Ibiza’s smartest hotel amps up the volume for 2022
With a well-deserved Michelin star, a white-hot new nightclub and Ibiza’s first-ever Zuma, this summer is all about the Ibiza Gran Hotel.
Ibiza has no shortage of hotels. Rustic retreats, bohemian boltholes, even the odd presidential palacio. But it’s the glossy, five-star Ibiza Gran Hotel that is the jewel in the Marina’s crown. While other hotels have focused on capturing Ibiza’s rural charms, the Ibiza Gran Hotel has always gone against the grain, dishing out upscale, big city glamour to a grown-up international crowd. The glossy harbourside hotel - all 189 suits of it – is vast and luxurious, with the sort of cool marble lobby that you might find in New York or Dubai. It’s the restaurants, though, that have got the insider crowd cooing this year, as the hotel becomes the first in Ibiza to be awarded a Michelin star. Óscar Molina, the Spanish chef at the helm of La Gaia, the hotel’s flagship restaurant, received his award at a high-profile ceremony in Valencia last December. It marks a new era of global recognition for Ibiza’s cuisine and for new superstar Molina, who combines his native Mediterranean flavours techniques with a distinctly personal style.
Molina will have stiff competition from his own team though, as the Ibiza Gran Hotel announces the opening of two new restaurants in the hotel. The first, Asal, has been designed by renowned architect and interior designer, David Alayeto, and is a pitch-perfect scene of dappled natural light and organic textures. Asal has three distinct hubs – the shimmery garden terrace for outdoor dining, a laidback cocktail and DJ bar and lastly the Chef’s Saloon, an intimate space headed up by head chef Mario Sandoval, whose expertise with Spanish cuisine has seen him earn two Michelin stars over his career.
Rounding upon the trio is Ibiza’s most anticipated opening – a year-long pop-up from Asian hothouse Zuma. Brought to Ibiza by Island Hospitality, the team behind Beachouse and Mikasa, Zuma looks set to be the impossible table of the summer. Island Hospitality’s biggest trick by far, however, is the reinvention of the former Heart Ibiza, nightclub, whose covetable position alongside the Ibiza Gran Hotel makes it the go-to for Marina Botafoch’s glossy party crowd. Rebranded as Club Chinois, the 3000 sq ft nightclub has an East-meets-West vibe, chinoiserie aplenty and a serious roster of underground DJs, including a much-talked-about residency from Luciano. With music, food and luxury hospitality all ticked, this summer looks set to send the Ibiza Gran Hotel into orbit.
