Over-27s only: I survived 96 hours at Ibiza’s most iconic party

“I did 24,000 steps last night. And I didn’t even leave the hotel.”

The messages coming through on our “Surviving Pikes” group chat are comedy gold (or maybe you had to be there). Either way, they precisely sum up the past 96 hours. I look at my own count: 20,000 steps. I, too, have not left the property.

A stay at Pikes Ibiza is a bit like a grown-up rave that goes on for five days.

My friends and I checked into hedonistic wonder-of-the-world Pikes Ibiza in the foothills of San Antonio five days ago. We’ve stopped dancing only to sleep. Occasionally we refuel too. I knew it was going to be a marathon, not a race. But how we survived, I’m still not sure.

Part boutique hotel, part Mad Hatters social gathering, Pikes Ibiza is one of the oldest and most iconic parties on the Balearic island. Yes, debauchery is in its DNA. But there’s a finesse to it. Firstly, a vibe policy forbids anyone under the age of 27 to enter or even book a room. In a place like Ibiza, where greenhorn rowdiness can be hard to avoid, it’s a genius move. And it sets the tone immediately.

Occupying a 15th-century sunshine-yellow finca, Pikes was founded in 1978 by British-born Aussie Tony Pike. He was well-connected, and high-profile friends including Freddie Mercury, George Michael and Naomi Campbell were fixtures here (and the photos on the reception wall prove it). Tony Pike passed away in 2019 at the age of 85, and the property has since undergone a glam restoration by current owners, Ibiza Rocks, which was completed in 2023.

Fatboy Slim performing at Pikes in 2021.Credit: Getty Images

Alongside 26 quirky rooms are a fluoro pink tennis court, restaurant Pamela’s, which is laden with giant disco balls (they host a boozy brunch every Sunday), and a central pool surrounded by daybeds nursing the wounded in various states of regret and elation. Pike’s cavernous club Freddies is one of Ibiza’s most underrated venues, set at the back of the property in an intimate room with a killer sound-system and a bed up against the back wall. Before its rebirth, it was Mr Mercury’s favourite suite.

When we arrive to the hotel at midday, I clock the mural scrawled across the back wall of the car park “You can check out… but you can never check out.” Hmmm. This sounds serious. We have two rooms between us, and my Junior Suite features an exposed “statement” shower over a copper bathtub to one side of the bed (bathing is a little awkward and requires me to ask my male friend to make himself scarce).

Rooms are for sleeping between dancing sessions.

Further adding to the atmosphere, our rooms are at the back of the property on top of Freddies. Yes, right on top of the nightclub. One evening, we find a group of 15 post-club stragglers sitting on the tiles of the lounge area that connects our rooms enthusiastically enjoying their own “afters”. A much-coveted separate balcony accessed only via our room overlooks the Sunset Terrace, where a DJ spins from late afternoon. At the risk of sounding unphilosophical, there is no way to escape the music. But that’s not why you come.

The pool at Pikes.

I manage to average about four hours of sleep a night. Some nights more, some less. It’s a bit like a grown-up rave that goes on for five days, and is dispersed among various rooms, some of them ours, some of them not. At one point, my friends recall a tiny room they discovered with a bathtub that’s been converted into a ball pit. And then there’s the people you meet: the couple that arrived from the Cayman Islands without their luggage and have been wearing Pikes merch for their entire stay. The two 30-something British blokes we collided with in the pool on the first day whom we have fiercely adopted.

The Pikes staff are fun and free of judgment. And that’s never more evident than in charismatic British night manager, Nick Sheehy. He’s the man behind a now-viral voice note sent in 2022 while on a shift at Pikes to the friends of a ‘weary’ Scottish reveller, asking where he can send him in a taxi. It blew up on social media and has clocked up more than 19 million views. It still resonates among partygoers, with the reveller’s quote “You’ve maneuvered me here” spotted emblazoned across a giant flag at Glastonbury festival this year.

Whatever happens at Pikes, stays at Pikes (mostly).

We’re going back for round two, the reunion, with our new pals this year.

THE DETAILS

Pikes Ibiza is for over 27s only.

Fly + ride
Fly to Ibiza via Dubai and Barcelona with Emirates and Vueling Airlines. Then catch a taxi to Pikes Ibiza, which is 25 minutes from the airport.

Stay
Pikes Ibiza has a no under-27s policy and has a range of room categories, including Junior Suites from €473 ($790) a night during high season. If you’re feeling a quieter vibe, book the Garden Suites. See pikesibiza.com

The writer travelled at her own expense.