Just as we were thinking about a possible topic for this blog post, an email came in. After a short introduction about who she was, where she was from, and what tickled her interest in social nudity, came the question: “Where do I start?”.
It seems so easy, and if she had asked us several years ago, we would have replied: “Try to find a naturist club or resort in your area, if these don’t exist, maybe search for a well-known nude beach.”
After years of exploring different places and talking to different people about their likes and dislikes, their experiences, and their uncertainties, we realised that the perfect place to start really depends on the person. What may be great for us might not be for you. And vice versa. So instead of writing her a long email back, we’ll write this to every one of you who found this website because you want to take your first step into social nudity and don’t know where to start.
How comfortable are you already?
The spectrum of how comfortable people feel about being naked among others is large. On one end are those who think that clothes are an absolute burden and would love to walk naked out of the front door right now. On the other are people who haven’t been seen naked by another person since they entered puberty. Including their partner.
Most people will end up somewhere in between. We both come from families where nudity wasn’t considered an issue or something shameful, but neither was it very common. Social nudity at our homes was largely for practical purposes. If you had an urgent question when mom was under the shower, if everyone was preparing to go to bed at the same time, or if new clothes needed to be tried out.
This didn’t change much when we moved in together. In the evening you could find us walking around naked between the bathroom, the toilet, and the bedroom. On very hot days when we weren’t expecting any visitors, you may have found us in an advanced state of undress. But very hot days don’t happen all that much in Belgium. Most of the time, we would have at least some clothes on.
At home
If you are not used to being naked among your close family members, your own home might be a good place to start. There are two very strong feelings you get when you try social nudity for the first time. One is being naked in a place where others can see you and the other is seeing a lot of nudity all around you. If the others are your partner and/or children, this may seem less uncomfortable.
One thing about this approach is how to explain this to the others. It may feel kinda weird to say “Hey kids, from now on you’ll see a lot of my naked butt around the house”. Or maybe not, maybe that’s exactly the kind of thing your family expects from you. As mentioned earlier, a lot differs from person to person.
✅ PRO: You are with people you completely trust
❌ CON: You kinda divided the first step in half. If you’re really getting into social nudity, there will be a Step 1.2 by going naked with strangers for the first time.
Private gatherings
We’ve met some people who tried social nudity for the first time at a private gathering with friends. We’re not talking about that late-night drunken skinny dip when you were eighteen, but a real get-together with friends without clothes. This may happen if you’re being invited by nudist friends, if you live in a country where the other options are limited, or if you all just seem to share this common interest in trying social nudity.
However, one of the biggest fears of people going naked with others for the first time is actually that they will run into someone they know. So this is definitely not ideal for everyone. In fact, this was us too. When we took our first steps into social nudity, we found it comfortable to know that the people who were going to see us naked would be strangers we had never met before and whom we would probably never see again either.
✅ PRO: You are with people you trust and since you all know each other, the fear of awkward situations may be less.
❌ CON: You may find the idea uncomfortable that the people you’ve been naked with have an important place in your life.
Spa/wellness
Our very first social nude experience was in a Belgian spa centre. Just like in the Netherlands, Germany, and several other European countries, they are by default nude. Well, at least the facilities. At these wellness centres, you’ll find that people are naked in the swimming pool, the hot tub, the saunas, and whatever other facilities there may be, but that they often cover up with a towel or bathrobe when in between facilities.
For us, this was the ideal first step because we always felt like we could cover up whenever we felt uncomfortable. In the beginning, that was exactly what we did. Bathrobe out, in the pool, out the pool, bathrobe on, bathrobe out, in the hammam, out the hammam, bathrobe on. And so on. It didn’t take long though, before we considered the distance between the hot tub and the sauna not far enough to bother putting that bathrobe back on. Not too long after that, we had to think where we had seen our bathrobe the last time.
If you feel uncertain about going naked with people from other genders, some wellness centres have non-mixed gender areas or organise women-only moments.
✅ PRO: You can take going naked at your own pace. It’s totally fine to walk around in a bathrobe for half an hour before you use one of the facilities.
❌ CON: Because a lot of visitors of wellness centres do choose to cover up between facilities, you may feel uncomfortable walking around naked even if that’s what you want to do.
Hot springs
While nude wellness centres are mostly a European thing, in the United States you’ll find the concept of clothing-optional hot springs. In most states, it’s perfectly legal and commonly accepted to be naked in and around hot springs. In the little experience we have with these, we always found a mix of people. Some would be in a bathing suit, others would be naked, some would swim naked but put on a bathing suit while sunbathing, or vice versa.
