Cap D'Agde Swinger Clubs
No swinger should die without experiencing Cap D'Agde. Tens of thousands of sexual adventurers migrate there from all over Europe every summer for wonderful weeks of sunbathing and sex. There is nowhere like it in the world, by day a naked city focussed on a fantasic beach, by night a constellation of swinging clubs thronged by cosmopolitan libertines.
Cap at night - Port Nature
There are 8 swingers' clubs in and around Cap D'Agde and two of them are among the very best in the world. In the summer the resort becomes the world's only nudist city with a population of 40,000, many of them couples seeking sex as well as sunshine.
CLUBS IN CAP
There are six swingers' clubs actually in Cap D'Agde. Le Glamour in Heliopolis; Le Tantra and Le Jules in Port Nature; Le Pharon, Nat Hammam and 2et2 in Port Ambonne.
LE GLAMOUR
There are five good things about Le Glamour, Cap's premier swingers' nightspot since 1998: there are lots of attractive people; it has three bars, two of them outside in the cooler air; it is very lively on the dance floor with a live DJ catching the mood and getting people involved; it has two networks of cellars downstairs that have been turned into playrooms; and the doors to the cellars are guarded to make sure nobody enters or leaves who should not (one route is couples only, the other allows single men).
You come into Le Glamour from the outside bar area of the Villa Romaine restaurant, perched above the beach between the arms of Heliopolis. Sometimes there is a crowd hanging around the bar checking out the outfits (and the people) going in. Le Glamour is curently the most expensive club at Cap, €35 with just two free drinks. This is standard, but most clubs offer you a €45 with six drinks option. Once your tokens have run out drinks are expensive - our reviewers paid €12 (£8) for a vodka ice.
You arrive in an outside bar area with stools perched around barrels for seating. On the right there are steps going down to a lower bar area, still outdoors but covered with an awning. There are more tables and chairs here and in the far left corner is a small raised marble dancing podium. In front of that there are steps leading inside and people hang around on them because they are a good place to be seen.
From the outside bar you can walk into an anteroom and turn right into the disco area. There is a cage immediately on your left with a woman, or women, or a couple cavorting - these are holidaymakers like yourself, not professionals. The dancfloor is almost always full and sometimes the dancing stops for a competition usually involving exhibitionists showing off. Against the wall on the right are stools and chairs and if you continue past the bar there are more on both sides until you come to the broad staircase that takes you downstairs.
At the bottom are the loos and two doors guarded by staff - each leads into a long twisting darkened passage which winds through playrooms and past cubicles. The door on the left leads to the couples only playzone while singles are permitted in the zone on the right. Everything is wooden and there are lots of jailbars and occasional curtains hiding things from view. In one or two places there are whipping frames or other S&M equipment.
The chances are that it will be absolutely heaving, with crowds on absolutely every bed and couples or groups having action against walls and on couchettes. The gangway will also be congested as couples look to find somewhere to join in or just hope to rub up against some new friends. It is a quite incredible atmosphere.
Le Glamour has downsides too. Apparently the French call it 'un usine' (a factory) because although it has the most attractive people, many of them are voyeurs and block the entrance and alleyways of the underground playrooms without contributing to the action; the air-conditioning is very good but makes the place almost too cold; though the music is undeniably excellent some of the people in the bar areas are there to see or be seen and not partake; and it shuts early, at 2am. So if you want to carry on you either have to go back somewhere with some friends or go on to Le Tantra, where you have to pay (reputedly the same firm) all over again to get in.
Nevertheless most of the couples who reviewed for us in 2003 thought Le Glamour was still the best club on site.
LE TANTRA
You enter directly onto the wall-to-wall dancefloor which is 20 feet square. The music is said to be very good and sometimes there are live acts - when this club was called Le Loft the dancing in fact took precedence over the swinging.
There is a circular staircase leading off the right-hand side of the dancefloor up to the restauarnt and main playroom above. Behind the dancefloor the club gets narrower, with a bar along the left and tables and chairs on the right. There is a jink where it gets very narrow then there is a quieter bar along the right and a playroom at the back.
Upstairs the dining area becomes a relaxed chill-out zone after about midnight, spoiled only by the waitresses not clearing away the tables properly. The main play area upstairs has clean, new and nicely done rooms.
Le Tantra is open the latest of all the clubs, so people who haven't had enough migrate there from Le Glamour when it closes at 2am. In 2003 several of our reviewing couples felt it was now a more enjoyable evening out than Le Glamour and all of them prasied it highly.
