Top 10 Best Nude Beaches
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by Jordan Simon
Nude sunbathing has long been a cherished all-American tradition, from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn cavorting in their birthday suits to Norman Rockwell's idyllic portraits of youngsters splashing at the swimming hole. Today stripping down is increasingly popular and accepted; financially strapped municipalities have even discovered that going topless – and more – improves the bottom line. Psychological studies show that shedding clothes and inhibitions in a non-judgmental environment can decrease stress and improve self-esteem.Just remember some bare necessities. Naturists are not exhibitionists; they believe literally getting back to nature promotes interpersonal acceptance and enhances comfort within one's own skin. Show respect and practice etiquette. While there's no denying the scenery can be eye-catching in more ways than one, gawking is gauche, as is snapping away on your mobile (at least ask permission!). Observe common beach courtesy: clean up your mess, don't assume that nude equals lewd, cover up before leaving the clothing-optional section, and keep your hands (and comments) to yourself. Most nude beaches are family-friendly, with their own advocacy groups who throw parties, volunteer to clean up litter, and handle harassers; indeed naturists are often better behaved than their clothed beachcombing brethren. Unless the beach advertises amenities, bring your own water, food, towels (always put something between your assets and the ground), etc. Foremost, know the law, which varies from state to state, even town to town. Look for (and obey) signage.
We have the skinny on the best skinny dipping spots in the U.S.: Don't forget your sunscreen!
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Black's Beach, La Jolla (San Diego), California
THE NAKED TRUTH: You expect buff bods in the buff in Southern California, and Black's delivers, though its growing fame attracts folks with more than 15% body fat, too. The stunning setting also redefines "ocean view:" dramatic 300-foot multi-hued sandstone cliffs tower over the nearly two-mile-long, 60-foot-wide stretch, while a rainbow of surfboards, parasails, and hang-gliders dot the sea and sky. Located between Torrey Pines and La Jolla Farms, Black's is relatively inaccessible: Several rickety, even unstable walkways descend the steep bluffs, and landslide warnings are common after heavy rain (easiest entry is via the gated, paved path at La Jolla Farms and Blackgold Roads); study the tide schedule, as sandy sections are often washed away, obstructing passage for hours. The north end attracts the gay crowd, the center is a real mix of ages and body types, and the south is where surfer dudes hang out and hang ten on fierce swells (everyone else should beware the riptides), often accompanied by pirouetting porpoises. Though not an officially designated clothing-optional beach, officials, um, look the other way; the southernmost section where students from nearby UCSD congregate is definitely less nature-friendly. The Black's Beach Bares volunteer group helps maintain and patrol the beach. They also host events and picnics through the summer.TIP: For a bird's-eye view of the big waves and big crowds (up to 10,000 on busy weekends), visit historic Torrey Pines Gliderport perched atop the cliff. You'll find soaring vistas from its cafe – or consider tandem gliding with its experts (established in 1928, the facility taught such luminaries as Lindbergh).
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Baker Beach, San Francisco, California
THE NAKED TRUTH: The Golden Gate National Recreation Area features a string of striking strands like Land's End, but friendly half-mile-long Baker earns raves for its panoramas of the iconic bridge, the decommissioned Presidio military base, and the tawny undulating Marin Headlands. Despite the typically rough Pacific surf and chilly water, the scene can get hot (park rangers on foot and horseback have cracked down on incidents of sexual activity and public urination). Regulars, both nude and clothed, also unofficially keep the peace. Only the northern section, stippled by tidal pools and boulders hulking like abstract sculpture, is clothing-optional and carefully monitored, so obey the warning signs when you amble back south. You'll find a mixed crowd: LGBT to straight young families, seniors to students, corporate honchos to homeless street artists. Locals also consider this area a fine fishing spot, and boats trawl the shore. Grills, picnic tables, and restrooms are available in the "covered" section.TIP: To appreciate the unique marine ecosystem, stroll south to China Beach at low tide when anemones and starfish cling to the cliffs and outcroppings of grayish-green serpentine, the California state rock, where rare flora thrive in the magnesium-rich soil.
