cn traveller: “the best beach clubs in the world for summer 2022”

The most stylishly mellow toes-in-the-sand beach clubs to spend your summer in 2022.

We’re dreaming of long, lost afternoons at some of the world’s very best beach bars. Read about the spots around the globe that have caught our eye – from the Greek islands to Tulum.

5. Potato Head Beach Club, Bali

This hot ticket in Seminyak has been a crowd-pleaser since its opening in 2010, but 2020 saw it morph into something altogether more interesting. The club has now expanded as part of Desa Potato Head, South-east Asia’s first creative village, which opened its doors this spring and brings together a hotel, restaurants and co-working spaces (a vinyl library and recording studio among them) in an enormous, beachy brutalist courtyard designed by Rem Koolhaas-founded OMA. The beach club itself has almost doubled in size, with sleek black straw umbrellas and teakwood sunbeds lining the gem-blue pool. Balinese soundscapes accompany early-morning yoga sessions or traditional dance performances in the adjoining terrazzo-clad amphitheatre, then slowly fade into blissed-out Balearic beats as the day progresses.

The food is feel-good and mostly plant-based – smoothie bowls and vegan soft serve – and the fourth-floor rooftop bar (one of the island’s first) is the go-to spot for Indonesian arak-spiked sundowners and snacks from a built-in satay station. Best of all, the brand has sustainability at its core and turns rubbish into zero-waste treasures, with staff uniforms made from eucalyptus-tree pulp, recycled cooking-oil candles and larger-than-life art installations created with beach litter. Potato Head is bigger, better and leading the charge in considerate environmental practice in this busy part of the island. – by Chris Schalkx

An excerpt from CN Traveller and as written by Issy Von Simson on 23rd of March, 2022.