Four of the best beach clubs

Sun, sea and Tuba in Marseille

Grégory Gassa and Fabrice Denizot, both Marseille-born and friends since childhood, had long shared a dream of a seaside getaway – a simple fisherman’s cottage immersed along the still slightly wild coastline around their hometown. The semi-decrepit diving club they came upon a few years ago in the village of Les Goudes, several miles south of Marseille, wasn’t quite that cottage but had the potential to become the escape they’d envisioned: rustic, respectful of the environment, with a bit of great food, a lot of great scenery and some cool people. Tuba Club has become a hot-ticket destination with the fashion and creative sets since opening quietly in summer 2020.

While it technically qualifies as a hotel – there are just five rooms plus three villa suites – the scene revolves around the restaurant and wide terrace, where revellers lounge, frolic in the sea, and nosh on crudo at Bikini, the waterside bar-restaurant. Architect Marion Mailaender pared the building back to its original bones, then channelled the dive club’s ’80s heyday, filling both the indoor and outdoor spaces with simple raw wood, limewashed stone and a sunny palette of ochre, blue and yellow. It’s low-key and high-chic south of France perfection.

A new beach baby on Antiparos

When Athanasia Comninos opened The Rooster on Antiparos, her low-slung, lo-fi mini-resort in 2021, it was to near-instant acclaim. She’s recently taken on a second venture: a remake of the beloved Beach House Antiparos on Apantima Cove, across the island from The Rooster. Its eight rooms – whitewashed walls, poured-concrete floors, simple blue paint on the joinery – have been upgraded with a mix of antique and contemporary furniture, but Comninos has also brought the Rooster magic to the beach where guests are welcome through to the evening.

There are sun loungers, shady seating areas, a new beachside canteen and calm, very swimmable waters. Should you wish to stick around for dinner, the restaurant is also a day-to-night affair overseen by chef Pericles Koskinas.

Fusion fabulousness on Montenegro’s Kotor Bay

One&Only made its Montenegro debut three years ago, with a vast, gleaming resort in Portonovi on the Bay of Kotor – one wing of which is given over to a very deluxe outpost of Swiss wellness clinic Chenot Espace. At the other end of the resort (both literally and figuratively) is Tapasake, its beach club-cum-dining destination, where non-hotel guests are very welcome (though it’s a good idea to book ahead in summer), and where detox sits pretty far down the menu. Loungers, big umbrellas and a bale bed or two sit on the sand and across the lawn in front of the terraced pool. The curated playlist gives way to a DJ as evening arrives.

Tapasake is all about fusion, whether of delectable Peruvian and Japanese flavours from the very capable kitchen, or of tradition and adventure on the drinks menu (there are some excellent Montenegrin wines along with sake flights and a G&T bar). At sunset, the roof terrace is the prime spot for enjoying it all.

Scorpios crosses the Aegean to Bodrum

Mykonos has come to Bodrum. Scorpios, the Greek island destination billing itself as the “most famous beach club in the world”, was conceived back in 2015 as the cultured and creative person’s go-to – a modern-day agora for connection, performance and celebration as much as for a swim or a lie in the sun.

The club recently unfurled an ambitious and multi-continental plan of expansion: first up is this plum, wooded seaside location in the Turkish Riviera’s best-known town. Here, Scorpios isn’t just a beach club. There are two full restaurants, a Ritual Space (as in Mykonos) for gatherings, day retreats, treatments, performances, and – marking the club’s maiden foray into hospitality – 12 suites, each with its own private pool and large terrace.