Get into the Ibiza groove: Why British families are heading to the White Isle
This is where the beautiful people go to party. The Spanish Balearic island of Ibiza was colonised by hippies in the Sixties but it has spent the past 20 years trading on its pulsating club scene and celebrity DJs, attracting a wealthy crowd and rivalling St Tropez for out-and-out glamour.
This summer's visitor numbers were 25 per cent up on those recorded in 2009 – and new levels of excess were on display, too. Wealthy visitors, many of them Russians, lined up to pay £21,800 for a week's villa hire and dropped £3,000 for a prime table at the nightclub Pacha.
But away from the sleek yachts and gleaming Ferraris, there is another side to the island. With its end-of-season parties over, the pace slows, the beaches clear and its rural beauty emerges.
Ibiza's property prices are the most buoyant in Spain. Figures from the estate agent Engel & Volkers show that prime seafront properties are selling strongest, registering a 10 per cent increase since January 2010, and that Britons account for 40 per cent of buyers.