Clubbing together

FOR my friend Shaun's 40th birthday, he thought his partner Rebecca was going to take him to Ibiza for a quiet holiday.

What he didn't know was that 26 of his friends and family were secretly planning to join him. It was part holiday, part biggest surprise of his life. While I wouldn't have missed out on the trip for any thing, I wished that Rebecca hadn't chosen Ibiza. I've seen the TV programmes, and I thought that it would have been nice if we could have gone somewhere without the as-seen-on-TV drunken holiday reps, foam par ties and never-ending crowds.

What could be worse than a week in Ibiza, I thought? Two weeks. Because my boyfriend Grant, 34, insisted on staying on another week after everyone else had left. Still, friends are important. I booked my ticket and headed to the airport.

Under three hours flying time from the UK, Ibiza is near Majorca and Menorca. My first surprise was our base, Santa . It might be the third largest town on the island but I fell in love with it straight away - from the big marina full of ritzy sailing boats and yachts to the sandy beach. There were also lots of restaurants and pubs, which are by the marina and just off the town square. And I was in shoe heaven - Santa has about 50 shoe shops!

Grant and I stayed at four-star Sol Ibiza hotel, located on a clifftop with amazing views over the sea, and - which was perfect for us - it's aimed at couples instead of families. With hardly any kids running around it had a very relaxing and tranquil atmosphere. The hotel had breakfast and dinner buffet with a huge choice of dishes, an indoor and outdoor pool, sauna, steam room, piano bar, sun terrace with snack bar, whirlpool bath and gym. They also had entertainment every night (although I'm not sure whether Grant has yet to forgive me for forcing him to sit through a flamenco performance one evening).

Still, on the Saturday night we were all to meet at a bar called Mirage in the marina to ambush the birthday boy Shaun with Rebecca and six of their friends who had flown out to Ibiza that day. They had rented an eight-bed villa called Can Lupi for pounds 850 through Daltons Weekly. When we spotted the "villa people" arriving at the Mirage, the rest of us, including Shaun's parents, sister, friends and work colleagues, all stood up and sang Happy Bir thday.

Just seeing the expression on Shaun's face made the whole trip worth it! After a few drinks in Mirage the group walked up to a restaurant called La Rambla, near the market, where we had a wonderful meal of typical Iberian food, including paella. And despite being a group of 26 people, the service was really good.

Clubbing on Ibiza is as good as anything the UK has to offer, and at the end of September all the clubs throw closing parties when they shut for the season. Despite our advanced age, half the group decided this was an opportunity we couldn't miss out on.

We had booked VIP tickets to Pacha closing night at the Renaissance night club in Ibiza Town.

Ibiza Town is only a 20-minute taxi ride from St , which costs around 20 euros (pounds 13). For our big night, we had booked VIP tickets through Club Tix. Each ticket cost 125 euros a person (pounds 84), but for that we got priority entrance without queuing, tables and chairs in the raised area by the main dance floor, table service all night, with free drinks until we reached our quota of 125 euros each. And there was an unexpected hippy vibe because once inside, the Ibiza Angels were massaging clubbers' shoulders.

The club didn't open until midnight and we got there at 1am. We were a group of 11 people, aged 30 to 40, and I think most of us thought we'd be heading home around 3 or 4am.

But how wrong we were. The last of us danced out of there at 7am. The atmosphere was amazing. And my late night meant I could head straight for the breakfast buffet at my hotel.

While I regained my strength on a sunlounger - it was 30C in late summer - Grant and a few others went scuba diving, despite never having tried it before.

They were picked up at the hotel and taken to a bay near Cala. The dive was about 45 minutes with instruction first.

The diving firm Rumbo Azul is in Cala - a beginners dive and pics cost 99 euros (pounds 66). Grant said it was mind-blowing.

The Hippy Market is on Wednesdays from May to October in nearby Es Cana.

It's full of items typical to Ibiza - clothes, souvenirs and leather products, along with lots of "new age" types entertaining with drums and dance. It's great fun and we were glad we'd got there early - it's packed later on.

But Aguamar, a water park in Playa d'en Bossa, was a disappointment - small and not good value at pounds 12 an adult to get in. Unlike the rest of the food we had in Ibiza, refreshments here were poor.

Grant and I were enjoying ourselves so much, I was really pleased he'd arranged to stay an extra week. Although the island is small and you can easily get round it by bus, we rented a car and went exploring, along hairpin bends, to villages and coves (we hired the car through Avis at - 126 euros (pounds 84) and 12 euros (pounds 8) a day insurance).

One of the places we drove to was St Antonio, the town I'd known from the club reps TV show. Loud and lairy, it doesn't do Ibiza justice and wasn't anything like the rest of the island - we didn't stay long. We liked Ibiza Town, especially the narrow cobbled streets and whitewashed houses. But St proved to be the ideal base - with some of the best beaches on the island. There's also a boat link from St to Ibiza Town, Cala , Es Cana and Formentera which is an idyllic small island with a 4km-long beach.

All I can say is, when I'm 40, I know exactly where I want my surprise birthday party to be.

What's the deal?

DIRECT Holidays have seven resorts in Ibiza with a choice of accommodation, from 3-star self-catering apartments to 4-star hotels.

ONE week's accommodation for two adults sharing a twin room half- board at the 4-star Hotel Sol Ibiza in Santa costs from pounds 355pp. A two-week stay costs from pounds 511pp.

RETURN flights from UK airports, including Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester, & Stansted.