IN THIS SECTION
In the vicinity of Cap there are 13 sex clubs. No fewer than 10 in the Quartier Naturiste itself; two in Agde and one in the countryside nearby.
On the campus you have a choice of Le Glamour in Heliopolis; Le Juls and Le Tantra in Port Nature; and Le Pharon, Nat Hammam, 2et2, Histories d’O, Clair Obscur, Cine Instant X and Club Le Living in Port Ambonne.
In Agde you can choose between Le Quai des Anges and Chateau de Tredos; while the legendary L’Extasia is about 10 miles away off the D51 on the other side of Marseillan.
The clubs work hard promoting themselves by distributing leaflets, advertising in the resort’s promotional magazines and having banners towed along the beachfront by light aircraft.
Not all of the clubs are regular swingers (couples) clubs. Beware that ‘club mixte’ means couples and singles (i.e. single men). Sometimes it is different depending on the day of the week so it is vital to check what the rule is on the night you go. Condoms are not always scattered around in free abundance as they once were.
Prices, opening times, formats and even names can vary from year to year. Currently couples can expect to pay €35-€50 depending on size of club and day of the week, with single men – when they’re allowed in – paying between €50 and €90.
Glamour is the grandest of the clubs. Situated above the beach between the two open arms of Heliopolis it is a large upbeat nightclub with playrooms underneath. The play area consists of a warren of rooms and spaces off a long twisting corridor. From the bottom of the stairs, on one side it is couples only and on the other ‘mixed’, with staff controlling access.
Tantra is at the beach end of Port Nature. It’s a bar and dance area with playroom behind. Some years it goes on later than the other clubs and there’s a tradition of party animals migrating there after Glamour closes.
Juls is underneath Waiki Beach in Port Nature 5. It has a big dance area on one side of the bar and a playroom on the other side.
Pharon is a mixed club.
Nat Hammam, 2et2 and Histories d’O use the sauna format, where everyone changes into towels on arrival. There are no DJs, dancefloors or cages.
Clair Obscur is a BDSM club.
Cine Instant X is a late night porn cinema where things happen.
Le Living, which faces out from Port Ambonne towards the marina (onto the Avenue de la Joilette), is reputed to be an ‘anything goes’ pansexual club catering for gays, crossdressers, transexuals, fetishists etc as well as swinger couples.
In the old walled town of Agde, Le Quai Des Anges is situated across the road from the river, almost beneath the cathedral. Chateau de Tredos (‘the Chateau’) sits behind a high wall among the town’s tangled medieval streets.
L’Extasia is found in an old vinyard called Domain St-Jean des Sources, up a lane off the D51 route beyond Marseillan, some 7.5 miles from Cap. It’s a 20 min drive by hire car or taxi. The main building has a nightclub environment on the ground floor and the playrooms upstairs. There’s a restaurant in an outbuilding and a outside dance floor between them. Beyond that is a wood with a trail of lights that lead you into the trees to a moonlit glade with a discreet hut.
DRINKS
Clubs usually charge a certain amount per couple that brings with it a certain number of free drink tokens. Once these are used up, drinks are expensive. Beers are cheaper (although it’s not a pint) but sometimes a coke will cost the same as a vodka and coke. Sometimes you’re offered a bottle of spirits with free mixers until it’s empty. The prices are more than most people want to pay for 8-10 nights of their fortnight’s holiday. It helps to account for why many couples find their action elsewhere at Cap.
One way around it is to go in a group and club your tokens together to get a bottle of spirits. Then you get free mixers served in pitchers all night for all of you and it hasn’t cost you an extra penny. That stops you dehydrating. If the females take their drinks from this bottle and the men limit themselves to a couple of beers, it can be much more economical. Prices and deals change every year and what worked last time may not be the cleverest thing on your next visit.