They are all recognizable; almost anyone can identify their name and even spot them if they come up in conversation. However, only their members know the exclusive activities and personal relationships they enjoy in the most select private clubs of the peninsula. In EDDK Magazine, we have rescued five private social clubs distributed between Madrid, Marbella, and Ibiza.
Club Matador Madrid
Inspired by Matador magazine, this Club was born as a unique project promoted by journalist Alberto Anaut and its current members, who have managed to create a space for personal and cultural encounters based on the relationships established between professionals from different areas and backgrounds. The Club’s headquarters is located in the Salamanca neighborhood in a building dating from the mid-nineteenth century and reserves ample space for developing the Club’s activities. The 800 m2 of play is divided into six areas, where the Club’s different activities take place, and has eight balconies overlooking the streets of the Madrid neighborhood and another eight that offer a pleasant view of the building’s interior courtyard.
Matador is in itself a very ambitious cultural project that materializes in the different artistic manifestations that take place in its space. Every year, the Club presents two unique exhibitions by prestigious curators based on members’ private collections. The first exhibition presented at Matador was Feel at home, curated by Lorena Martínez Corral, a nationally recognized professional who has been linked to the Club since its inception.
Cultural activities
Other exhibitions presented in the space have been El ayer presence, curated by Juan Várex; Geografía Personal, curated by Pilar Citoler and Carlos Manzano; and La Alternativa, curated by Mario Padilla and gallery owner Álvaro Álcazar.
Cinema, literature, and music are also promoted by the Club’s members, who have contributed to gathering essential collections for each of the three manifestations. Giorgio Centi directs the film collection, which focuses on film noir. The Club’s film library has more than 1,000 works that all members can view in the screening room in open sessions or individually, upon reservation, and as long as there are no scheduled activities in the room.
The Matador library continues the thematic line that originated in the film library so that it houses numerous works of reference in the world of crime novels. However, the literary project, directed by Eduardo Arroyo, goes a step further and has made incursions into different themes, such as bullfighting or boxing.
In addition to the Club’s library, Matador has other literary collections such as El Ruedo, La Farsa, and La Biblioteca Castro, among others. To provide an atmosphere for reading, members have at their disposal a sound library directed by Ramón González, with around 300 LPs of the best songs in the history of Jazz.
Gastronomy
In just three years, Anaut’s project has positioned itself as a reference due to the attractiveness of its cultural offer and the different activities and cycles available to its members every week. The exclusivity of Club Matador at an intellectual and social level is matched by an exquisite culinary offer by Chef Gianni Pinto, who prints the typical flavors of Italian and Mediterranean gastronomy in his dishes.
In addition to the restaurant, the Club has a prestigious wine cellar that is far from the conventional wine cellars thanks to the initiative of Telmo Rodríguez, the first winemaker. In addition to serving wines from the best wine regions of the world and wines in demijohns from La Granja, the Club also offers its members its wines, which are produced each year by two different winemakers.
To finish with Matador’s gastronomic proposal, we cannot fail to mention the Bar, a focal point for meetings and relaxed chats among members. The different rooms of the space recreate complementary atmospheres in which a select cocktail menu that oscillates between tradition and innovation is offered. Essential bar managers are periodically invited to provide members with their best creations.
Club Matador can only be known in depth from the inside, which is complicated since new members must be introduced by the founders or by at least two regular members and then approved by the board. Exclusivity, discretion, culture, and encounters are all around the building on Jorge Juan Street, where club members enjoy their own space.
Club Alma Madrid
This Club is located in a palace house in a Renaissance-style building built on the old Rose Garden, next to the Retiro Park. Women can only access this privileged environment considered V.I.P. and, as the Club’s motto says, some “good men.”
Alma is a unique and cosmopolitan space designed to make the most of the virtues of social life and to find oneself personally. To achieve this, it is not enough to pay an annual fee. Still, it is necessary to pass a preliminary interview and have the committee accept the application for membership in the Club. In addition, each application must be endorsed by two club members.
Although Club Alma is highly committed to its members and respects their privacy to the maximum, we know that the majority of women who frequent the space are well-positioned professionals who are looking for an opportunity to take care of themselves in Alma, either through its beauty services or a session in the gym led by a personal trainer. In addition to beauty & healthy or cultural interests, fine dining is another attraction for the Club’s members. Alma’s kitchen is run by Chef Iván Sáez, who won a Michelin award in 2016.
This Club seems perfect to establish as a venue for after-work breaks due to the full agenda of events and exclusive activities offered in this intimate space, which can accommodate between 200 and 500 people. Members can enjoy the Club in the company of one or two guests with whom they would like to share a pleasant time.
Alma is also available for the celebration of external events as long as the subject matter and the philosophy of the company in question fit with the principles of the Club.
