Beach clubs and beaches: the back story

About Beach clubs and beaches: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the French Riviera Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Riviera beaches come in two kinds: public beaches, where you bring your own towel, and private beach clubs that rent sunbeds and serve lunch. The sand is in the west: Cannes has more than seven kilometres of it, and Pampelonne, at Ramatuelle, is the long beach of Saint-Tropez. East of Nice the beaches are mostly pebble or gravel, in coves.

Sand or pebbles

For sand near Nice, go to Cannes. Menton’s Plage des Sablettes mixes fine gravel and sand and shelves gently; Plage Mala at Cap-d’Ail is a cove of fine sand and small pebbles; Cros-de-Cagnes has 3.5 km of pebbles.

The famous clubs

On Pampelonne are Le Club 55 and Nikki Beach, and Byblos Beach belongs to the Byblos hotel. On Cap Ferrat, Paloma Beach sits in a cove and Le Club Dauphin is the Grand-Hôtel’s club, with a seawater pool. In Cannes, the palaces have their beaches across La Croisette.

In July and August, book a sunbed and a lunch table days ahead, and check the season: most clubs close in winter.

Booking

Nikki Beach strongly recommends booking ahead and asks for “beach chic resort wear” (its own website). Call Le Club 55 and Paloma Beach on the numbers in our listings.

Our advice: arrive by boat from Saint-Tropez or Sainte-Maxime and skip the summer traffic on the peninsula.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Beach clubs and beaches: the back story before you go.