Sant Antoni de Portmany is a town on the western coast of Ibiza. It was called San Antonio Abad in Spanish until 1986, when its Catalan official name was restored. However, most English-speakers still refer to it as San Antonio. It is the second-largest town and municipality in Ibiza; an island long considered by clubbers to be the clubbing capital of the world. It is situated on Sant Antoni Bay on the west coast of the island, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands.
For two thousand years, Sant Antoni was a small fishing village but it began to grow in the late 1950s when many hotels and tourist resorts were built as part of a mass tourism initiative which took place across Spain.
By the 1980s, Sant Antoni had acquired the stigma of being the holiday location of choice for British football hooligans, which lead to a decline in tourism in the area. However, it regained its popularity in the mid 1990s when Ibiza regained its reputation - particularly in Britain - as having the best night clubs and DJs in the world.
Young British clubbers make up the vast majority of visitors to the area, mostly attracted by programmes such as the Ibiza Uncovered series on Sky TV as well as the laid-back Ibiza lifestyle. Ibiza is home to some of the biggest nightclubs in the world including Pacha, Privilege, Space, Amnesia and Eden and Es Paradis - The latter two situated in Sant Antoni.
