The villa does it for us every time. I'm not one for pubs or bars at home (too loud and smoky for my liking) and would not want to do bars on vacation. We get plenty of mixing with the locals at restaurants and the inevitable visits to Home Depot etc etc that comes with owning a villa. We also do try and do different things when we go to experience the local culture - you get to see a lot more doing this than you will from the inside of a bar any day in my books.

What's good for one person is not good for another and obviously people like to do things in different ways.