Sand, sea and sundowners – it's Europe's best beach clubs

A beach club is the place to lose hours in the most gloriously barefoot manner possible. Call it a more alluring version of the quicksand effect; whether it’s down to Sancerre or Sangria, or just plenty of sea time, before you know it, sunset hits in the blink of an eye. From Amalfi to Antiparos, these fabled places offer plenty of restorative and indulgent fun, with generously spread-out sunbeds, not to mention platters of crudo and grilled seafood, best enjoyed after that first swim of the season.

After 60 years, Da Adolfo on the Amalfi Coast remains one of the most intensely rapturous (and languorous) daytime beach restaurants in the world. On the storybook, shingled Laurito Beach, a few coves around the coast from Positano, Sergio Bella and his wife Miriam maintain the properly egalitarian magic his parents created in the summer of 1966, and it remains as much a place for fishermen as it is for film stars and finance bros. It is like one long letter to a rarefied world of carefree joy, with the sonic haze of cicadas and a ’70s Rino Gaetano song playing in the background. Getting here is half the adventure, whether by water taxi or the restaurant’s cute wooden boat (crowned with Da Adolfo’s charming red fish logo) that chugs backwards and forwards to Positano every hour. The holiday merch is also divine, and you will want to take home the T-shirts emblazoned with that famous fish design, which also appears on the cutlery packets that adorn the ramshackle trestle tables.

And then there is the food and drink that is excellent and plentiful; order jugs of chilled Marisa Cuomo wine with white peaches, mozzarella grilled in lemon leaves, followed by the best zuppa di cozze (mussel soup). Yes, six decades on, the restaurant still serves food that tastes properly of summer – and the sea.

Just wait until you try the vongole at the new Le Sirenuse Mare beach club that recently opened further down the coast in Nerano. It’s the new hotspot from the bewitching hotelier family, the Sersales, who execute the perfect iteration of a modern-day dolce vita homage, with 1950s aquamarine-striped parasols and sunbeds, multi-layered terraces with chestnut wood pergolas jutting overhead and a statement Giuseppe Ducrot fountain that sits at the heart of the main restaurant, framed by fragrant Aleppo pines. Then there is the Dolce Far Niente Bar, which excels in imaginative spritzes, not to mention Rose’s Bar, named in honour of the British artist Rose Wylie. It’s as chic as it is romantic, cocooning you in a style that Ripley’s Dickie Greenleaf and Marge Sherwood would have appreciated.

For something that miraculously manages to be both bling and bohemian, Maçakizi in Bodrum is on another level. Sitting on a secluded bay, with a ley line of happiness seemingly running through this beach-club-with-rooms, you will relish eating bowlfuls of cherries on ice or stuffed vine leaves and lahmacun, the most addictive Turkish pizza. Our advice is to get the front-row beds on the far left to maximise tanning time. New this season is Maçakizi’s private yacht, Sentimental, designed by the hotel’s owner (and cigar connoisseur) Sahir Erozan, a man who certainly knows how to throw a good party.

For something a little more sedate, the beach restaurant La Table de la Plage at Domaine de Murtoli in Corsica is the holy grail. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, with its immaculate, purple linen-dressed tables overlooking a vast swathe of golden sand, the food is unparalleled. It’s a menu you could truly eat on repeat: lobster pasta, salt-baked sea bass and delicious yogurt and blueberry ice cream.

And if Odysseus was looking to return to the best beach club in Greece, he would forgo Ithaca in favour of Antiparos, seeking out The Beach House, a dream Greek island idyll of whitewashed walls and powder-blue shutters. Here, hotelier Athanasia Comninos has cranked up its mythical beauty that is both refined and imaginative. It’s also a summer-taste odyssey, the food whipped up by an outpost of the Athenian restaurant Cookoovaya, renowned for its grilled octopus – the best to be had in all of the Cyclades. Better still, dinner here is served early – the kitchens close at 10pm sharp – so you have the whole beach to yourself to watch the moon rise before slipping into bed. ■