Corbis
Haulover Beach, Sunny Isles/Miami, Florida
THE NAKED TRUTH: Long a seedy section of town, this shining example of urban renewal was reclaimed from drug dealers by naturism activists (South Florida Free Beach Association), who successfully petitioned to make the northern 800 yards of the 1.5-mile stretch clothing-optional, promising to clean it up in every sense. Haulover's one of the few county-run government-sanctioned nudity beaches in the U.S.; the Miami-Dade Country Parks & Recreation Department provides certified lifeguards and an array of amenities including barbecue grills, refreshment stands, Wi-Fi, volleyball courts, and parking (accessed via cotton-candy-colored tunnels). The surrounding, family-friendly park boasts a marina, tennis courts, 9-hole golf course, and way-cool public bathrooms (shaped like leviathan cruise ship smokestacks daubed with vibrant stripes). With balmy water temperatures exceeding 80 degrees most of the year, sheltered location between the Intracoastal Waterway/Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, skyscraping sand dunes blocking the modern eyesore development to the west, and unusually downy snow-white sand for the East Coast, small surprise more than one million visitors bask as nature intended annually. Sunbathers run the gamut of shapes and sizes (augmented and au naturel), from toddlers to seniors letting it all hang out (albeit losing the gravity battle).TIP: The sole ugly part of the beach, a 20-foot chain link enclosure, is actually a hatchery protecting endangered sea turtles. The county hosts release parties of newborns July through late September; reservations are essential to watch them crawl from their shells at night when the park is closed.
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Little Beach, Makena, Maui, Hawaii
THE NAKED TRUTH: Though Hawaii bans public nakedness, a 1980s district court ruling permitted it here thanks to the tiny strand's remoteness and decades-old tradition of nude sunbathing. This 1/8th-mile arched eyebrow of topaz-hued sand, inaccessible by car, abuts the prosaically named, very clothing-mandatory Big Beach. But Nature literally protects her celebrants with tall shrubs, driftwood mounds, craggy lava rocks, and a cinder cone (Pu'u Ola'i, which also provides the locals' name for the beach). Hawaiian legend claims that the demigod Maui, who compelled the sun to pass more slowly to enhance humanity's enjoyment, was born on this idyllic speck famed for the setting sun's fireworks and equally pyrotechnic snorkeling. Small wonder world travelers make a pilgrimage to play Adam and Eve in this Eden amid frolicking whales and pods of dolphin.TIP: Little Beach abounds in color, including such regulars as naturism standard-bearer Dr. Leisure (née George Harker), renowned for his vivid paintings of nude beaches around the world. Befriend him and he might cut a deal on a souvenir portrait.
Jim Mahoney, Boston Herald / Corbis
Moshup Beach, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
THE NAKED TRUTH: A-listers have long made a beeline to Martha's Vineyard to admire its quaint 19th-century Victorian houses and rugged coastline, including gorgeous Gay Head Point, a national landmark comprising a 1799 brick lighthouse and spectacular 130-foot ruddy clay cliffs formed by receding glaciers clawing the earth in their wake. Several of the more remote beaches have a longstanding tradition of nude sunbathing (perhaps started by the eccentric artists and writers who've flocked here like gulls). Most naturists congregate on isolated Moshup, one of four serene beaches in the town of Aquinnah (formerly called Gay Head). Families gather near the wooden boardwalk marking the entrance, but as you amble down the shore, people (and clothes) become scarcer; large rocks permit strategically private sunbathing if you're shy. The only interlopers are ospreys dive-bombing for fish, and perhaps the occasional Secret Service agent (no confirmed Clinton or Obama sightings). The undertow is stronger here, but the water tends to be warmer; be sure to bring food, water and other necessities as there's no development.TIP: Climbing the cliffs behind the beach or removing the clay is prohibited by law and vigorously prosecuted, but examining the ancient rock for fossils remains fascinating.
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Gunnison Beach, Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area, New Jersey
THE NAKED TRUTH: Located just across the entrance to New York Harbor, the 6-mile Sandy Hook peninsula encompasses several beaches, including this two-mile smile of sand that has been officially designated clothing-optional since the 1970s. The National Park Service (and Friends of Gunnison society) claims it's the largest nude beach on the Atlantic Coast, drawing more than 5,000 beach bums (in both senses) a day on summer weekends. The NPS provides lifeguards, police protection, outdoor showers, biking trails, concession stands, and a free concert series. A true cross-section, the diverse crowd includes families, couples, singles, straights, gays – all escaping hustling, hurtling urban life for the day. Everyone feels comfortable as eyes are more likely to scan the historic 1764 Sandy Hook Lighthouse (the nation's oldest operating facility) or the dramatic views of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and lower Manhattan skyline. The beach once formed part of Fort Hancock, a military installation established in the 19th century. Remnants of the Gunnison Battery still guard the sand; rumor has it that soldiers dropped trou to skinny dip here for decades before the base was decommissioned.TIP: If you're both a naturist and a naturalist, visit the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory which includes a breeding ground for the endangered indigenous piping plover and the Western Hemisphere's largest expanse of holly trees.
