Planning for an Ibiza hen do, I really didn’t know what to expect. Naturally there were pangs of anxiety that plagued me, as my idea of Ibiza was somewhere that honestly had never appealed! June rolled around and before I knew it I was on a Ryan Air flight sat next to two boys on a stag do (shout out to Dean & Alex), chatting about what we all had planned for the weekend to come.

Landing in Ibiza fourteen of us took a short mini bus ride to San Antonio Bay, and as we approached the hotel a sea of millennial pink flooded my eyes! We had been booked into the Paradiso Ibiza Art Hotel – a brand new concept hotel, in fact it was so new that at the time of us booking it hadn’t actually been built yet! A tribute to Art-Deco style, the hotel is filled with brightly coloured 70s furniture, modern pop art, and hosts a pink swimming pool and more cacti than you could ever ask for. Paradiso describes their accommodation as an ‘unforgettable experience’, and judging at first glance, I knew they’d be right. I had never stayed somewhere as amazing as Paradiso, and all I could think about is how this place was going to do wonders for the ‘gram! While checking in we noticed an unusual feature in the lobby – a room situated a few metres from the main door, whose walls are completely made of glass. Named the ‘Zero Suite Project’, Paradiso say they want to offer an artistic experience ‘in which you are the protagonist.’ Apparently it is free to stay in the suite, which to me would be the only appeal, but I’m sure many people would be up for it, coming back from a messy night!

Every floor of the hotel was themed with a colour, and we were based on the yellow floor. Entering our suite we were absolutely gobsmacked at how beautiful it was! It seriously looked like the set of a film, with fluro lighting, a pink kitchen, crazy furniture and beautiful art work. We had a balcony overlooking the pool area, and a stunning view of the sea in the distance.

The outside area was full of luxurious day beds surrounding the pink pool, and a circular bar was the backdrop of choice for many blogger-types snapping pics. I’m sure I’ll see the familiar pink setting on numerous Instagram pages in the near future! I thought location wise the hotel was in a great place, we had a supermarket literally over the road (so we could save money on food, and buy gallons of bottled water), and at night there were quieter bars and restaurants that we explored. A firm favourite was a restaurant called ‘LOL’ where we were basically the only people dining, which meant no queue at the bar, and generous drinks measures.

During our trip, we had a lovely meal at Café Del Mar – a hot spot for watching the famous Ibiza sunset. Our meal was €50 minimum spend, and with the mains surprisingly cheap (around €15), we ended up spending most of the €50 on drinks – although sadly I was rather hungover and stuck to virgin mojitos! By 9pm the beach parallel to us was buzzing with people settling into place to view the sun going down, and as the sun set to chill out music being played by the local bars, it was a bit of a pinch me moment. Everyone there cheered and the bride even had a hilarious teary moment, proclaiming ‘it’s so beautiful!’ As the evening rolled on the bars got livelier with Pete Tong playing a set at Café Mambo next door.

A real highlight of the trip was spending the day at the lavish Ocean Beach Club. Situated along the beautiful S’Arenal waterfront, OBC is an all day clubbing experience, with different DJ sets and performers varying on the event going on. We attended ‘Soul heaven’ on the Saturday, but there are many other events to experience such as hedkandi and Kisstory. We paid €75 each and that got us a massive seating area, and €1000 worth of alcohol. The alcohol was a really good mix of cocktails, wine and vodka, and was brought to us staggered throughout the day (so there was no panicked rush to grab drinks). Side note I also drunkenly ordered the BEST nachos ever, which kept me going in the afternoon! As it got darker more people flocked to the dance floor, the bride and her sisters ended up jumping into the pool fully dressed and everyone was just super happy and excited to be there. It was probably my favourite part of the holiday, including the mass getting ready sesh before hand, where we covered ourselves with glitter. Although days later I was still finding the stuff!

Heading home I was looking forward to having a cup of tea and a sleep in my own bed, but Ibiza really did surprise me and I’m so happy I went. We definitely avoided the ‘Malia strip’ side to the Island, as well as all the drunken 18 year olds. Big thanks to all the lovely girls I met, the absolutely amazing planning of the Maid of Honour, and of course to my main girl V – who was definitely the most beaut bride-to-be out there!