Casa Club Marbella
A little over a year ago, Casa Club Marbella was born thanks to the enthusiasm and drive of its founder, Álvaro Garrido, who set himself the goal of building a private club of national and international reference, but above all in the Marbella area and its surroundings. The Club House was conceived as a concept in which luxury and glamour would embrace intimacy and coziness so that members with a high social and professional background would find in the clubhouse an extension of their own home, where they could hold business meetings, spend a day of recreation and personal care or celebrate an event in its spectacular facilities and landscaped areas.
Located in the Cortijo Blanco urbanization in San Pedro de Alcántara, the villa that serves as the headquarters of the Marbella club has been restructured for the enjoyment of members and guests that they may bring with them from time to time. The villa has seven spacious and luxurious suites, a gym and fitness room, meeting rooms, lounges for celebrations and events, private dining rooms, and even a mini-club for the youngest members. This House has its culinary offerings served in the dishes of its restaurant or bottled in the wines of its cellar.
The gardens on which the villa stands are even more magnificent than the building itself. This perfectly manicured natural environment is ideal for relaxing at the swimming pool or practicing your racquet skills on the tennis court.
The anniversary party held last summer proved that Álvaro Garrido’s expectations had been fulfilled in the Club’s first year of life. Many members, guests, and friends were encouraged to enjoy a wonderful day of celebration where they tasted the gastronomic offer arranged in an extensive buffet.
Aloha Golf Club Social Marbella
This Marbella club distills influences of the English social clubs of the last century, having become a meeting place of reference for members with refined and exquisite tastes. Aloha’s social life is organized by a calendar of varied events spread throughout the year, with barbecues on summer nights, live music every Friday, Interclub lunches, gala dinners, and special celebrations on special dates, such as St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day or the Club’s Anniversary.
In addition to the regular programming of events, Aloha organizes activities to raise funds for social causes, which is why it is considered an essential benefactor of charitable causes. Up to seven competitions are held each year in favor of local associations, the most renowned being Pro-am Miguel Angel Jimenez. This is a meeting place for numerous elite professionals, led by Miguel Angel Jimenez, who brings a sporting character to the Club for two days of play.
Aloha’s headquarters is the Club House, structured in large spaces and lounges with a terrace from which to contemplate the course views. The adjoining building houses the caddy master and the changing rooms, which are outstanding in quality and design.
Golf in the club
To make the most of the facilities prepared for golf and the vast golf course, Aloha has a Golf Coaching service directed by Andrés Jiménez, Juanjo Mangas, and Iván Mangas, who will give individual, couples, and group classes to members who wish to do so. On summer days and weekends the rest of the year, the Club can instruct the youngest members in the children’s school.
To top it all off, the Club has its restaurant run by one of the most renowned names in Marbella’s gastronomy; the Cipriano Restaurant in Puerto Banús. The quality and excellent service are matched by a relaxed and quiet atmosphere in which the use of cell phones is prohibited.
Ibiza Club de Campo
Since its creation in 1972, the Ibiza Country Club has been a sporting and social reference on the island. In a landscaped area in the municipality of Sant Josep is this meeting place where members can engage in social relations in an environment where the philosophy of sport is constantly breathed.
The sports facilities of the Club are unbeatable and very complete. Paddle tennis is perhaps the primary sport, as it has a 3000 m2 area with courts equipped for the game. Two of them are walled, and the rest are glazed. One of them has a grandstand with a capacity for 150 people who want to enjoy a match between members of regional, national, and international competitions.
About the club
The Club also has an indoor squash and fronton court, seven tennis courts, and an indoor soccer court. In addition, in the gardens, there is a swimming pool available for swimming or just having a good recreational time.
The building has a multipurpose room arranged in an ample space on the second floor of the Ibiza Club de Campo. This room is available to realize physical activities directed by Ana Calvo, a professional with extensive training and experience in fitness and wellness. The activities carried out are Pilates Studio, group classes, and personal training.
In addition to the room and the sports activities that take place there, the Club has its gym with personal advisors who guide the training of members who wish to do so.
The members of the Club establish strong bonds from the sporting passion that unites them and often strengthen their relationships in chats and open meetings in the Café Ibiza Club de Campo. The youngest members also have the opportunity to make new friends by participating in the activities of the Miniclub, where in addition to playing, they will have teachers to help them with their homework when necessary.
Los Patios de Ibiza
This is perhaps one of the coming soon that has raised more expectations in the most select environment of the island. Los Patios de Ibiza promises to be inaugurated quickly and become one of the hottest novelties of the new season. Members who decide to join the Club will enjoy exclusive and personalized services to experience individually or together in the facilities designed for this purpose.
Los Patios de Ibiza has its kitchen, with three restaurants -one specially dedicated to organic cuisine- and seven bars, three fully equipped movie theaters, a wellness center, a nursery service for the little ones, and even its stores and bakery.
Although it has not yet been possible to see too many interior images, everything seems to suggest that the rooms combine luxury, comfort, and design simultaneously, creating a perfect environment to enjoy exclusivity in its purest form. The members will also have landscaped exteriors from which the Ibizan spirit of nature and earth emanates.
