So you’re a larney local and you hang out at the Cape Town Club, smoking cigars and quaffing whiskey with the boys.

Good news – the clock in the members’ bar is always set to 5:15PM, because that’s “club life” baby.

Cool, but you’ll need far more moola if you want to play ball with Europe’s big hitters.

An annual membership doesn’t come too cheap, and many of these clubs have a hefty joining fee too.

Business Insider did some digging in five major European cities, so let’s run through their findings. That photo up top comes from number two on the list, but all will be revealed in due course.

Do your own euro / pound to rand conversion, we back you:

5 Hertford Street, London — from €1,680, plus a €1,345 joining fee.

When Business Insider wrote a roundup of the most exclusive members’ clubs in London, 5 Hertford Street said it was so secretive and protective of its members’ privacy that it declined to give even a ballpark indication on the cost of membership.

However, according to the Mail, it costs about £1,200 to join and £1,500 annually thereafter. That might not seem that much, but don’t get your hopes up — it’s supposed to favour A-listers and billionaires as its members.

Lupita Nyong’o, George and Amal Clooney, Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince William, and Princess Eugenie are all known to have partied at its downstairs nightclub called Loulou’s, which has its very own lifesize giraffe mascot.

4. Thirty Nine Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo — from €2,700 per year.

What’s that on the floor? ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!

Thirty Nine Monte Carlo opened in 2016. It’s founded by Scottish ex-Rugby International and Monaco resident Ross Beattie, and says it has a “unique wellness-focused concept.”

The club is an “oasis of calm for those wishing to escape the bustle of Monte Carlo,” and offers members access to high-tech sports equipment and training from sports professionals in a private-club setting.

Prince Albert is apparently a regular there, a source told Business Insider.

Membership costs €4,900 a year, unless you’re under 27, when it is reduced to €2,700.

3. China Club, Berlin — €2,000 a year, plus a €10,000 joining fee.

China Club Berlin is located in the centre of the capital and apparently offers a “home from home” for its international members.

Precious Chinese antiquities, contemporary Chinese art, and exquisite Chinese cuisine form the basis of the “elegant but unpretentious, relaxed atmosphere” for the high society of culture, politics, media, and the economy.

Members must be proposed by at least one club member or endorsed by the club admissions committee…On admission, a one-off fee of €10,000 is due, then an annual subscription.

2. The Carnegie Club, Scottish Highlands — €9,021 per year, plus a £25,000 joining fee.

The prestigious Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle, which lies in a secluded corner of the eastern highlands, is the most expensive of the European clubs surveyed in this list.

It was founded by one of the world’s first billionaires — American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie — who apparently “spared no expense in transforming it into a millionaire’s playground.” It sits on 8,000-acres and boasts a golf course and spa.

Membership costs £8,000 ($10,538) per year, plus an enormous £25,000 one-off joining fee. The club’s 350 or so members include CEOs, oil tycoons, and aristocrats. It’s also where Madonna married Guy Ritchie in 2000.

The club is understood to have a rigorous joining process.

And your winner is – drum roll………

1. Club 1930, Milan — by invitation only.

The Club 1930 in Milan is so exclusive that it doesn’t even have a website, though Business Insider tracked down this photo of the club via Facebook.

According to magazine The Chic Fish, the club is not even visible from the road, but it is hidden under the guise of an ordinary bar, from where you can only gain access by invitation through a hidden door.

It’s apparently where supermodels chill out after Milan Fashion Week. It looks cozy, chic, and like they serve a good negroni.

Why so secretive, Club 1930?

Sounds like the kind of place an Italian politician (cough – Berlusconi) might throw one of those bunga bunga parties.

[source:businessinsider]