Playa d’en Bossa, on Ibiza’s south coast, is the home of The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel. This feel-good adults-only hotel is the glittering centrepiece of The Site, Palladium Hotel Group’s new Playa d’en Bossa luxury entertainment hub of destination hotels, dining and high-end retail.
Balearic Islands, Ibiza, Playa d'en Bossa
The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel
(5 stars)Once the Ushuaïa Tower, the building has been remodelled, updated and reimagined as The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel. This five-star, adults-only hotel is pitched at those who want the full Ibiza party vibe within reach but a polished, luxury guest experience in the hotel. The island’s biggest open-air club, Ushuaïa Ibiza, is literally next door, and your hotel guest wristband offers complimentary access. This is the destination where hedonism and upscale calm come together.
The Site
You feel the ambition, the buzz and the style on arrival. This hub of hotels and dining is now known as The Site. Once beyond the security controlled entrance one passes through a palm lined street with an elegant retail area, known as the Ibiza Gallery. It’s home to sought-after names like Chloé, Roberto Cavalli, Missoni, and Golden Goose, as well as some exciting restaurants including STREETXO by Dabiz Muñoz.
Then your transfer draws up outside The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel, parked in the bold red VIP lane. Your experience starts now. The property shares this new destination complex with BLESS Ibiza, which is the former Hard Rock Ibiza Hotel reborn with Coya suites and Coya Beach, the new restaurant on the shore.
The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel is just as striking as during its Ushuaïa Tower days, with bold decorative icons like vast stylised flowers climbing whole storeys of the façade and the brand’s hummingbird at the very top.
Check-in is efficient, with the team adept at communicating the diversity of attractions. Instead of a key you are given a wristband. Mine was the platinum band, which not only gave me access to my suite but also to Ushuaïa events next door, and let me settle the bill for drinks and experiences.
The Suite
My suite, an ‘Anything Can Happen Suite’ on the seventh floor, looked out over the main pool, sister hotel BLESS, and the sea, with Formentera on the horizon. It is a sensual, maximalist sort of room, divided into a sleeping area, a lounge and semi-open bathroom and dressing area, with separate W.C. and shower. The terrace runs the full length of the suite includes a hot tub, and it is designed, quite unashamedly, to tempt you to indulge. The centrepiece is a proper bar, with a wine cooler of Moët champagnes and a selection of full-sized premium spirits including Hibiki whisky and Roku gin from the House of Suntory, Belvedere and more.
The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel also encourages you to ‘Do your Don’ts. In the suite there are party masks and swimwear to buy, a selfie ring light for when you at the DJ shows, and a Lelo x Ushuaïa kit by the bed for more intimate fun. It could all be crass and somehow isn’t, partly because the design is genuinely good, with contemporary art etc and partly because the playfulness comes wrapped in luxury. Even the bathroom joins the bold style with Clarins amenities in the hotel’s signature red and a pair of branded flip-flops waiting for the walk down to the pool. In the living area are some beautiful books, a Peter Lindbergh photography retrospective, and a hardback on Ibizan houses and island life, both tasteful additions.
By The Pool
Days here are often centred around the main pool. This is the second season Palladium has collaborated with Roberto Cavalli, whose design dresses the sun-lounger covers, the cabanas and the private pool terraces. From late morning a DJ takes up residence and the pool feels like a daytime party, sunbathers stretched out with the sea beyond. What struck me most was the crowd at the Unexpected Ibiza Hotel, every generation that ever loved iconic dance music gathered in one place, from the children of the eighties alongside new generations, with everyone feeling welcome, everyone perfectly at ease together.
By late afternoon, with the pool DJ still playing, I opened a bottle of bubbles and took a dip in the hot tub on my terrace and let the beats rise from below, before heading out for dinner. More on that later.
It is also, increasingly, a hotel that cares about the morning after as much as the night before. The Golden Harmony Wellness & Spa and the new Body Hub gives the place a proper fitness and wellbeing offering, a nod to an Ibiza that now wants its wellness alongside its gastronomy and its parties.
