C/ San Carlos 7, Dalt Vila, Ibiza 07800, Spain
Website: anfora-disco.com
Open May-October
Anfora has been there forever (well longer than anyone will admit to), and during the holiday season it still manages to be the only full-time 'GAY' club in Ibiza.
Even amongst the hardened clubbing fraternity, Anfora is the one club that the gay tourist is likely to visit more than once during a holiday. Compared to the rest of the island's clubbing life, Anfora is practically the clubbing equivalent of a welcome cup of cocoa.
It is not the island's largest club, but provides a great night out in a gay environment. Straights, visiting with gay friends, are tolerated (as long as you can't tell). Girls are not popular in the dark room, and will be very quickly barred from the club.
With a club full of holidaying queens, demented for a good chorus to chant along to, it wouldn't take much to put some life into the place. The music can be great on your first night (relying on the current mainline club sounds), then it becomes repetitive and predictable (predictable to the minute), every night, seven nights a week (the staff set their watches by it).
You will rarely hear any of the dozens of Anfora anthems amassed over the past twelve years. The new owners/management appear to be attempting to make a difference, with a new 70s/80s night. "DISCO INFERNO", putting some camp nonsense into Thursdays.
That said, Anfora is just about the friendliest club, in a unique setting in the middle of the Ibiza gay scene. It manages realistic drink prices for a night club in Ibiza (prices that put the bars to shame), it is genuinely gay, and the toilets are generally spotless.
If you have not been there before, it can be difficult to find Anfora.
Simple directions are either:
Enter Dalt Vila via the Portal de las Tablas (the main entrance at the top of the big ramp by the old market square); walk through the arched courtyard (this is very Play School) into the main square (Plaça de Vila); double back on yourself and go up the cobbled roadway until you reach El Portalón restaurant; turn directly right just before the restaurant, and walk up the fabulously spaced steps (look for the "Anfora" sign on the wall above your head).
Or, if you are outside Ibiza Town, or just have no shame, take a taxi!
The entrance to the club is directly at the top of the stairs, (and yes, it does look like the front door of a typical Dalt Vila house).
The dance floor is built in a cave; the four bars are split over two levels; there are loads of nooks and crannies; and two staircases (for making a quick exit from D.O.A. trade); there's a stage where the Samsara crew do a show on Sunday (in high season, the local drag performers do an extra show on Wednesdays); a "bird room" with a rather undecided aviary; pop and porn videos; a dark room...
The club can be quiet out of season before 1:30am, but still gather a reasonable to good crowd most nights.
In mid and high season it gets totally packed (the entry ticket gets you a drink, and entry is cheaper before 1:00am).
Since the megaclubs started promoting more gay friendly parties in recent years, Anfora does tend to be passed over, or used as a meeting place before setting off for a 'real night out', but since the new management took over in 2001 the club has started getting more adventurous with its music and promotion.
In 2003, expect some major changes to the layout of the venue, as the authorities finally noticed that it was no longer a one-bar wonder, and requested some sweeping structural improvements over the winter. And though I'm not there as much these days, it's still possibly the venue I've spent more hours in in my entire clubbing life...
Marti
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