The Journal
An island. A point of view.
All editions ↗
EN ⌄
EnglishEspañol
Friends silhouetted beside the sea at Experimental Beach
5 Days With Friends · Ibiza, SpainFor the people who made it happen.

Five days.
Our kind of Ibiza.

A sea day. A proper evening. A slower morning. Five days with enough life in them to become the trip you keep talking about.

Step inside ↓
Experimental Beach / The last light
5 Days With FriendsIbiza · Nº 10

All those calendars.
And now, here you are.

Somebody swapped a shift. Somebody arranged the children. Someone has been quietly keeping the whole trip moving for weeks. You probably know which friend that is.

Give that person a holiday too.

This is a five-day shape with a sea chapter, a table worth getting ready for and a night that deserves its following morning. Arrival and departure count as days. The outings can move. The people are the point.

Day 01 / Finally, all here

The holiday begins
when the last bag lands.

The first afternoon belongs to the reunion. A fridge with something in it, a place to sit and the relief of not having to go anywhere immediately.

Can Rafa’s dining table in its bright open-plan living area
Can Rafa / The table between the plans

Let the first afternoon belong to the villa. Confirm access arrangements before landing; an early flight is not a promise of early check-in. Organise transport and the basics for the kitchen so that the first group discussion does not concern an empty fridge.

If you arrive with daylight to spare, settle in and make a small local plan: a swim, a short wander, something easy to eat. Save the island-crossing ambition for a day when nobody is carrying a boarding pass in their pocket.

Dinner should be close enough to feel kind. Staying in is a perfectly good opening night. Put bread on the table, open the windows and let the conversation catch up with the fact that everyone is finally here.

Landing late? Go straight to a simple supper and bed. Tomorrow does not need an apology for starting slowly.

There is a version of the first evening that never leaves the house: someone washing tomatoes, somebody else looking for a decent knife, a playlist starting before the speaker has found its proper place. The food need not be impressive. The gathering is.

If a restaurant is the right answer, choose around your villa and arrival time rather than around the most spectacular photograph. Save the big table for a night when the group can arrive together, properly hungry and properly there.

Day 02 / The sea chapter

A whole day
to get a little salty.

The first candidate for your sea day. Hold a possible swap with day four, so weather and the group’s energy can shape the week.

A traditional boat and paddleboard on the clear water at Cala Comte
Cala Comte / Salvador Ibiza

This is the first candidate for your sea day, with day four held as a possible swap. Choose between an Ibiza coastal boat day and a Formentera visit; do not book both into one day and expect either to feel generous.

If the dream is swimming from the boat, food aboard and your own people around you, choose the right boat day. If it is a beach, a meal ashore and a little island exploring, use our Formentera day guide to build around a passenger crossing and one area.

Make the choice with the whole group, including the friend who does not particularly enjoy boats. A sea day should not require somebody to be politely miserable for eight hours.

Back in Ibiza, keep dinner flexible. There is a particular pleasure in coming home pleasantly tired, washing the salt off and realising nobody expects you to make an entrance anywhere.

If conditions change: follow the operator's advice and agreed terms. Swap to the land-based day below where bookings allow. A ferry is not an automatic bad-weather substitute for a cancelled charter.

Stay on Ibiza’s coast

The group
goes afloat.

For a west-coast outing, compare departure options from Sant Antoni and the actual route. A private charter gives the group its own space; a shared trip gives the day a ready-made rhythm. Think about how much time you want aboard, and how much time you want in the water.

Bring the friend who wants shade into the decision. Bring the person watching the budget into it too. The best sea day is one everybody agreed to before the deposit was paid.

Make Formentera the day

One crossing.
One direction.

A passenger ferry, then Illetes and a nearby lunch, is one clear shape. A short Sant Francesc visit followed by a chosen stretch of Migjorn is another. An eastern outing to Es Caló and La Mola is for the group that wants to explore.

Choose one of those days. Leave the rest for a future visit. The Formentera day plans are built to help you make that choice without spending half the afternoon in transit.

People walking through Ibiza’s old town at dusk

Day 03 / Before the reservation

A little old town.
A proper evening.

Day 03 / The table & the record

Get ready
for each other.

A walk, a dinner, a night chosen for its music. The pleasure begins before you get to the dancefloor.

Keep the morning loose. Later, let Ibiza Town give the evening some shape. Portal de ses Taules is an entrance into Dalt Vila; take the streets at the pace the group actually wants, with shoes that suit the walk. The climb is an option, not a test of commitment.

La Brasa’s garden is one of Ocho’s established choices for dinner. La Bodega offers another mood: tapas and the old town around you. Choose the table first, then leave enough time to enjoy it. Tonight should not feel like running between reservations.

This is often the moment the trip becomes real. Everyone has changed out of the beach clothes. The separate lives that came with you have slipped a little further away. Someone reaches for the bread and begins a story you have heard before. You are pleased to hear it again.

Find the rest of our personal dinner choices in the Dinner Edition. A great meal can be the whole evening; nobody has to audition for a big night.

Candlelit tables under hanging greenery in La Brasa’s courtyard.
La Brasa, after dark.
Guests dining together at Beachouse in a black and white photograph
Beachouse Ibiza / An evening together

For us, Amnesia and DC10 remain the clearest answer to the island’s pull. DC10 on a Monday is an Ocho favourite. Amnesia is where the room, the people and—on the right event—the morning light can become something you spend the rest of the year trying to describe.

Read the Clubbing Edition for that story. Here, the practical point is simple: the event decides which day belongs to the night. Day three is not automatically Monday. Move the itinerary around a confirmed programme, and arrange the journey home in advance.

