ME Ibiza

ME Ibiza

Set on a plot at S'Argamassa, on the stretch of coast between Cala Pada and Cala Martina on the east side of the island, twenty minutes and twenty-five kilometres from Ibiza airport, ME Ibiza occupies a four-storey, T-shaped concrete and glass block that has stood on this ground since the 1960s, its footprint sharing land with a Roman aqueduct now catalogued as a Site of Cultural Interest. The hotel operated for decades as a straightforward four-star property before Meliá Hotels International, the group Gabriel Escárrer founded in Palma de Mallorca in 1956, commissioned Álvaro Sans of Álvaro Sans Arquitectura Hotelera to rebuild it into a five-star ME by Meliá address, reopening under the ME name in 2014 with 205 rooms and suites arranged around a central garden and pool, the whole complex now run day-to-day under Meliá's lifestyle division rather than by a single resident family. The renovation kept the T-shaped structure but reworked its skin, adding a glazed rooftop and balcony system engineered to open the building toward the sea rather than close it off, so upper-floor rooms and the Radio Rooftop bar both look straight down the Santa Eulalia bay. Food runs across three kitchens: Origens, which does a set, sharing-style tasting menu built on local, seasonal Ibizan produce; Bianco Mare, an Italian room facing the garden; and Salt & Sea, which leans toward mainland Spanish and Mediterranean plates by the main pool. That main pool, ground floor and social, runs daytime DJ sets and Bali beds; a separate adults-only rooftop pool and plunge pools sit above it; a children's pool is kept apart from both. The Thai Room Spa covers massage, sauna and steam, and the hotel keeps its own direct gate onto S'Argamassa beach, a short walk from Nikki Beach Ibiza. This is a resort built for volume and mood rather than quiet, the kind of hotel where the pool functions as the day's main event and the DJ booking matters as much as the restaurant list. It suits people who want the scale and service level of a large five-star property (butler-style Aura service, private pools in the higher suite categories, a proper spa) without giving up the island's daytime social choreography, and it draws a mixed crowd of couples, groups and, given the nearby Ibiza Congress Centre, a fair amount of corporate business through the week. Families are accommodated with a dedicated pool, but the adults-only rooftop and the daytime music at the main pool tell you which guest the hotel is actually built around. You should not come if you want a small, considered interior or the sense of staying somewhere singular and historic; this is a rebuilt 1960s block run at hotel group scale, not a finca with four rooms and a story. You should not come if a clean, uncluttered stretch of sand in front of your room matters more than convenience; the beach directly below the hotel is workable rather than pristine, and better sand is a short walk off. You should come for the combination of resort infrastructure, three distinct kitchens, a spa that's actually used, and a location on the calmer east coast that still puts Ibiza Town and the airport within twenty minutes. The short version: A 205-room rebuilt lifestyle resort on S'Argamassa beach near Santa Eulalia, reopened in 2014 by Álvaro Sans for Meliá's ME brand, built around a central pool, three restaurants, and an adults-only rooftop.