What Makes Ibiza the Perfect Wellness Destination?

What Makes Ibiza the Perfect Wellness Destination?

While Ibiza is best known for its summer parties, this Balearic island is beginning to trade in sundowners for self care. With fitness camps, health-centric dining and retreats to reset mind and body, the White Isle is set to be the capital of wellness.



Ibiza
is the ultimate party destination come summer, when
headline DJs flock to the White Isle and in-demand club nights draw
revellers from around the world. Yet music enthusiasts and thrill
seekers aren’t the only ones who make up the island’s eight million
annual visitors.

As the world’s attention has turned towards health and self
care, so too has Ibiza’s wellness scene blossomed. Offering boot
camps and vegan dining, yoga
retreats
and holistic therapies, the home of hedonism has
polished its halo.


But what makes Ibiza the right place to reset mind and body?
Kate Whale, founder of The Body Camp, one of the
best-respected fitness
retreats
on the island, puts it down to the people who live
here year-round. “Ibiza attracts the most incredible teachers and
coaches,” she says. “It’s a very openly spiritual place.”

It was an unexpected realisation for Whale when she first
arrived four years ago. Envisioning an all-encompassing “mind and
body” approach for The Body Camp, she was sceptical of Ibiza’s
relevance.

“It wasn’t until I got here that I could appreciate how
open-minded the people are,” she says. “I met a lot of alternative
therapists and they seemed so happy. Their slower pace of life
meant they were different to anyone I’d come across in the city or
on the military-style boot camps that I’d run before.”


Irish-born therapist Trish Whelan proves Whale’s point. A local
kundalini yoga instructor, reiki practitioner and retreat leader,
she first relocated from London
in 2012, leaving behind a successful career in the music industry.
Her initial plan was to stay for six months, but seven years on she
still runs retreats from her island home.

“The need for people to retreat is so strong now. I see a lot of
burnout. We are constantly ‘on’ – modern living itself is
exhausting,” she says. “The world has changed dramatically over the
past few years and Ibiza has changed in response to that. People
come here to heal, recharge and to plug back into nature.”

It’s often those from high-powered careers that both Whelan and
Whale see joining their retreats. The Body Camp welcomes mostly
people in their thirties – perhaps the same people who were here
raving throughout the early noughties? – ready to immerse
themselves in something completely different but equally
endorphin-spiking.


“Wellness is a big thing for this demographic,” says Whale.
“Experiences like these have made it something to be proud of. It’s
cool to be healthy.”

On a more spiritual level, Whelan speaks of the energy on the
island and its magnetic pull drawing people back time and time
again. “There’s a pull that’s unquestionable but no one knows
exactly what it is. The energy is so powerful and so potent.
There’s magic in the air.”

If legend is to be believed, the “pull” is down to Es Vedrà, the
limestone rock towering some 700ft above sea level off the south
east of the mainland. Said to be the third most magnetic place on
earth after the North Pole and the Bermuda Triangle, it’s
surrounded by ancient myth.


Coincidence or not, the appeal of Ibiza’s wellness offering is
undeniably drawing people in. For those interested in healthy
eating, Instagram hotspots such as Passion
Café
and Project Social offer trustworthy vegan-friendly
options but for something more authentic (and a little less cliché)
there’s also a thriving farm-to-fork scene to be discovered.

Farmstead La Granja is situated in the island’s centre
– a greener and more luscious area than the coast. Menus of
homegrown and local ingredients are served around communal tables
and hotel guests are encouraged to forage for their own
ingredients. A completely different experience to the high-energy
fitness camps and mindfulness classes on offer, it’s a less
structured, culinary-focused escape offering open workshops and
community projects designed to educate and give back to the
earth.

Whether you’re after fitness-focused overhaul or a peaceful
hillside escape, this small but intriguing island is one of the
best-equipped places to find it. Fast forward five years and such
authentic, life-changing health and wellness experiences might just
precede Ibiza’s party reputation.

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