The most stylishly mellow toes-in-the-sand beach clubs to spend your summer in 2022
A lo-fi bolthole just above a caramel-coloured beach in a small palm-fringed cove just off Ahangama's main road.
Photo: Chris Schalkx
The owners, free-spirited French-Indian couple Lana and Shayan Munshi, who swapped their lives in NYC’s fashion industry for a slower pace, are hands-on hosts.
From the thatched-roof shack dotted with sisal rugs and low-slung tables there are views of the traditional stilt fishermen waiting for their catch at sunset, while locally woven bamboo lanterns bobble in the salty breeze.
Caparica beach has remained something of a secret. Until now.
Parisian-run Yamba, which means ‘to begin’ in Malawi’s tribal tongue, sparked a shift when it opened in summer 2020, providing an unofficial members’ club for the city’s eclectic tribe of residents to escape the often over-run city.
While it’s not the first beach club to shake up Caparica’s sleepy scene, it’s by far the most fun.
Croatia's coastline blips with bespoke festivals these days, like Ibiza in the golden years
A modernist-white promenade curves away from the yacht-jumbled harbour and around to this chiselled lido, planted with thyme, rosemary and smart navy-blue umbrellas, where staff in jaunty straw trilbies mix mango Caiprinhas and deliver pretty jars layered with octopus, minty cous-cous and capers.
As night falls, DJs twiddle bubbling electronica and crunchy beats, and you can gaze across to the sea-sieged, Game of Thrones-y old town and spire of St Euphemia, lit up like a gin palace across the water.
With its sand floor, shaggy palm canopy and upbeat, hip-shaking playlist, this place on the ice-white Playa de Ses Illetes has that borderline-Brazilian vibe nailed.
It's tucked into a sheltered nook behind dunes on the north side of the island, where pretty pines shade the colour-splashed tables and driftwood cocktail bar.
But it really comes into its own at night, when its Mojito-fuelled scene is far wilder than anything else in these parts.
It's secluded enough for supermodels and off-duty tech moguls to feast in peace on sushi
La Susana, the chic restaurant and bar attached to Bahia Vik, Uruguay's latest beach retreat, sits in sand dunes just a 10-minute stroll along the seafront from the hippy honeypot of José Ignacio, and one of the few places in South America where it's possible to watch the sun sink into the Atlantic, toes in the sand.
Where you want to be to watch the sun set over the palm trees and posers.
The crowd is bronzed and beautiful, and the DJ keeps the tempo just right. During the day it has the feel of a beach bar on the sand with wooden decking, aqua-coloured umbrellas and planters of tall desert grasses.
After dark it becomes more of a party scene, especially at the weekends
Everyone's got a brand-new excuse to wear white crochet.
Part of The Reef hotel, it's set on Merrywing Bay to the west of the island, which can only be reached by boat.
Kick back on one of the oversized wicker sofas out front with something tropical in hand - it's the kind of place where a bright-blue cocktail will never look tacky.
Cocomaya has poise and grace.
It's a pretty place with plenty of polished concrete, stone and natural wood, glass and mirrors, and it sits on a beautiful stretch of sand with views of nearby Camanoe, Scrub and Dog islands.
Long lunches routinely slide into bacchanalian parties with Leonardo di Caprio holding court.
Seafood is sourced from a boat that works almost exclusively for the club, and there's a beef bar serving the best cuts of Wagyu and kobe.