This summer, however, those cases of self-inflicted poor health look set to fall, as well-heeled visitors to the White Isle seek to improve their mental and physical well-being.
“The old image of Ibiza is one of clubbing and hedonism,” says Rebecca Tucker of White Calm Retreats. Yet Tucker has seen this lifestyle choice transforming in recent times, both among wealthy second-home owners – those Ibiza veterans keen to preserve their health – and a newer crowd. “I have been witnessing a gradual shift in attitude among the younger generation,” she says, ” who are adopting a more health-conscious way of living than ever before, as they accumulate the anxieties of living in a society that’s ‘always-on’.”
White Calm’s Villa Can Can, high above the central northern village of San Lorenzo, is about as far removed from the busy streets and high-rise apartments of Ibiza’s San Antonio resort as you can imagine.
Rebecca Tucker and her team of experts, who cover everything from nutrition and yoga to Pilates, lifestyle assessment and stress management, deliver all the high-end comforts one might expect from a five-star wellness retreat offering, including great poolside views, Wi-Fi and wireless audio systems. However, White Calm sets itself apart in Ibiza’s wellness community by pairing hard, medical insight with an easy-going atmosphere. Hence the inclusion of DNA profiling, a service that commences three weeks prior to you going on retreat, and which helps determine metabolism and levels of exposure to daily stress, to ensure that a personalised regime can be put in place and maintained post-retreat.
The White Calm team won’t be blinded by science, though, when it comes to Ibiza’s own healing qualities. “Ibiza does have a special quality that can be attributed to its inimitably laid-back atmosphere, a kind of contagious free spirit that seeps through from the locals – not forgetting the island’s natural, rustic beauty, including some quite isolated and unspoilt spots away from the partying”, she says, ” which make it an ideal location for a total ‘switch-off’ retreat. That’s quite unusual in Europe.”
Elsewhere, the island offers options that could allow for loved ones – who may wish to holiday without undertaking such a rigorous health regime – to come and join you. One such is 7Pines Resort Ibiza, a luxurious wellness resort that’s set to open in the summer, and which encourages guests to choose their own spa journey, through the help of services inspired by local traditions and treatments.