Let the next morning remain unbooked. The friend who wants to stay until the end and the friend who heads home earlier should both be able to have their holiday.

An appointment worth keeping

Tomorrow morning.
Absolutely nothing.

Breakfast can happen in instalments.
Let the early risers have theirs.

Day 04 / A softer rhythm

The table
follows the coast.

Choose one part of the island. A late lunch works better when it belongs to the place you are already enjoying.

The shaded restaurant and bar at El Chiringuito, Es Cavallet
El Chiringuito / Es Cavallet
A plate in warm sunlight at El Chiringuito
El Chiringuito / On the table
A table with mismatched chairs set among La Paloma’s orchard trees.
A garden table in Sant Llorenç.

For a western beach-and-lunch day, Cala Conta and S’Illa des Bosc make a coherent pairing: the restaurant is right at the coast. Give the sea and the table the main part of the outing, rather than introducing a cross-island journey halfway through.

For a northern mood, Elements at Benirràs is a beachside option; La Paloma in Sant Llorenç gives you an inland alternative. Its daytime and evening food have different identities, so choose the service that fits your plans. Both are Ocho favourites. They are alternatives for your meal, not two consecutive reservations.

El Chiringuito at Es Cavallet, Beachhouse and Cala Gracioneta also belong to our personal selection. Let the Beachclub Guide help you choose a mood and area, then check the current opening and arrangements.

If the previous night ran late, a transfer and one comfortable lunch are plenty. The villa is also a destination. A good day does not have to earn its place by leaving the house.

Choose your rhythm

What does
your group need?

Keep the five-day shape. Change the emphasis. None of these choices requires everyone to want the same afternoon.

Keep day two for the water, with day four available as a weather swap. Choose either a private/shared Ibiza outing or a Formentera day, then leave that evening flexible.

If the sea day moves to day four, reconsider the previous night’s finish and the departure time. Flexibility works only when the actual bookings allow it.

Day 05 / The last coffee

Take the photograph.
Keep the ordinary bit.

The kitchen, the bags, somebody still looking for a charger. It does not need a perfect sunset to be worth remembering.

Keep the final morning in proportion to your flight. Confirm checkout, luggage arrangements and the journey to the airport. A short breakfast stop is lovely when the timings support it. A last-minute excursion with everyone's suitcases in tow rarely improves the goodbye.

Take a photograph of the group if nobody has managed one. It does not need a sunset. The kitchen, half-packed bags and a friend still searching for their charger might be the more honest picture.

There is a quiet kind of sadness in the last cup of coffee. Nothing terrible has happened. In fact, that is the problem: it was good, and now everyone has a different flight.

Before the chat turns back into ordinary life, choose one thing to send each other later. A photograph that includes everybody. The track from the car. The name of the place you want to return to. A small, specific promise is easier to keep than “we must do this again”.

Friends silhouetted beside the sea at Experimental Beach
Experimental Beach / The last light

The useful pages

The organiser’s page.
So you get a holiday, too.

A little preparation, kept in one place. Open what you need, then get back to the good part.

The three decisions before you fly

Agree the shared spending comfort zone, the one experience people most want, and how the group will get around. Then give everyone permission to skip something. Friendship survives a separate afternoon.

Reserve the things that genuinely matter once dates are settled. Leave the rest with room to breathe. This plan gives you one principal outing each day; lunch, dinner and a night out should not become three competing expeditions.

Agree who pays which deposits and how shared costs will be split. Keep booking references, cancellation deadlines and transport details together. Give each person one job rather than leaving the whole trip with the most organised friend.

Spend where it matters

A simpler version: breakfasts at the villa, one beach-led outing, one chosen dinner and one night out. Compare a ferry-based Formentera day with staying on Ibiza using actual travel-date prices; neither is automatically the cheaper answer.

A special-experience version: a private charter, a particular table and prearranged transfers. Confirm complete costs before splitting them. Keep the same breathing room—the upgraded holiday does not need twice as many appointments.

In both versions, ask each person for one priority. You may discover that the shared dinner at home matters as much as the most expensive thing on the list.

Arrival, departure & the villa

This is five calendar days, including the travel days. Confirm villa access and checkout, airport transfers and any luggage arrangements. A late arrival or early flight may leave only three substantial days on the island.

If arrival is late, remove the first evening’s outing. If departure is early, remove the final breakfast stop. There is no missing attraction to compensate for.

When the weather changes

Follow the charter operator’s decision and your written terms. A ferry is not an automatic alternative when a boat outing is cancelled. Swap to town, a meal or villa time where reservations allow.

The intention is one main outing per day, not a schedule that needs the weather to obey it. Keep the good dinner; move the rest around it.

A sunlit afternoon by Can Bossa’s pool, with coral loungers and a shaded outdoor sofa
Can Bossa / Your own kind of afternoon.

The hours in between

A place
for your people.

The first coffee. The last swim. The table where the stories get told again. Some of the best hours of the holiday happen at home.

At Ocho, you book directly with the people who own and care for our three villas. Tell us your dates, your people and the kind of Ibiza you have in mind. We’ll help you find your place.

Can Bossa ↗Can Rafa ↗Can Saca ↗

A little Ibiza to take with you

Made to keep,
or share!

For the flight, the group chat or the person you wish was here. Keep the magazine. Pass the feeling on.

Download the PDF edition5 Days With Friends · 20 pages · 2.5 MB

Send a little inspiration

Take the story with you.

5 Days With Friends magazine cover
Save the cover ↓

Make it
your Ibiza.

Three villas. A team who calls the island home.
A holiday that feels like yours.

Find your Ocho villa