It’s been a banner year for nudity around the globe.
Berlin recently announced that women can now go topless at the German capital’s public swimming pools while Nantucket Island went topless last December after locals voted in favor of “gender equality on beaches.”
After a multi-year Covid hiatus, the Free the Nipple campaign was back with topless parades in New York City, Vancouver, Paris and elsewhere. And the barely veiled female figure was the fashion statement du jour at the Met Gala, Milan Fashion Week, the BRIT Awards in London and other top-shelf events.
Meanwhile, there are more places than ever to sun, swim or build sandcastles au naturel at clothing-optional beaches on every continent.
From rocky coastlines to talcum-powder fine sands, and big city bays to secluded shores, there are now hundreds of beaches where it’s perfectly legal (or at least de facto legal) to frolic beside the sea in nothing more than your birthday suit.
“Soft, smooth sand, warm ocean breeze, gentle ocean waves and lots of other naturists makes for a great clothing-optional beach,” says Nicky Hoffman of The Naturist Society, who’s also the managing editor of Nude & Natural magazine and co-author of “The World’s Best Nude Beaches & Resorts.”
While clothing-optional beach destinations may seem like a modern invention, it’s actually quite an old idea, a product of the otherwise prudish Victorian era.
During the 1880s, American poet Walt Whitman extolled the virtues of the “Adamic air bath” – his nude walkabouts and swims along Timber Creek in New Jersey, writing of “The free exhilarating ecstasy of nakedness in Nature.”
Channeling that same vibe, the naturist movement took off in Europe and North America during the first half of the 20th century, with city parks, camp grounds and eventually beaches established for those who wanted to experience nature nude in their most natural state.
One of the spin-offs of the socially and sexually liberal 1960s was a “free beach” movement that saw a proliferation of nude beaches around the world.
And their popularity continues today, with more and more popping up each year. Here are 20 of the best nude beaches around the world:
Playa Naturista Chihuahua, Uruguay
Located about a 30-minute drive from Punta del Este, Uruguay’s best-known nude beach overlooks Portezuelo Bay on the Atlantic coast.
Photogenic dunes and water temperatures that reach 25 Celsius (77 F) and higher even in the southern hemisphere winter add to the strand’s allure.
After decades as an unofficial naked getaway, Chihuahua finally achieved legal status in 2000.
Since then, amenities have expanded to include the Hotel El Refugio Nudista Naturista clothing-optional resort.
Playa Naturista Chihuahua, Avenida Las Amarras, 20003 Chihuahua, Uruguay
Nida Nude Beach, Lithuania
The chilly Baltic Sea may not seem like the most obvious place to skinny dip. But this gorgeous strand on the long, sandy Curonian Spit offers one of Europe’s most picturesque spots to take it all off.
With its wildflower-covered dunes (among the highest in Europe) and shoreline forest, the beach was the focus of a 19th-century artists’ colony that attracted many of the leading painters, poets and writers of the time.
Walk far enough south along the strand and you eventually come to a fence that marks the Lithuania-Russia border.
Nida Nude Beach, Nidos-Smiltynės pl., Nida, Lithuania
Little Palm Beach, Waiheke, New Zealand
Although it’s technically legal to go naked on any beach in personal-liberty-loving New Zealand, the nation’s naturists tend to congregate at well-known clothing-optional spots like Little Palm Beach on Waiheke Island.
Reaching the secluded strand entails a 40–60-minute ferry ride from Auckland, a taxi or rideshare to the island’s north shore, and then a short downhill hike.
You can top or tail your beach adventure at Waiheke’s many wineries, restaurants, and art galleries.
Little Palm Beach, Miro Road, Waiheke Island 1081, New Zealand
Nugal Beach, Croatia
Flanked by sheer cliffs and shades by pine trees, this remote beach on the mainland opposite Brač island is reached via a narrow path that seems ready made for goats rather than people seeking an apparel-free escape on the Adriatic.
Be sure to bring a thick towel or even a beach chair — like many Croatian beaches the surface is pebbles rather than sand.
Nugal is about a half-an-hour walk from the nearest town, although it can also be reached by boat or sea kayak from Makarska or Tučepi.
Nugal Beach, 21300 Makarska, Croatia
Moshup Beach, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Perched at the island’s western extreme, Moshup is a long curving strand that wraps around a headline crowned by the historic Gay Head Lighthouse (built in 1799).
Located right below the ancient light, the clothing optional portion lies beneath rust-colored sandstone cliffs that were declared a National Natural Monument in 1966.
Moshup is open free of charge to anyone who wants to take their clothes off, as opposed to Lucy Vincent, the island’s private nude beach.
Moshup Beach, 71 Moshup Trail, Aquinnah, MA 02535
Black’s Beach, La Jolla, California
Set beneath the 100-meter-high cliffs of Torrey Pines, Blacks has been the Golden State’s favorite place for all-over tans for more than 50 years and was once the only legal nude beach in the entire United States.
Long, wide and blessed with great surf, the beach is reached via the zig-zag Ho Chi Minh Trail from the cliff-top Torrey Pines Gliderport near the University of California, San Diego.
Black’s Beach, Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, San Diego, CA 92037
Lady Bay Beach, Sydney, Australia
Although it sometimes seems like just about any beach in Australia is clothing optional, there are a number of official nude beaches here such as Lady Bay. (also known as Lady Jane Beach.)
Perched just inside the South Head of Sydney Harbour, it’s small and narrow, but incredibly secluded for such a big city location.
The rocky ledges around South Head are also used for nude sunbathing.
Lady Bay Beach, Watson’s Bay, Sydney, Australia