Paradores de Turismo already has half of the decor ready, but no one knows when the curtain will rise. While the future Parador de Dalt Vila is still without a date to open its doors, the eight works of art that the public chain has acquired to dress the hotel -paintings, sculptures and graphic works for thousands of euros- await packed, without knowing when they will be able to see the light.
What is striking is not only the delay in the opening, but the silence surrounding it. The artists and galleries involved in the adjudications consulted by La Voz de Ibiza recognize that Paradores has not communicated them any calendar. “They have not provided us with more data,” admitted one of the galleries from which Paradores bought works. The destination is clear -Dalt Vila-, but when remains a mystery even for those who have contributed to embellish the project.
Paradores has already created an “art gallery” for its first establishment in the Balearics, with names like Nuria Mora, Rodrigo Romero, Miler Lagos or David Magán. The pieces, some previously presented at the Estampa 2025 fair, are part of an ambitious artistic program that promises to turn the Parador de Ibiza into a cultural space in itself.
But all this picture – that of the sea of Ibiza as inspiration, the dialogue between heritage and contemporary art, the luminous palette of the Mediterranean – collides head-on with reality: the hotel remains closed, and neither artists nor gallery owners know when their works will be hung.
A project that is going on forever
Artistic uncertainty is but an additional chapter in a history that is already part of local folklore. The Parador de Ibiza, conceived in 2004, began construction in 2008 and was halted in 2012 due to archaeological findings. Resumed in 2019, it has since accumulated unfulfilled promises and evaporating dates: summer 2023, early 2024, then 2025. In May, when it became known that the Parador would not open for the summer, the architects themselves warned of the deterioration of the building because it was finished but unused.
There was speculation that, even after the high season, the Parador de Dalt Vila would be open in 2025. But Paradores then announced that the opening, planned for October, would be postponed, with no exact date yet, due to municipal works on the Camí del Calvari -the main access-, which led to cross accusations with the Ibiza Town Hall.
At the same time, in the last few months, several works of different scales were put out to bid. Among them, some not contemplated in the initial project and others for maintenance.
The different works overlap with another not minor front: the incomplete workforce. The
A month ago, at the World Travel Market in London, the mayor of Ibiza, Rafael Triguero, met with the president of Paradores, Raquel Sanchez. Both announced an agreement to cooperate in getting the Parador de Ibiza up and running as soon as possible, and to collaborate in the joint promotion of the hotel. At that time, Triguero said that “a clear road map had been drawn up for the work to be carried out in the coming weeks and months”, without specifying dates.
Paradores has not responded to numerous inquiries from La Voz de Ibiza as to when the state-owned chain’s hotel will open.
