Warung Beach Club: The Temple of House Music in Brazil

Club Rating: 9/10. It’s an absolute must-visit for techno and house music lovers. Set in a gorgeous setting on the beaches of Brazil, with an incredible vibe and decor. Always brings in the best talent in underground music. 

Warung Beach Club may be a name only familiar to the most dedicated of North American and European techno fanatics, but in Brazil it is a sacred temple for underground electronic music. Located in a lush green forest right next to the white sand and blue waves of Praia Brava, Warung gives off a mythical vibe to all that step into its wooden arches.

Warung Beach Club is for those dedicated to the underground styles – techno, tech house, etc. Indeed, as a traveler, you need a bit of determination to get to Warung, as it is set in a beach lodged between the Brazilian cities of Balneario Camboriu and Itajai, surrounded by nothing but the rainforest, the ocean, and a dirt road.

I had heard about Warung Beach Club long before I went to Brazil, so I traveled to Balneario Camboriu with the purpose of checking out the club. I stayed at a hotel on Praia Brava, Señor Hostel (now closed), because of its proximity to the Club (about 30 minutes walking along the beach). It turned out to be a great choice because the hostel was run by young people who were fanatics of Warung! They put me on the guest list for free entry and invited me to go with them. Usually, entry to Warung is like 70 reais for girls ($30) and 100 reais for men ($40), but it also depends on the event, the tier of the tickets. I’d suggest asking hotel or hostel staff if they can put you on the guest list when you arrive at the city!

Getting there was something of an adventure. We drove along Praia Brava towards Warung, but the thing is Northern Praia Brava, where Warung is, is separated by a small stream from Southern Praia Brava, with no bridge for cars or pedestrians. We parked the car next to the stream. There were two options to cross, either to walk 10 meters across the knee-deep stream (depending on the tide), or to get on an entrepreneurial Brazilian’s boat to cross the river. Got to love the Brazilians, they are great at sensing opportunity and improvising to provide the needed service. Since many of the ladies are glammed up and the men are wearing jeans, most people choose to pay the 5 Reais (around 2 dollars) to cross by boat.

Warung is built with a Balinese theme, and looks like a SouthEast Asian temple (thus its nickname of the temple). The owners imported many sculptures and decorations from Bali, and it really gives the club a special look! Like many of Brazil’s other nightclubs (for example, Green Valley and Pacha in Florianopolis), there’s even a temaki bar within the club.

Warung has an outdoor stage in a pagoda, and an indoor stage on the second floor. The outdoor stage generally plays chiller tech house throughout the night. The temperature in southern Brazil is such that it’s nice to be outside, whether if it’s winter or summer!

The second floor indoor stage is where the principal DJ spins. My first time at Warung, I saw Claude von Stroke spin an awesome set. My second time at Warung, I saw Art Department in April for a special Closing Summer party. The vibe on the indoor stage is always quite intimate and intense. The stage is dark and the sound system powerful, and you can really lose yourself in the music. When the sun rises in the morning and the first ray of light shines into the dance floor through its balcony, which has been perfectly aligned to the direction of the sun, it really is a special moment for both the clubbers and DJs alike.

The party officially ends at 6am, but usually it ends later. The dance floor is always still full at 6am, and the DJs normally want to play longer because the vibe is so great! I think that the time Art Department was at Warung, we left the club at 8am.

Drink prices in Brazilian nightclubs are not the cheapest, especially the red bull. I tend to measure prices by the red bull vodkas because it’s what I drink. A red bull was 20 reais (around 8 bucks) and a vodka shot was 15 reais (around 6 bucks). But the nice thing is that they don’t really measure out the vodka volume so if you ask nicely they will pour you more 😉

I really enjoyed my time in Brazil’s temple of electronic music. However, I do think that the techno crowd in Brazil in general are a bit anti-Brazil spirit. People in Warung usually just dance by themselves and talk only to their friends, unlike other Brazilian parties I’ve been to where everyone just talks to everyone. It’s probably because techno is quite a solitary and sophisticated type of music? As many have stated though, Brazilian girls in the South are quite beautiful and friendly, and at Warung it’s not an exception!

In southern Brazil, there aren’t that many Asians, so I was usually one of the few Asians at the parties. However, people from Sao Paulo and Curitiba do come to Warung just to come pay homage to the Temple, so Asian Brazilians were present. Maybe it was because I was at Praia Brava in low-ish season (February to April), so I did not see/hear/meet any non-Brazilians. In general, though, in my experience, unlike in Europe, you rarely come across a foreigner when clubbing in Brazil.

If you have a chance to visit Brazil and you’re a techno head, you definitely should do whatever it takes to check out Warung!! Warung is not open every weekend, especially during the colder months (March-August), so make sure you check their agenda before you go.

Warung Beach Club Website. Facebook page. Check out the other famous club in Balneario Camboriu, Green Valley, voted #1 in the world by DJ Mag. Read about the EDM Mecca of Brazil, Balneario Camboriu.