Summer is almost here – properly here – and suddenly the question returns with urgency: where does one actually summer now? Not just where to go, but where to be seen, where to go off the grid and where to spend long afternoons that blur into evenings with salt in your hair and nowhere else to be.
Across the Mediterranean and beyond, a new wave of pool and beach concepts are reshaping luxury holidays (and making it rather easy for us to get planning). They have evolved from the loud party destinations and fixed seasonal hotspots into something more fluid – places where design, food, art and landscape are now inseparable from the experience itself.
Here are the beach and pool clubs that should be added to your list this summer (and ticked off as soon as possible).
Lily of the Valley Beach Experience, St Tropez
St Tropez has always existed in two moods at once – the polished glamour everyone imagines, and the slower, more elemental version hidden just beyond it. At Lily of the Valley, perched above the Plage de Gigaro, that contrast is refined into something far more fabulous: a Philippe Starck-designed retreat where wellbeing is not an aesthetic layer, but the organising principle of the entire landscape.
Set within the protected Cap Lardier nature reserve, the hotel feels less placed than folded into the terrain. Pine forest, coastal light and open sea do much of the visual work, while the architecture holds itself with clean lines, softened textures and an atmosphere that immediately lowers the volume of everything around you.
Below, the beach club extends that same language down to the shoreline. On the sand, La Brigantine introduces a relaxed Italian touch to the Côte d’Azur – elegant, unfussy plates designed for lunches that stretch (oh-so-comfortably) into late afternoon. A few steps away, Pépé offers something lighter and more spontaneous: fresh juices, quick bites and easy grazing.
Movement is built into the experience. Guests move between swimming and ‘longe-côte’ sea walking, paddleboarding, canoeing, windsurfing and cycling routes that trace the reserve itself. Wellness here never feels performative or overly prescribed – it simply becomes part of the day. So yes, you are relaxing and indulging, but somehow also leaving feeling sharper, lighter and vaguely convinced you might return home as the sort of person who suddenly starts morning swims and ordering cleansing juices voluntarily.
With its suites, private villas and deeply considered approach to wellbeing, Lily of the Valley has already reshaped the language of Riviera hospitality. The beach club completes that vision, offering a version of St Tropez that feels expansive, sun-soaked and entirely connected to the landscape around it. Book here
Le Sirenuse Mare, Nerano, The Amalfi Coast
The Amalfi Coast is always a good idea. It’s one of those rare places that never really leaves the conversation – it just returns each summer, slightly reframed, with new spots, moods and ways of experiencing the same stretch of delicious coast.
While Positano often takes centre stage, Nerano has always played a more understated role. Known locally as Marina di Cantone, it’s a small fishing village just around the coast – slower, softer and more rooted in everyday coastal life.
It’s here that Le Sirenuse Mare now opens, born from the world of the iconic Le Sirenuse hotel in Positano, and extending its celebrated hospitality language from hillside to shoreline. This is a natural continuation of a family-run vision that has defined Amalfi elegance for decades.
Arriving by boat from Positano already sets the tone. The beach club unfolds in terraces from a pebble shore down to the sea, with sunbeds, shaded lounges, dining spaces and swimming platforms shaped by the natural slope of the land. It feels closely tied to its surroundings; more landscape than construction.
At its centre is a restaurant by chef Francesco De Simone, rooted in Campanian tradition – fresh seafood, seasonal produce and sharing plates designed for unhurried lunches. Across the terraces, the mood shifts from daytime dining to aperitivo at Bar Mare and relaxed drinks at Rose’s Bar by the water.
Art is woven throughout, from a monumental fountain by Giuseppe Ducrot to works by Rose Wylie and Bosco Sodi placed across the site, reinforcing the sense of a space shaped by culture as much as coastline. The result is a more relaxed expression of the Le Sirenuse world. Book here
Nio Beach Club at NIHI Sumba, Indonesia
Some beach clubs are designed around being seen. Nio Beach Club, on the remote Indonesian island of Sumba, is designed around disappearing completely.
Set within the wildly beautiful world of NIHI Sumba – a private island hideaway surrounded by jungle, empty beaches and crashing Indian Ocean waves – the club feels like you have arrived (quite happily) the edge of civilisation. Sumba itself sits just an hour from Bali, yet feels worlds away from it: rawer, greener and almost entirely untouched by mass tourism.
At the centre of the beach club is a long open-air pavilion and a striking 20-metre infinity pool overlooking the ocean and its expert surfers. But what makes the experience unforgettable is the feeling of total immersion in the landscape. One moment you are poolside with fresh seafood and something cold in hand, the next you are riding through jungle trails, exploring hidden coves and watching the sky turn electric pink over seemingly endless coastline.
With just 29 villas scattered across hundreds of acres of tropical wilderness, NIHI has mastered a barefoot luxury that feels deeply connected to its surroundings rather than imposed onto them. Nothing here feels overbuilt or overperformed – which, ironically, is exactly what makes it one of the most sought-after beach escapes in the world right now.
If you’re looking to switch off and remove yourself from the typically trodden tourist sites, this is the beach to book. Book here
Anandes, Mykonos
Mykonos has never been short on energy. But lately, the more compelling version of the island isn’t louder – it’s being actively redefined, with a visible shift towards greater space, privacy and a more considered way of inhabiting it. Anandes is very much part of that change.
Perched above Mykonos town, this adults-only boutique retreat looks out across the island’s jaw-dropping scenery – whitewashed houses stacked into the hillside, the windmills on the ridge and the Aegean opening out in its endless glory. It’s a view that feels expansive rather than exposed, close to everything, yet comfortably removed from it. Nothing here is trying to compete with the island’s reputation; instead, it refines it. The design language is distinctly Cycladic but softened – stone, limewash, pale timber, linen – and stripped back to textures rather than statements.
The pace of the stay naturally slows. Many of the suites come with private pools or hot tubs, which means the outside world quickly becomes optional. Mornings roll on in that easy, unforced way that makes it slightly hard to justify doing anything else, before slipping into afternoons that drift along on their own terms. Plans, if they exist at all, tend to dissolve somewhere between the terrace and the horizon. Book now
Alma Beach Club at OKU Andalusia, Spain
Southern Spain has always understood the essence of summer. Alma Beach Club at OKU Andalusia leans fully into laid-back luxury and, this summer, it is set to become one of the Costa del Sol’s most talked-about new openings.
Set against a coastline with views reaching across the Mediterranean towards Africa, Alma brings OKU’s signature minimalist aesthetic into a more sun-drenched, Andalusian mood. Think soft neutral tones, natural textures, oversized day beds and an atmosphere that feels polished without trying too hard.
The energy here shifts easily throughout the day. Mornings move calmly around the adults-only pool before making its way into long seaside lunches centred on fresh local produce and Mediterranean flavours pulled from the Andalusian coast. By late afternoon, cocktails begin to circulate, music becomes one with the background and the space takes on that golden-hour glow southern Spain does so well.
Alma avoids the overproduced feeling that can sometimes define beach clubs on this coastline. It feels more relaxed than performative – a place built around ease, where live music, poolside dining and restorative afternoons blend naturally into one another. Book now