Corbis
Kismet and Lighthouse Beaches, Fire Island, New York
THE NAKED TRUTH: Those who think of Fire Island as one big party-hearty hedonistic Disco Era throwback might be surprised. While some villages like Cherry Grove are practically revered among the LGBT community, others like Saltaire couldn't be more quietly hetero and WASP-y. Yet a live-and-let-live attitude has always prevailed along this 31-mile-long barrier island, and that extends to the unofficial nude beaches, with Kismet and adjacent Lighthouse arguably the most popular and varied. Straight, gay, and transgender alike grin and "bare" it cheekily between the trademark dunes and cobalt water.TIP: Fire Island offers a multitude of recreational and historic activities, from pitch-and-putt golf to nature preserves like the Sunken Forest to historic buildings like the majestic 1857 lighthouse. Now an observatory-museum, it offers sensational views of the entire Long island coast sweeping up to the Manhattan skyline
Wikipedia
Collins Beach, Sauvie Island (outside Portland), Oregon
THE NAKED TRUTH: Sauvie Island, anchored in the mighty Columbia River, is managed by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. Collins Beach, one of its two silken beige strands is officially clothing-optional (though it stares unperturbed at its non-CO counterpart). Both sides are hugely popular with day-tripping families from Portland, who appreciate the amenities (including public toilets in the nearby parking lot, picnic shelters, and volleyball courts), cleanliness, spaciousness even on weekends (the northern section offers several secluded spots, screened by handsome cottonwoods, Spanish moss, and red-twig dogwoods), and safety (rangers patrol the area, more to protect naturists from voyeurs). Pleasure boaters tie up along the makeshift docks and though it sits amid a pristine wildlife and fishing preserve, you'll often see lumbering supertankers and tugs passing through along the mercantile channel, framed against the snow-capped Cascades in the distance.TIP: If you're feeling adventuresome, check out Rooster Rock State Park downriver, which boasts the nation's first officially designated clothing-optional beach. The Columbia often overflows its now-overgrown nature trails and Sand Island access; rangers are trying to clean it up (in more ways than one). Perhaps ironically, its most notable geologic feature, an eponymous basalt obelisk once sported a more phallic, rhyming name.
Stephen Witherden, Flickr
Hippie Hollow, Lake Travis (outside Austin), Texas
THE NAKED TRUTH: German and Czech immigrants who primarily settled the Hill Country in the mid-19th century brought nude sunbathing as part of their heritage, though the park got its name from counter-cultural types in the 1960s. Austin has always been known as a fun-loving, enlightened town, and this collection of swimming holes ringed by rugged evergreen-carpeted limestone rocks just 20 minutes' drive from downtown upholds that reputation. Weekends see a good deal of frat-style partying (one reason no one 18 and under is permitted), and the 119-acre park is the kind of place where good ole boys (and gals) mingle easily with an out loud and proud LGBT contingent. It's a recreational mecca, with splendid fishing, perfect swimming conditions, top-notch rock climbing, bird-watching (a protected habitat), boating, and paved hiking trails hugging the bluffs. The water's warm and the local welcome even warmer. Ignore the occasional gawkers perched like hunters in the hills and bushes with long-range binoculars, and don't be afraid to chat up your neighboring sunbathers, and expect to share some salty Texan anecdotes over a frosty Lone Star or four.TIP: Not a beach per se, but a series of limestone "steps" overlooking the lakes; bring air mattresses or several towels to cushion your delicate parts.
Badcherry, Flickr
Mazo Beach, Mazomanie, Wisconsin
THE NAKED TRUTH: It may not be the mighty Mississippi, but you can almost picture Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer splashing about in the Wisconsin River by this surprisingly broad willow- and bluff-lined sandbank between Sauk City and Mazomanie. Despite several attempts, no measures banning nudity have passed the legislature, and hundreds of naturists of all ages cheerfully ignore the occasional peaceful protesters (the eastern half of the river, in Dane County, is legally designated clothing-optional). The lively locals organize fun events aplenty like Nude Olympics and "Christmas in July," and you'll find the expected beach-y amenities like volleyball pits and campfires (yep, cheese dogs and brewskis are popular) replete with acoustic guitar serenades.TIP: Don't be deceived by the shallow water and surrounding sandbars. Though regulars joke that the only surf is caused by ripples of passing canoes, beware the occasionally strong swift currents.
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