Ibiza is located in the Mediterranean Sea, to the east of the Spanish Peninsula, and is one of the Balearic Islands. Ibiza, which covers 572 km2, is a whole world in miniature and stretches from the coast inland. Ibiza -with its smooth relief- along with Formentera, make up the so-called Pitiusas islands. The Greeks referred to them as the islands of the pines, Ibiza itself being the larger of the two.
While it is one-sixth the size of nearby Majorca, Ibiza is over five times the size of Mykonos (Greece), or ten times the size of Manhattan Island. Ibiza has become famous for the association with nightlife and the electronic music that originated on the island. It is well known for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists, though the island's government and the Spanish Tourist Office have controversially been working to promote more family-oriented tourism.
Ibiza is the home of the noted port in Ibiza Town, a popular stop for many tourists and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ibiza and the nearby island of Formentera to its south are called the Pine Islands, or "Pityuses".
Eivissenc is the native dialect of Catalan that is spoken on Ibiza and nearby Formentera. Catalan shares co-official status with Spanish. Additionally, because of the influence of tourism and expatriates living in or maintaining residences on the island, other languages like German, English and Italian, are widely spoken. Polylinguality is the norm, not the exception.
Ibiza is considered to be a popular tourist destination, especially due to its legendary and at times riotous nightlife centred on two areas: Ibiza Town, the island's capital on the southern shore and Sant Antoni to the West. Well-known nightclubs are Privilege, Amnesia, Space, Pacha, Es Paradís and DC10. During the summer, the top producers and DJs in dance come to the island and play at the various clubs, in between touring to other international destinations. Some of the most famous DJs run their own weekly nights around the island. Many of these DJs use Ibiza as an outlet for presenting new songs within the house, trance and techno genres of electronic dance music. The city has achieved renown worldwide fame as a cultural center for house and trance in particular, with its name often being used as a partial metonym for the particular flavor of electronic music originating there, much like Goa in India.
Since 2005, the live music event Ibiza Rocks has helped to redefine the Ibiza party landscape. Bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Prodigy, and the Kaiser Chiefs have played in the courtyard of the Ibiza Rocks Hotel. Elsewhere on the island, underground music parties are common and enjoyed by the many international musicians, artists, and travelers that are drawn to the unique creative environment of Ibiza.
The season traditionally begins at the start of June with Space and DC10's opening parties and finishes on the first weekend of October with the Closing Parties. A typical schedule for clubbers going to Ibiza includes waking at noon, early evening naps, late night clubbing, and "disco sunrises." Due to Ibiza's notable tolerance toward misbehaviour from young adult tourists, it has acquired the sobriquet "Gomorrah of the Med." Also well-known is Café del Mar, a long-standing bar where many tourists traditionally view the sunset made famous by José Padilla, who has released more than a dozen eponymous album compilations of ambient music played at the location. That and other bars nearby have become an increasingly popular venue for club pre-parties after sunset, hosting popular DJ performers.
The island's government is trying to encourage a more cultured and quieter tourism scene, passing rules including the closing of all nightclubs by 6 a.m. at the latest, and requiring all new hotels to be 5-star. The administration wants to attract a more international mixture of tourists.
Though primarily known for its party scene, large portions of the island are registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and thus protected from the development and commercialization of the main cities. A notable example includes "God's Finger" in the Benirràs Bay as well as some of the more traditional Ibizan cultural sites such as the remains of the first Phoenicians settlement at Sa Caleta. Other sites are still under threat from the developers, such as Ses Feixes Wetlands, but this site has now been recognised as a threatened environment, and it is expected that steps will be taken to preserve this wetland.
Because of its rustic beauty, companies and artists alike frequently use the island for photographic and film shoots. A monument ("The Egg") erected in honour of Christopher Columbus can be found in Sant Antoni; Ibiza is one of several places purporting to be his birthplace.
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