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Going au naturel is a way of life for France’s naturist community of over 1.5 million people, one of the largest in Europe. Topless beaches have been the norm in France since the 1950s, and the French have a healthier relationship with body images than many other societies. There are naturist camps and resorts across France, mainly in the south and southwest because of the warmer temperatures. We have gathered a list of top nude resorts in France for you to ponder.
8 Top Naturist Resorts In France
1. Cap d’Agde
Cap d’Agde is one of the oldest and largest nuturist resorts in France and the largest in the world. The freewheeling naturist lifestyle at the seaside resort of Cap d’Agde started in the 1960s and continues today to be a top naturist destination for a nakation.
Located in southwest France in the Occitanie region near the city of Montpellier, Cap d’Agde is spread over 68 acres near the sea and the forest. There’s a wide, sand beach about a mile long on the Mediterranean Sea. The beach has two facilities, Paralia Beach Club and La Meridienne, which have a café and restaurant, bar, sunbeds and mats, parasols, and pedal boat rentals. There are also nude cruises.
In the height of the summer months, Cap d’Agde has between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors. There’s an extensive array of accommodations for all budgets including a camping site, villas with pools, cottages, hotels, apartments, and mobile homes.
Cap d’Agde also has a shopping center, supermarket, boutiques, a bakery, and a camping store.
Montpellier is the closest large city to Cap d’Agde, about 60 minutes by car. There’s the Béziers Cap d’Agde Airport, which has a shuttle service to the village and beaches. The train stations Agde, Béziers, and Sète are the closest.
Pro Tips
- Even though Cap d’Agde is family and child friendly, be aware that there are parts of the resort that have sexual activities plus adult and swinger activities at night.
- Most of the staff speak English at Cap d’Agde.
2. Euronat
For first-time naturists, Euronat may be the best place to test out the waters, which is more like a friendly village. Set in a pristine, pine forest covering 825 acres, it leads to a beautiful, three-quarter-mile, fine sand beach with dunes on the Atlantic Ocean. Euronat is situated in the Medoc region of the Gironde department of southwest France and can be reached by train and bus from Bordeaux, or by car from Bordeaux, approximately a one-hour drive.
The Euronat resort offers lots of fun activities such as pottery-making classes, bike riding, picnicking, painting, and a swimming pool to make you feel all the more comfortable while being naked.
Euronat is also child and family-friendly, and there are fun activities for children of all ages from 3 all the way up to teenagers over 14. Activities include craft workshops, games, music classes, surfing, sports tournaments, tennis, and swimming.
Accommodations include pitches for tents, mobile homes, semi-detached houses, small lodges and cottages, and chalets, all at reasonable prices.
There’s a shopping center plus restaurants, cafes, and bars in the village. The Thalasso Spa offers a sauna, Turkish-style steam bath, Jacuzzi, swimming pool filled with warm seawater, massages, facial and body treatments, scrubs, seaweed and mud wraps, and a beauty salon for haircuts and makeup treatments.
3. Tahiti Beach, Saint Tropez
Saint Tropez, the legendary beach resort on the French Riviera, has been known for its hedonistic lifestyle since the swinging 60s, so a nude beach is only natural. Tahiti Beach is a “clothing optional” sand beach about 3 miles from the village of Saint Tropez. Letting it all hang out on Tahiti Beach can get expensive, with hotel rooms going for at least $350-$475 per night in the height of the summer. Best to come in June or September when it’s still warm enough to be naked and the hotel rates substantially lower.
There are several luxury beach clubs on Tahiti Beach, including Byblos Beach Club, Club 55, Tahiti Beach Club, and Lou Lou Beach club, which has chairs, towels, and umbrella rentals, restaurants, cafes, and bars.
Pro Tips
- You must wear clothing at the beach clubs, restaurants, cafes, and bars.
- Brigitte Bardot plunged Saint Tropez into the limelight when she starred in the film And God Created Woman in 1956, and she continues to live there up to this day.
4. Paris
We weren’t going to include Paris on the list, but we did find a small naturist enclave close to the middle of the city. The Bois de Vincennes, a park and forest just on the outskirts of Paris and reachable by metro, has a naked sunbathing area.
