!
We had a lovely holiday, and I'd definitely recommend Ibiza as a family destination.
Looks like you all had a great time :)
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