Clothing-optional places have the same difficulty as wellness centres. The common dress code depends a lot on the other people. If you happen to visit one and everyone is naked, this may be a good push in the back to get naked as well. But if most others are in bathing suits, this may actually stop you from going naked.
One big difference with the wellness centres is that hot springs are public places, meaning that there’s no control over who visits them. Public places sometimes have the issue of “meerkats”, people who come to look at naked people. Most of the time they are completely harmless, but they can make you feel uncomfortable.
✅ PRO: You can take going naked at your own pace.
❌ CONS:
- You can’t know upfront how many of the visitors will be naked as well
- Some people come with the wrong intentions
Nude beach
The other public place on our list is nude beaches. We are often a bit reluctant to advise people to go to a nude beach for their first time because nude beaches are often a hit or miss. Some are absolutely spectacular, with wonderful scenery and lots of friendly naked people. Others can have a strange vibe, with meerkats and people looking for a quick hookup.
Nevertheless, the very large majority of the people we met had their first social nude experience at a nude beach. The step seems to be smaller than at most of the other places on this list because they are free and easy to leave when you feel like it’s not your thing. In most countries, nude beaches are also much more common than any other kind of nude place.
We have been to nude beaches where nude is really the dress code and where the community will make sure that everyone is informed that this is not the right place to wear a bathing suit. Most nude beaches have more like a clothing-optional vibe though. Many will be naked, some will be wearing something.
✅ PROS:
- Nude beaches are very accessible
- You can come and leave as you wish and often go naked at your own pace
❌ CONS:
- Some nude beaches are better than others so doing a bit of research is recommended
- Some people come with the wrong intentions
Resorts, campgrounds, and clubs
After nude beaches, the second most common place to get naked with others is resorts, which include campgrounds, clubs, hotels, BNBs, and cruises. Nude resorts come in every form that you also find in the clothed world, from small natural campgrounds in the woods to Caribbean all-inclusive hotels. Some resorts have a day pass system, others require their guests to stay one or more nights.
Resorts also differ a lot in the facilities they offer, their activities, and the audience they are trying to attract. Some aim for families, others for couples. Some prefer relaxed and quiet guests and others are more for active ones. The dress code too depends a lot from resort to resort. Some apply an nude obligatory policy, meaning that you should be naked at all times when the weather allows it. In other resorts, nudity is only enforced in certain areas or facilities, typically in and around the pool.
When picking a resort, it’s a good idea to have a look at the pictures, the list of facilities, and the activities. Are they offering something you will enjoy other than a place to be naked? Our rule of thumb is to ask ourselves the question: “Would I also want to visit this place if it wasn’t nude?”
✅ PROS:
- Because resorts are private, there’s a high level of security.
- You can choose a type of resort depending on your wishes and expectations.
❌ CON: Some resorts have endless lists of rules, making you spend more time questioning if you’re doing something wrong than actually enjoying the place.
Events
Throughout our travels, we’ve met several people whose first time naked with others was at a World Naked Bike Ride. These events are being organised in big cities all around the world. As a kind of protest, a group of people is riding naked on a bike through the city. Obviously, these events also attract a lot of spectators and that’s why it’s hard for us to imagine that we would have picked such an event for our first time. Going naked with other naked people was already a big step, naked with a bunch of clothed people on the sideline would have been a step too far.
We also met people whose first social nude experience was at a naked yoga class. Similarly, we don’t think that, if we had heard about naked yoga at the time, we would have chosen it for our first time. At the spa, we were very careful about how we positioned our nude bodies, trying not to give others a full moon. Yoga poses are even a step further.
Yet, we can now understand why people choose events for their first time. It’s the sense of community. We’re all there, with the same goals and the same interests and this has nothing to do with our bodies or with nudity. Also, you’re busy. Busy riding a bike, doing the downward facing dog, singing in the choir, or running a 5K and this takes your mind off the fact that you and everyone else are naked.
✅ PROS:
- Strong sense of community
- Nudity is not the goal, but a tool for a bigger purpose
❌ CON: This might be a HUGE step out of your comfort zone.
Your first time
We’re sure that there may be other places to try social nudity for the first time that we haven’t thoroughly highlighted in this overview. But we think that we’ve tackled the most common ones and hopefully they will help you, the aspiring naked person, to pick the perfect place.
As we mentioned earlier, this is all very personal. If you ask us whether a European spa is a great place to start, we will definitely say YES! But we wouldn’t be surprised if someone else said: “I tried the nude spa, damn that was lame. Luckily I discovered the World Naked Bike Ride soon after.”
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Good breakdown of possibilities.