How to Find your Clothes-Free Style

If there's one thing we learned from diving very deep into the naked world for almost 7 years in a row now, it's that there's there's no one-size-fits-all. Or, as we like to say, there are as many naturisms or nudisms as there are naturists or nudists.

The other day, we received a message from a couple who had their first clothes-free experience in Resort X and very much disliked it. It came as quite a surprise because it's a resort we had visited before and very much enjoyed, and we met many others who had been there and raved about it. What had gone wrong?

As we've been living in resorts, hotels and Airbnbs, we know exactly how it feels. Several times before, we stayed in a top rated place and hated it. Sometimes we even check out sooner than planned just because every minute we are there makes us feel horrible. This happened in both clothes-free places and clothed places, by the way. It just wasn't our thing. More importantly, such experiences never stopped us from going to other hotels, resorts, or Airbnbs.

Why some naturists will never be clothes-free

This was the advice we gave the couple as well, one place does not represent the whole scope of naturism and nudism. Unfortunately, one negative experience is sometimes all it takes for people to throw in the towel and decide that this is nothing for them.

A good example is Cap d'Agde, the famous naked city in France. Thanks to decades of great marketing, it is today still the most famous clothes-free destination in the world. Yet, it's unlike 99% of all other clothes-free places we've ever been to. The thing with "Cap" is that it caters to both those who are looking for non-sexual social nudity and those who prefer sexual social nudity. As these are pretty much opposites, it's not hard to imagine that you can easily be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although we don't doubt that Cap d'Agde has been an excellent first step into social nudity for some, we're also certain that for many others, it was a reason to never try it again.

This isn't limited to resorts, by the way. At the famous Haulover beach in Florida, you find the non-sexual clothes-free section roughly between lifeguard towers 13 and 15. Beyond tower 15… Let's just say you'll have a lot of explaining to do if you let your kids wander off in that direction. Locals know this, we knew this because we have local friends, but as a tourist or a first-time visitor, it's not hard to get a very wrong image of what naturism or nudism is all about.

How nude do you go?

We used the sexual versus non-sexual social nudity example because, we hope, it easily shows how experiences can be very contrasting. But sometimes the differences are more subtle. Like the nudity policies of resorts. Generally, we can divide them into three categories. On one end is "nude obligatory", meaning that you are expected to always be naked whenever the weather allows it.

At the other end is clothing-optional, giving you the choice of how much or little you want to wear. Somewhere in the middle, you'll find what we like to call "nude encouraged". This is an approach we're seeing a lot in Europe. Basically it means that everywhere you would wear a bathing suit at a textile resort, you are expected to be naked. This includes the swimming pool, the sauna, the beach, and the sun deck. At all other places in the resort and during other activities, you can choose what you find the most comfortable.

Picking a resort with a policy that suits your likes is very important. We regularly hear complaints about the large resorts in France that there are too many clothed people. On the other hand, we also met lots of people who don't want to go to a naturist resort because they don't feel comfortable being naked all the time. Even though that's only the case at certain resorts.

You can find something similar at beaches. We once were at a nude beach in the Netherlands where a group of teenagers were booed away because they didn't undress. In Spain, on the other hand, it's not uncommon that 50% or more of the people at nude beaches are wearing bathing suits. The difficulty at beaches is that there is no policy you can rely on, but rather an unwritten agreement that has been accepted over time.

Friends or strangers

Until a few decades ago, if you wanted to do something without clothes, you roughly had two options. Either you would go to a nude beach, where you can skinny dip and sunbathe or in the rare case play a game of volleyball, but it's not the kind of place where you'd go to grow your address book.

Or you would join a club, where you'd immediately become part of a community, make new friends, do all kinds of fun activities together, and even help around with the plumbing, the gardening, or the bar.

With the growth of clothes-free vacations, the market became more commercial and attracted a lot of people who were seeking something in between. Today, it's not uncommon to find resorts that are more anonymous than a local nude beach. In our experience, a general rule is that the smaller the place, the more social it tends to be. Although we can also think of quite some exceptions.

We like meeting new people during our travels, so a social scene is something we can enjoy. Well, most of the time. Sometimes we just want to get away from everyone and everything and just blend in with the crowd. Depending on our state of mind, we are careful in picking a suitable place.

Who else is there?

One of the reasons why we started Naked Wanderings many years ago, was because we felt that there were often few people our age at the clothes-free places we visited. Age is not a prerequisite to having a great conversation or a good night out, but in the end, sometimes you miss talking to people that you can better relate to. People who understand that being a Youtuber is as much a job as an accountant or a postman and that techno music is more than just noise.

A hot topic on the internet is the gender balance at clothes-free places and the unfair treatment of singles. Although we obviously don't agree with discrimination, we also sense the importance of balance. As a couple, it feels like we naturally connect better with other couples. Although we don't have experience with being alone at a clothes-free place, we imagine that singles enjoy that there are other singles around. We remember times when suddenly all our friends had a boyfriend or girlfriend and started doing couples things and there we were just wanting to do friends things. Maybe you were never in such a situation, but we can tell you, it's not much fun.

But this is not the time or place to talk about our childhood traumas. It happened to us before that we were the only couple or one of the very few at a nude beach or clothes-free event. It also happened that everyone else was at least twice our age. We imagine that if this was our first experience with social nudity, we may have concluded that clothes-free places just weren't for a 30-something couple.

How to find your clothes-free style

As mentioned in the introduction, there are as many types of naturists and nudists as there are people who enjoy going naked. If you've read this blog post so far, you may have gotten an idea of what your preferences are. Of how much time you want to spend without clothes, of whether you want it to be a personal experience or rather a social one and in the case of the latter, what kind of people you may better relate to.

If you still need to take your first steps into social nudity, you may have not completely figured out what you're looking for. The best way to learn what your clothes-free style is, is to just head out in the naked world and try whatever is on offer. Just remember that one place, be it a beach, resort, club or cruise, can never represent the whole scope. Not even Cap d'Agde, no matter how hard they try.

A negative experience should never be a reason to conclude that it's nothing for you. It should be a reason to think about what you liked and did not like about that place and use this knowledge to find something that better fits your needs. Worst case scenario, you'll have to visit a couple of clothes-free places before you find the perfect spot. But the offer is so extensive that we're pretty sure that one day you'll find a naked paradise.