A first look at Soho House's new outpost in Ibiza

Times

12-07-2025

The first time I set foot on the White Isle was 2003 — granted I was a late adopter, but it was still pretty raw back then. One night I ended up at a party in the north hosted by an infamous British beauty (best I don't name her), whose hippy credentials were unimpeachable. I'd never met her, but someone managed to blag my friends and me on to the guest list.
'Are you sure you've got the right place?' I remember asking the taxi driver, as we veered down a very rough and bumpy dirt track. I'll never forget the scene of lotus-eating hedonists that greeted us as we walked in. There were skinny, spaced-out hippies, straggly tattooed ne'er-do-wells and girls wearing next to nothing save for fairy wings (their faces covered in glittery, voodoo-like make-up), who swirled around the garden overlooking the sea. There was a help-yourself drinks table, snacks (of all varieties, also on the table), a trampoline where two girls bounced around making out (having sex, actually) and a DJ who thumped out old-school electronic music. To gently misappropriate Calvin Harris, it was 'acceptable in the 80s-ish'.
The island today is somewhat different. It's still licentious, but it has become a haven for a brash global oligarchy (the sort that descend on Mykonos, Courchevel, Dubai, Miami et al), where not having a VIP wristband (to clubs such as DC10, Ushuaïa, Hï, Pacha, Amnesia, Cova Santa, UNVRS etc …) signals you're a total loser; where restaurants now impose minimum spends; where concierge services are hired months in advance to secure tables; where private jets line the runway like overfed, indolent birds; and where shamans are flown in from the Amazon by the bored, disaffected rich to perform ayahuasca ceremonies in private houses.
But there is good news. A slow but gradual shift back to it roots is taking place thanks to a collective of ambitious island-dwelling expats and young locals who are fed up with all this fancy nonsense. They are working together to bring the island back to what it originally stood for — a more conscious and gently woo-woo form of living that celebrates nature, mindfulness and creativity. Improbably included in this new movement is Soho House, which this month opens its first Farmhouse outside the UK after years spent searching for the right venue on the island.
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At first sight, and compared with the vast Cotswolds outpost, Soho Farmhouse Ibiza feels not so much underwhelming as different, quieter and less keen to announce itself. It is set in an olive grove on a relatively small nine-acre estate (previously occupied by Cas Gasi, a much loved rural hotel) smack bang in the centre of the island and nestled between the villages of Santa Gertrudis and San Rafael. 'The setting couldn't be more idyllic,' says Andrew Carnie, the CEO of Soho House, who is showing me around. 'There's a tranquillity here. There isn't anywhere else like it. This place has got soul.'
Rather than build something new from scratch, Soho House has opted to upgrade Cas Gasi's existing finca. We walk through the 14 Soho House-style bedrooms (less velvety, more raffia and colourful), two separate villas (available to rent as a whole or per bedroom), the central club area with its lounge and bar, a library, an outdoor games area, indoor and outdoor dining areas, two swimming pools and a kitchen garden. Plus, there's a Soho Health Club (modelled on the one recently opened on the Strand at 180 Soho House) that includes a gym, an outdoor yoga deck, a steam room and ice baths.
Pepe Fernandez, the Farmhouse's general manager, was born on the island and, like many of his friends, moved away when he was young to work abroad. 'We're the first generation coming back,' he says. After attending hospitality school in Switzerland, he ended up working for Keith Richards, Christie Brinkley, Donna Karan and Bruce Willis, as well as various restaurants groups and hotels.
He describes how the first hippies (his parents included, now in their seventies) were the ones who gave Ibiza its original but now lost character — which is why their children have taken it upon themselves to recreate their paradise lost. 'We all went off living around the world, but our responsibility now is to take it back into the right direction. I think we can do something really good here. We want to bring in a new frequency.'
He cites as examples other nearby projects popping up such as La Cicadas (an artists' residency programme with accommodation in a 500-year-old restored farmhouse) and Juntos Farm (a local regenerative farm, restaurant and educational project on a formerly abandoned cattle ranch), whose ambitions align with his own for the Farmhouse and the wider context of the island. 'We will work together,' he says.
Tour over, we sit down to lunch under a pergola overlooking the kitchen gardens, while the chef Antonio Parisi grills fish and meat alongside a selection of salads (all made with fresh produce grown around us). The Swedish owner of the aforementioned regenerative Juntas Farm, Christian Jochnick — who started his career working for an NGO in Stockholm, before moving to London and joining the investment bank Goldman Sachs — is sitting opposite me. I ask him what he thinks this new addition to Ibiza's social scene will bring to the island.
'I've been living here full-time for seven years, and I've seen an incredible rise in interest in regeneration and local farming from both consumers and the hospitality sector. Plus, there's a growing awareness on the island of the importance of mental and physical health, people are spending more time in nature meditating, taking yoga classes and not just thinking about what we eat but how food is grown. That sort of thing was becoming less present, confined to alternative communities in the north, but the tide is turning. The Farmhouse is going to become an important meeting point for like-minded people from all over Ibiza.'
