Ibiza spends five months of the year full of visitors who never speak to anybody who lives here. The people running the restaurants, the villa gates, the taxi ranks and the town halls are Spanish, a good proportion of them Ibicenco, and they have opinions about how guests behave. None of what follows is difficult. Most of it is just knowing which habits from home do not travel.
Greetings Are Physical and Quick
Two kisses, right cheek first, barely touching — that is the standard greeting between women, and between a woman and a man, in any social setting including a first introduction over dinner. Men shake hands with each other. A handshake offered to a woman in a relaxed setting reads as stiff rather than polite.
First names are used almost immediately. The formal usted exists but you will rarely need it outside a bank or a police station.
The Clock Is the Thing Visitors Get Most Wrong
Lunch is the main meal and it happens between two and half past three. Dinner starts at ten, kitchens are still taking orders at midnight in high season, and a table booked for eight puts you in a room with the staff and nobody else. Our dinner-date bookings are built around this: nine at the earliest, ten if you want the restaurant at full tilt.
The siesta, meanwhile, is largely a myth as far as you are concerned. Some small shops in the inland villages still shut for the afternoon, but nothing in the tourist towns closes and nobody is asleep.
Two Languages, and It Matters Which
Castilian Spanish is understood everywhere. Catalan, in its Ibicenco form, is the other official language of the Balearics and the one you will see on road signs, menus and municipal notices — which is why the town is signposted Eivissa. Locals speak it among themselves.
Nobody expects a visitor to attempt it, which is precisely why bon dia, gràcies and adéu land so well. In Castilian, buenos días, por favor and gracias will carry you through the entire trip. Salud before the first drink is universal.
Tipping Is Smaller Than You Have Been Told
This is not a percentage culture. Spaniards round up a coffee, leave a couple of euros for a decent lunch, and perhaps five to ten per cent after a long dinner where the service was genuinely good. Nothing is obligatory and nobody chases you down the street. Cash on the table, because card tips do not always reach the person who served you.
Over-tipping is not generous here, it is conspicuous. The travel guide has more on the practical side of money.
Clothes Come Back On When You Leave the Sand
Swimwear belongs on the beach and by the pool, and that is where the tolerance ends. Walking through a town in trunks or a bikini is genuinely frowned upon, and several municipalities — Sant Antoni among them — have brought in ordinances making it a fineable offence rather than merely bad manners. Bring something to put on.
Evenings are smarter than the island's reputation suggests. Linen, a proper shirt, a dress; no sportswear or beach sandals at the better restaurants or at any of the clubs. Our nightlife guide covers what doors will and will not accept.
Noise, and Drinking in the Street
Two rules with teeth. Residential noise limits are enforced, particularly inland and in the north where a sound system on a terrace carries across an entire valley — see the villa service for how we handle that, and note that Santa Eulària is a family town with no tolerance for late outdoor music.
The second is street drinking. Several municipalities restrict or ban alcohol in public spaces outside licensed terraces, and enforcement is more consistent than visitors expect.
Small Things That Buy Goodwill
Ask directly rather than apologising your way into a request; hovering reads as nervous, not courteous. Do not photograph stallholders at the hippy markets or older residents in the villages without a nod first. And remember the island is small — the restaurant manager, the villa caretaker and the hotel concierge all know each other, and being easy to deal with in your first season is why the second one goes better. Discretion works the same way, as our safety and discretion guide explains.
