In Europe, Spain is the clear winner on volume alone, as well as impressive on quality; its official tourism website identifies more than 400 beaches where people can sun in the buff (Tripatini covered 21 of them here). Among the standouts are Torimbia, a spectacular crescent-shaped beach up north in Asturias (chilly water, though!); El Torn, near Tarragona, with its dunes and pine groves; and Maspalomas, on Gran Canaria, also famous for its dunes and where designated stretches of beach welcome nude sunbathers (and there´s also a LGBTQ - mostly gay male - element, too).
Germany with its venerable FKK ("free body culture") is right up there, too, with as many as 300 naturist beaches and bathing spots nationwide; perhaps the best known is Buhne 16, on the North Sea island of Sylt, which became a celebrated gathering place for West Germany's naturists in the 1960s and 1970s and these days is a fashionable, clothing-optional stretch of sand where nude and swimsuit-clad beachgoers mingle, Sylt also has numerous designated naturist sections elsewhere on the island. Two other prominenet beachs on the Baltic Sea coast are Ahlbeck FKK Strand on Usedom Island and Warnemünde FKK Strand near Rostock.
France is a (distant) third, with 73 designated naturist plages, the best known of which is the one at the naturist village of Cap d'Agde toward the western end of the Côte d´Azur; other top contenders are the wild beach near seven naturiste villages in the small town of Leucate, an hour south along the coast from Cap d´Agde; and of course the beach associated with the above mentioned CHM Montalivet.
And finally, Croatia´s coast, in addition to the strand at the abovementioned Valalta Naturist Camp, also features the likes of Saharska Plaža (Sahara Beach) on the island of Rab (a wilder, less resort-oriented experience, reached on foot rather than by car) and the one at Koversada near the Istrian Peninsula town of Vrsar, part of one of Europe's most historic naturist destinations, associated with organized naturism since the early 1960s (yes, the days of Communist Yugoslavia).
In North America there are rather fewer. The United States is estimated to have around 20, with standouts including Haulover, a half hour north of Miami Beach; the New Jersey Shore´s Gunnison Beach, and a section of the spectacular Black's Beach, outside San Diego, California. In Canada, apart from a handful of "unofficial" spots scattered across the country, there are three to speak of: Vancouver´s Wreck Beach; Little Tribune Bay on Hornby Island across the harbor from Vancouver; and Hanlan's Point Beach in Toronto. Down in Mexico, there are several beaches associated with resorts such as the previously mentioned Hidden Beach, but for public beaches, the only authorized place is the mile-long strand in the boho town of Zipolite, with a decades-old naturist culture, hotels, restaurants, and even an annual nudist festival in late January (it´s also popular with the LGBTQ crowd).
Add to these another 15 or so throughout the Caribbean. Besides private beaches attached to resorts like Hedonism II, public clothing-optional beaches are most likely to be found in the French Caribbean, including St-Martin, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, such as St.Martin´s Baie Orient and Guadeloupe´s Anse Tarare.
Read more in my post 3 of the World´s Main Nude/Naturist Travel Options in 2026.
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