I'm starting to understand the point of the Farmhouse a little better. I'd walked in assuming it would become a social pitstop for the incoming summer crowd, but realise it will have most impact with the locals. 'It makes me excited and happy,' Jochnick continues, 'that the Farmhouse will thrive during the quieter winter season. Ibiza has always attracted dreamers, seekers and rebels, but it's not often people interact across communities here. It's going to build bridges — we will see many new relationships spring up between the media, tech, arts and music worlds.'
I next turn to the internationally renowned Mexican conceptual minimalist artist, Stefan Brüggemann, who is represented by the art world behemoth Hauser & Wirth and who lives (when he's not in Mexico City or London) in a silver-foil-clad brutalist villa nearby. From here he runs an artists' residency programme, which is considered a symbol of the island's burgeoning art scene. He has described in the past how he was inspired to move to the island after reading stories by the German-Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, who visited during the Second World War. 'It read like the romantic story of an island,' he said in an interview last year. 'It's a place you might go if you're heartbroken or trying to figure out your plan in the world … it's a place where I can work, live and invite people to be part of discussions. It's a place to explore ideas.'
I ask how the club will be part of that for him. 'I imagine my days will start quietly — maybe with a swim, some writing or a conversation over breakfast,' he says. 'Nights will be more unpredictable: meeting new people, reconnecting with old friends, having spontaneous dinners or drinks that turn into long, interesting conversations. I think there will be a real sense of discovery, both in the people who gather here and in the events or collaborations that will emerge. I'm looking forward to the serendipity of it all — those moments you don't plan but end up being the most memorable.'
I've ticked off the regenerative farming box, as well as the artistic one, so I turn next to the spectacular character that is the Brit Danny Whittle. A no-nonsense northerner who joined the Royal Navy on leaving school, and then fell into the world of electronic music and events. He moved to Ibiza 25 years ago — he is married to a local — to became the musical director and brand manager of first Pacha and now Club Chinois. I also learn he has his own island walking group named Whittle's Wanderers and founded IMS Ibiza (International Music Summit) with his DJ mates Pete Tong and Ben Turner. If anyone can explain what the Farmhouse will mean for Ibiza, it's him.
'There are some restaurants we go to all year round,' Whittle says, 'but it's not really a unified scene where there's one place you meet like-minded people. There's nowhere like Soho House, which promotes health and farm food. People have been waiting for this. I have always been about hedonism, but now the two can come together. You can detox and retox.' He should write a song about that.
I realise in retrospect I went in with the wrong mindset, imagining something more in tune with the new Ibiza — but the Farmhouse is, of course, not trying to lure the global oligarchy. Instead it's trying to pivot away from what the island has become and return it, not to how it was exactly, but to how it should be. It doesn't mean you can't go to DC10 and the rest, but you can also chill out.
'It's going to be very interesting to see what comes out of it,' Pepe says, as we say goodbye. He looks around the property for a moment lost in thought. He then laughs and quotes something Picasso once said: 'Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.' You should make that the house's motto, I tell him.
Prices start at £730 a night for a small room, two-room villas cost £4,255 a night, sohohouse.com
Why go? The first resort on the tiny Cycladic island of Folegandros, this is remote and rustic Greece free from the influencer crowd. The Australian founders have plied the place with luxury — from the local and slow menu designed by Greece's first chef to receive a Michelin star, to the infinity pools that come with each of the 25 suites and two villas.
Need to know Take advantage of the boat charters to Polyaigos or Milos, where volcanic cliffs meet crystal-clear water. On land, electric bikes and Fiat 500s offer access to churches and footpaths, and there are plenty of dramatic hikes.
From £520 a night, B&B, gundari.com
Why go? The first interiors-architecture project of the Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino is cinematic in every sense. Housed in a 16th-century palazzo near the Trevi Fountain, it feels more like a museum than a hotel, with 17th-century frescoes on ceilings, marble busts and Murano chandeliers.
Need to know Ask for a room overlooking the lush courtyard, where sun-drenched afternoons can be spent people watching with an aperitivo. Later into the night you'll want to check out the bar, which is as sexy as it is theatrical. On the menu? Myth-inspired cocktails that go by the name of Melopomene and Calliope.
From £520, B&B, palazzotalia.com
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Need to know Pack your swimmers! In the subterranean spa there's a circuit of thermal pools, while up on the hillside overlooking the old town there's a lap pool surrounded by jasmine and fig trees.
Details From £330, room only, hotelducouvent.com