Leaving partner and child at home, Lotte Jeffs checks into Cala San Miguel Ibiza Resort for a few days of 'me time', and discovers a version of herself that sometimes gets lost between work deadlines and parenting.

There’s a particular kind of peace that comes from not having to negotiate dinner plans. No checking if the restaurant serves plain pasta. No booking a 6pm table. No remembering to charge the iPad. Just me, a novel, and a buffet of options – culinary and otherwise.

In celebration of my first child-free evening in Ibiza, I slipped into an all-white outfit (sure, it’s a cliché, but one I’m happy to indulge) and wandered down to La Savina, the laid-back, poolside restaurant, where cocktails flow freely and the menu reads like a greatest hits of Mediterranean comfort food.

This was a holiday without compromise. No partner. No child. No schedule. Just me, a suitcase of white linen, and a fantasy of how I wanted to feel: relaxed, revitalised… maybe even a little smug.

I’d booked Cala San Miguel Ibiza Resort, a five-star, adults-only property on the island’s quieter northern coast. Part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, it’s a proper resort with nearly 300 rooms, but cleverly designed to feel like a cluster of low-key hideaways rather than a cruise ship parked on a cliff.

The resort is split between two buildings with their own pools and restaurants, connected by sun-dappled walkways that meander through lush foliage and terracotta walls. There are plenty of spaces to be alone which is helpful if, like me,  you’re in main character mode.

I was staying in the Club side of the hotel, which comes with a few welcome extras: a premium check-in, access to a private restaurant for breakfast (Na Joanetta, quieter and more refined than the rooftop buffet), and some Club suites that even come with private plunge pools and outdoor showers. My room had a balcony instead, but with two resort pools, a third at the Beach House, and the sea on my doorstep, I didn’t feel shortchanged.

Design-wise, the hotel nails that tricky brief: resort scale, boutique feel. The palette is all Ibizan neutrals, textured linens, sandy ceramics, natural woods – making the whole property feel like it’s been filtered through Valencia before you even take a photo.

Up on the top floor of the main building is a light-filled fitness studio with sea-facing bikes and treadmills, a rack of dumbbells, and a breeze that drifts in through glass doors. There’s also an outdoor fitness area. Why not take a sunset asana class and consider becoming a yoga instructor and never leaving Ibiza (just me?)

"Cala San Miguel is proof that a resort can be big but still feel like a secret."

If the main resort is calm and considered, the Beach House is its barefoot-luxe younger sibling. A short stroll down the slope, it’s part restaurant, part pool club and all-day destination. It opens at 11am and glides through the day in a haze of sunshine, cocktails and Balearic DJ sets. By golden hour, it’s Ibiza at its best: sandy feet, salt-stiff hair, excellent seafood.

The design is clean and coastal. The menu leans local: black rice with cuttlefish and aioli, red prawn omelettes, seasonal tomato salads, and the kind of lobster dish people order without thinking about the price.

Cabana daybeds and loungers are available (there’s a charge if you aren’t in a Club room and also a minimum spend for all guests), and it’s open to day visitors too, adding a light buzz of energy to the scene without feeling overrun. I spent hours there, grazing, reading, dozing, sipping, swimming. A kind of five-a-day for the soul!

Beyond lounging, the resort offers free paddleboarding, snorkelling, hiking and art workshops. I took the ten-minute stroll around the bay to a more secluded cove, an easy walk, rewarded by clear water and not a single inflatable unicorn in sight.

On my final night, I headed to the rooftop for cocktails and live music followed by a dinner at Paseo that felt like a celebration for one: grilled seafood, endless vegetables, rodizio grill-style mains, and enough Sangria to toast the me that I was becoming after a few days alone in the sunshine.

Travelling solo isn’t for everyone. You have to like your own company, or at least be curious about it. But Cala San Miguel makes it easy. It’s calm, unfussy, and delightfully adult. No one’s trying to impress anyone. The staff are warm but not overbearing. The playlists are always good.

By the time I checked out, I felt rebalanced. Like I’d remembered a version of myself that sometimes gets lost between work deadlines and parenting.

Cala San Miguel is proof that a resort can be big but still feel like a secret. Go for the Beach House, the rooftop yoga, the solo swims at sunrise. Stay because there aren’t many places that let you be completely alone, without ever feeling lonely.

A stay at Cala San Miguel Ibiza Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton starts from £330 in the Club Accessible Rooms on a bed and breakfast basis.