Route de L’epi
83350 St. Tropez, Ramatuelle, France •
Tel. + 33.645.63.8487

Nikki Beach’s scene is the most exuberantly youthful and certainly à la mode at the moment. Naomi Campbell celebrated her birthday here last year and opened it up for the public who soon followed in droves. It is part of a chain, the original Nikki Beach is in Miami and they have opened others and are planning to open in Egypt and will launch one in Koh Samui, Thailand at Lipa Noi Beach in December. The thought that Voile Rouge failed in importing their brand of St. Tropez to Miami and yet Nikki Beach succeeded in bringing Miami to St. Tropez is a revolting reality.
The St Tropez branch is a series of split-level decking areas, which surround an enormous swimming pool. The show in the daytime at Nikki Beach reminds one of a disco with booming, loud music but the young
crowd here is visibly enjoying it. At night, it is a candlelit wonderland.
To obtain a place on one of the large white cotton mattresses that are lined up around the pool, you are obliged to consistently order bottles of Champagne. This is ridiculous, gauche, and most assuredly a sign of neurotic, nouveau riche insecurity, and the following incident gives definite proof. One tasteless, wasteful mat-squatter within a two hour period ordered about 100 bottles of Roederer Cristal Champagne just so that he could spew them into the pool with, I suppose, the odd tipple now and again.

Route des Tamaris 83350 Ramatuelle France
Opening Hours: 11am-8pm, daily (Apr-Oct)

One of the most famous of the 30 odd beach restaurants along Pampelonne’s Beach, La Voile Rouge is a dining, drinking and must-be-seen expanse of sandy real estate about 60 meters in width. Yet, with such a worldwide reputation they failed to make their Miami branch work; it went bankrupt. A lounge, or mat rents for around $50 per and these prices are right in line with similar beach destinations on the Med. You should probably book a day ahead, for by midday during peak season Bastille Day to Sept 1 everything is taken tables, mats, everything!
The clientèle are more wild than chic and “bronzed nubile little things” carry irascible designer dogs and everyone drinks great quantities of Champagne that they take to spraying after time; what a terrible waste! I tend to have lunch late about 3:30pm as dinner is never before 11pm, to avoid the booking hassle.
Paul Tomaselli, owner of the club sometimes can be found playing backgammon, made famous in the west by Prince Alexis Obolensky, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Palm Springs with Carlton Alsop, and later in other parts of the world. As an interesting bit of information, Carlton and his wife occasionally dined in one of the private rooms at Chasen’s Restaurant in Los Angeles accompanied by their two dogs (small) and in their bathrobes; they entered from their limousine from the rear of the restaurant. He used to consume a bottle of Champagne while having his hair cut at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and he did not spray one ounce of it!

RELATED LINK: Champagne Spraying Is Over At Voile Rouge, Closed By Authorities