The Music
The reason most people come, of course, is the music. The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel sits right beside Ushuaïa Ibiza, the island’s largest open-air club, whose summer residencies read like a festival line-up, including Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Martin Garrix and Tomorrowland’s Dimitri Vegas among them. From the right rooms and terraces, you can watch the stage itself, and with your hotel wristband, you can walk straight in. It is a remarkable thing, to take the glass panoramic lift down from your suite into one of the biggest parties in Europe, then ride back up to a nightcap. The hotel promises 24-hour entertainment, with live concerts, festivals, pool parties, fashion shows, and art exhibitions, with hotel guests given complimentary access to events and parties.
There is a gentler way to experience these parties, too. One evening, we took the lift to UP Ibiza Sky Society, the rooftop bar, for cocktails as the sun went down over the Mediterranean, with the open-air Ushuaïa party glittering and pulsating away below.
Dining
The Unexpected Breakfast: The food is a genuine surprise and one of the best things about the hotel. Mornings can go one of two ways. The signature breakfast is a lavish affair running all the way from morning mimosas to caviar. Alternatively, you get to choose a slower, healthier start to your morning on at Antïdote Recharge Station. Here I took a table under the palms, for a Power Avocado on multigrain with grated tomato, chia and good olive oil, with a thick smoothie of mango, pineapple and passion juice. Just want you need the morning after.
Lunch at The Beach: Lunch was looking straight out over the famous sands of Playa d’en Bossa, with sun loungers lined up below white parasols, a DJ playing low and waiters weaving between tables with ice buckets of chilled wine. We had Ushuaïa’s guacamole, served in a lava-stone bowl with mango and pico de gallo, homemade 5J Iberian ham croquettes, and a plate of lightly marinated tuna.
Dinner at Hell’s Kitchen: Dinner one night was at Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen, the first in Europe, and it more than met expectations. The steak tartare was finished at the table, prepared to our liking in an ice-chilled silver bowl, with dijonaise, egg yolk and truffle on warm focaccia. Creamy prawn croquettes arrived crowned with prawn tartare, and a Caesar was given a clever twist, with the parmesan pressed into delicate wafers. The beef Wellington, at over €60 it’s a signature dish, and a faultless one. Perfectly pink and juicy under a proper crust, with piped mashed potato and a red wine demi-glace. The special of carrillada, slow-cooked pig’s cheeks, which was every bit as good. The team were young, dynamic, and very welcoming and the space buzzed with theatre.
Dinner at Minami: the signature Japanese restaurant is within the neighbouring Ushuaïa beach Hotel, where dinner opened with some beautifully presented sashimi. We timed the meal around a Ushuaïa set, slipping out to the DJ and then ordering more sushi to bring back to the suite afterwards. And there is more to come. This season, The Site also adds Coya Beach, Dani García’s Leña and Lobo de Mar, as well as STREETXO.
The Beach and Beyond
The hotel’s setting is a beauty. Playa d’en Bossa is a long, broad, sandy beach, and despite its popularity, there are still quiet corners to be found, best at the beginning or end of the day. Down at one end stand a historic watchtower and a pocket of wild countryside, a reminder of the older island. The location is super convenient too, with Ibiza Town five kilometres away, and the airport so close you can watch the planes drop in over the bay, which makes for a very fast transfer.
The Team
A word on service, as sometimes Ibiza does not always get it right. Yet here at The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel, Palladium has built a super team, no mean feat when you consider the challenges of seasonal recruitment. A special thank you to the genuine team at front desk and as the guest experience desk as well as the restaurant teams. The result is a hotel with a very good atmosphere, open and easy, drawing a happy international mix from across Europe and North America, everyone feeling relaxed and clearly enjoying themselves.
Final Thought
The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel is Palladium Hotel Group at its best. It takes everything thrilling about party-island Ibiza and wraps it in something more sophisticated and grown-up. Here, expect the unexpected and enjoy the freedom to have a brilliant time on your own terms.