LE JUL'S
This is the prominent couples-only club on the square at Port Nature 5. Entrance is €45 with 6 drinks or €35 with 2 drinks. The club is open from 11pm-6am every night of th week during the season (1 May - 30 September) and Friday and Saturdays off-season.
Le Jul's is on one floor and mirrors all around make it seem bigger than it really is. The decor has a roman feel and there are lots of comfy sofas around low coffee tables. There is a small platform with two poles backed by mirrors where the efforts of visitors are supplemented by occasional professional dancers.
The bar staff are very friendly. The play rooms (to the right as you go in) are small though clean and could do with some work to improve the atmosphere. There are showers with towels next to the playrooms. The music was alright but considered a bit dated by our reviewers. There is lots of action on the sofas around the dance-floor.
LE PHARON
Still the smallest club at Cap, Le Pharon allows in single guys and its clientele is believed to include bi and gay men.
NAT HAMMAM
As a sauna club Nat Hammam has no dancefloor. You enter at one end of a narrow bar room, with the bar on the left. There are barstools and a few low chairs. At the back you turn right and find a large playroom on the right with matresses laid out against the right hand wall. Further in the saunas, steam rooms etc are on the left and you can follow the corridor even further to an isolated playroom.
When Fever's reviewers visited on couples' night several years ago the club lacked atmosphere and wasn't too full. The couples in the playroom were lying side-by-side and not interacting much. Nat Hamman is a 'mixed' club i.e. allows in single guys but it has a couples night on Sundays between 9pm and 1am. In fact it is believed to be patronised mostly by men. Le Jules, now couples only, was a gay club for a while and Le Pharon and Nat Hammam may now be serving the people who used it.
2 ET 2
Pronounced as in French (Deux et Deux) this is a new couples only sauna club next to Nat Hammam in Port Ambonne. No review yet.
CLUBS IN AGDE
There is now only one club in Agde city, Les Quai des Anges, sometimes called "Le Feeling" which was its name for several years. It is right in the old city on the river.
LES QUAI DES ANGES
This used to be some couples' favourite club because it mostly looks and feels like a normal nightclub and has intimate playrooms. It is located on the embankment called the Quai des Dames and the premises are cut into the rock underneath one of the old city squares.
As you enter the play area is straight in front of you. You turn right to enter the main part of the club which has just been refurbished. There is a bar along the left hand side with table and chairs on the right. Beyond the bar is a large disco area fringed by tables and chairs and behind it to the right is a raised lounge area. The club has an advanced lighting system.
The play area is not large by Cap standards and consists of an L shaped corridor with cubicles of different sizes leading off it. Some are low down so you have to bend down to enter while others are up so that you have to climb a short ladder. The atmosphere here was reputed to be fantastic if you found the right night. We have been told that it now allows in single men every night of the week - which naturally leads to a different vibe although still great for those who are looking for it.
Les Quai des Anges has a different drinking system to the other clubs. You have to buy tickets in advance on the door for 3 or 5 drinks because the drinks are much more expensive if you pay cash. You can still buy a bottle and keep it behind the bar though. Watch out for the beer, if you just ask for one it'll be 7% - a problem if you're driving.
THE CHATEAU
This place in Agde was was originally a country house and is surrounded by a high wall which gives privacy to the large grounds. For years it was a swinging club and restaurant with a distinct S&M edge. It had a disco, jacuzzi and a play area up a narrow old stone circular staircase. This series of interconnecting rooms and cubicles of different sizes and lighting had stocks, pillories, huge X-shaped whipping frames with cat o'nine tails and other torture kit hanging on the walls for you choose to have a go. There were also plenty of people demonstrating how dominant or submissive they are (usually with their partner - unless you wanted to volunteer!).
The club is now closed but we have heard that rooms are available there if one knows the owner - probably not too many Brits fit that description.
L'EXTASIA
This exceptional club 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.
L'Extasia is one of the best swingers' clubs in the world and for size, variety and spectacle it may be the very best. It has a website and the English version has recently been improved with help from Fever - we assisted with the English and provided some of the maps and text from this page.
To find L'Extasia, you turn left off the D51, go up the lane and drive past the farm on the left to turn into the huge parking field. The Palaisia d'Occitanie restaurant opens on to this side. If you arrive early you may be able to park in the road nearer the club entrance or even in the inner car park in the farmyard itself, which will save female partners from stumbling over the grass in their party shoes. If not, you have to walk out of the field and down the lane to the club gate. The Club opens at 10pm and costs €35 a couple with one free drink each. After that drinks are €10 each regardless of whether they include spirits or just a mixer.