5. La Sablière
Located in the Gard region in eastern France, La Sablière is a naturist camp and resort on the Ceze River surrounded by forest and mountains. La Sablière caters more to families seeking out fun activities such as canoeing and kayaking, swimming in the river and outdoor and indoor pools, hiking and climbing, tennis, miniature golf, pottery classes, archery, volleyball, table tennis, and a kids club. There’s also a gym facility with workout machines and a spa with skin, body, and beauty treatments, massages, and steambath.
There’s also great sightseeing in the area outside La Sablière, including the ancient Pont du Gard bridge from when the Romans occupied this region of France, the cities of Nimes and Avignon, the market in the village of Barjac, museums, and la Cocalière caves.
You can choose from a wide variety of accommodations at La Sablière, including furnished tents, bungalows, mobile homes, and chalets.
6. CHM-Montalivet
CHM-Montalivet is the oldest nuturist resort in France, opened in 1950 in the Vendays-Montalivet region of the Gironde department. The sprawling 430-acre site with 7.5 miles of roads, has a 1.2-mile stretch of beach on the Atlantic ocean. CHM-Montalivet is more like a self-contained naturist city where almost everything you need and want is there without having to leave the premises.
The resort boasts a shopping area with 20 shops, a supermarket, 11 restaurants, two bakeries, a newsstand, an organic food shop, butcher, fishmonger, cultural center, library, cybercafe, two swimming pools, and a cinema. There’s also a huge focus on sports and activities including petanque courts, archery, tennis, soccer, handball, volleyball, and a gym.
Kids are included in the fun, and there’s an aquatic park with a paddle pool and water slide, a playground, and clubs they can join according to their age, which has activities such as singing, dancing, drawing, live shows, parties, and sports competitions.
CHM-Montalivet is divided into 20 villages, each with its own identity. There’s a mix of over 1,000 privately owned chalets, bungalows, and 260 sites for camping.
7. Verdon Provence
On a smaller scale than some of the larger resorts in this article is Verdon Provence, located in the popular Provence area of France. Located on a high hill, it has a pretty view of Lake Esparron-de-Verdon, where you can swim naked in the cool, refreshing water or swim in a nearby creek.
The campsite includes a heated swimming pool, a full-service restaurant, bar, a sauna, and massages. Boule tournaments, naturist hikes, and aqua aerobics are the activities available, and there’s also a kids club twice a week where they can participate in games, arts and crafts, and sports.
The Provence region surrounding the camp has a wealth of culture and heritage sites including the famous lavender fields, olive farms, Musée de la Préhistoire (the largest prehistoric museum in Europe), stunning gorges, rosé wineries, the factory where L’Occitaine cosmetics and skincare products are produced, and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a charming village named one of the most beautiful in France.
8. Les Lauzons
Located on a beautiful hill on the edge of the Luberon in the Provence region, Les Lauzons, is a site that glows in sunshine for most of the summer months, ideal for outdoor activities and living. The four-star, upscale resort has an excellent restaurant using local ingredients in its dishes, a small grocery store and bakery with daily fresh-baked breads and pastries, washing machines, a sauna, a massage facility, and a bar. Some of the activities include petanque games, craft workshops, and musical evenings with live entertainment. The main structure of the Les Lauzons is an ancient 17th-century stone building.
There are three pools to enjoy with many water activities including a heated lap pool which also has a toboggan water slide, a round pool for general swimming, a kiddie pool, and aquatic games.
Les Lauzons offers many types of accommodations including tents, chalets, lodges with mini-kitchens, mobile homes, and eco-trailers.
Pro Tips: There’s a rental fee of $18 for a set of sheets and $12 for a set of towels. There are charming Provence villages nearby to visit such as Forcalquier, Manosque, Sisteron, and Les Mées.
Etiquette
There are some general common-sense tips and etiquette to follow when visiting naturist resorts and camps in France.
- Be respectful of others around you and don’t gawk or stare, as this makes other people self-conscious and uncomfortable.
- Don’t take photos. If you do want to take a photo, ask permission, and do not post on the internet or on social media, without asking permission.
- Children are welcome at all of these resorts and most of them have special activities geared for families and children.
- Wear highly protective sunscreen, at least 30 SPF, all over your body, even on cloudy days, plus wearing a hat and sunglasses will also protect you from the sun.
- This tip is for men. If for some reason you feel sexually aroused, which can sometimes happen, take the necessary steps to control the situation by either going into the water or covering up with a towel or a pair of shorts.