In you opinion, what is the most nudist friendly country? It's too bad that there isn't one country on the planet that has no hang ups or laws against nudity.
Replies
- AL
AlMay 16, 2026Most countries in Western Europe have more tolerant attitudes and laws re nudity. Context varies. In England you can hike nude on public lands, its not automatically a violation but you have to use judgment as to not intentionally offend. I think France might have the largest number of registered nudists. In Germany saunas and spas are often mixed gender and nude. Spain has a lot of nude beaches and a desirable climate. Im sure there are some European members who can give better advice on this.
ReactReply - MEMemberMay 17, 2026
1. Spain (public nudity is legal in many cities, and most public beaches are nudist beaches there)
2. Denmark one of the only places where non-sexual nudity is also tolerated nation-wide, one of the only one officially in the E.U.
3. Iceland (public nudity and toplessness is more tolerated there than any other country, by public sentiment and laws.)
4. The most awesome Nudist beaches are in Greece, more beaches than normal in Europe, Greece does not always have the best clothing laws, but often sometimes in some municipalities allow public toplessness. Probably by far the country in the Orthodox Christian World and the Muslim World and the Roman Catholic World that has the best clothing laws and among the most nudist beaches in those regions outside of Spain or Portugal or Italy.
5. New Zealand, every beach is a nude beach per national laws.
6. The UK, one of the only other places where non-sexual nudity is also tolerated nation-wide, at least on paper if not in practice, among the Council of Europe nations and the world
7. The Netherlands (Every Public Beach is Clothing optional, but not every city proper zone is always clothing optional)
8. Germany (has an unusually high amount of officially nudist public places, including many beaches and several major urban parks, and some of which of course are nudist-only beaches or otherwise public spaces that are clothing-optional public spaces)
9. France (Has a lot of nudist cities and clothing-optional municipalities and resorts, but not the majority of cities, but a very large number of beaaches.)
10. Croatia (has a lot of nudist places and resorts and beaches, older than most nudist resorts earlier in history for most nudist resorts.)
11. Italy (has a lot of nude beaches and nudist resorts, some coastal municipalities have places officially topless beaches at some coastal beaches)
12. Portugal (a lot of nudist resorts and a few resort villages that are clothing opitional, a very large selection of nudist beaches)
13. Norway (Larger than normal nudist sauna culture and nudist beach culture in summer time)
14. Sweden (Larger than normal nudist sauna culture and nudist beach culture in summer time)
15. Finland (Larger than normal nudist sauna culture and nudist beach culture in summer time)
16. Canada (most provinces allow some public toplessness, a larger than normal amount of nudist places in most provinces as well.)
17. Japan (Occaisonally has a mixed-gender hot springs nudist culture called Onsen hot baths or hot springs culture in their nation. Most are not mixed gender, but many allow mixed-gender nude hot springs.)
18. Brazil, the largest number of nudist beaches are on its Coastal provinces, but is more welcoming of some nudism on beaches in some larger coastal cities and in some national parks.
19. Uruguay, has several nudist beaches
20. Argentina, has several nudist beaches
22. Chile has several nudist beaches
24. Colombia, has several nudist beaches
25. Ecuador, has several officially clothing-optional and unofficially clothing-optional beaches.
26. The United States, some states plus Puerto Rico have several official nudist beaches, and some have nudist resorts and official or unofficial beaches. Nudism and toplessness and some public nudity are basically tolerated in many places inside Oregon, Washington State, and most of the towns in Vermont. Public nudity and toplessness is fully legal under State Law In Kansas the State. Other states generally restrict it, but female toplessness is legal in many states, even if some states legalize toplessness without fully legalizing nudity.
Nudity AND Toplessness is banned in Arkansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, Kentucky Tennessee, and Utah outside of officially nudist spaces.
Some places both lack nudity and have nudism and nudity and toplessness illegal, as is the case in Utah and South Dakota.
I hope that helps on some of the nudity laws.
Look up references at the state laws' official government websites, The Naturist Action Committee website, the INF-FNI/International Naturist Federation (Federation Naturiste Internationale), and the American Association for Nude Recreation, and The Naturist Society, and the resources on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage. Use all of those websites critically, and do deep dives on these topics on your own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturism_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_nudity_places_in_North_America#United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_nudity_places_in_North_America
That should partially help answer some of these questions.
ReactReply - MA
MarcusMay 17, 2026Easy question: Germany and France. They both invented naturism.
ReactReply - MAMarcusMay 17, 2026[quote]In Germany saunas and spas are often mixed gender and nude. [/quote] Saunas are mostly mixed but Germany has women saunas were men are not allowed to go to. Clothing is strictly forbidden in all saunas.ReactReply
- TD
Tom DMay 17, 2026Someone on another board retired to a rural area in the Canary Islands and said that nudity was acceptable in most places and where it wasn't a small wrap would suffice. When he had to go into a larger town he wore a kilt. The last time he posted he hadn't worn pants or shorts in over 2 years and had gotten rid of almost all of his clothes!
ReactReply - NKnkhikerOriginal PosterMay 17, 2026
On the previous list I would dispute Iceland. I found it disappointingly nudist unfriendly. For a place with so many hot springs and spas, it is almost impossible to find one that is clothing optional.
ReactReply - STStephenMay 17, 2026
I looked at naturismre because they said they checked 325 countries, territories and regions. What they say is,
1. Oregon state. These have been checked for, legality, availability, cultural acceptance
2. Germany. Infrastructure, and law enforcement trends. Each of these areas got a rating
3. Denmark. between 0-5, with Oregon getting 25 points, the next 3 got 24
4. Netherlands
5. FranceReactReply - MEMemberMay 17, 2026[quote]I looked at naturismre because they said they checked 325 countries, territories and regions. What they say is, 1. Oregon state. These have been checked for, legality, availability, cultural acceptance 2. Germany. Infrastructure, and law enforcement trends. Each of these areas got a rating 3. Denmark. between 0-5, with Oregon getting 25 points, the next 3 got 24 4. Netherlands 5. France[/quote] Yes, those and Spain and the Canaries are generally the best locations. They got about all of that as correct as possible. They do know what they are able to know. And yes, Spain and the the Canaries, is as far as the democratic countries are concerned, are really special and good places culturally for the nudists and naturists.ReactReply
- NKnkhikerOriginal PosterMay 18, 2026[quote]I looked at naturismre because they said they checked 325 countries, territories and regions. What they say is,[/quote] Can you post a link to this. The NaturismRE site is a bit difficult to navigate and find specific articles.ReactReply
- STStephenMay 18, 2026[quote]I looked at naturismre because they said they checked 325 countries, territories and regions. What they say is,1. Oregon state. These have been checked for, legality, availability, cultural acceptance2. Germany. Infrastructure, and law enforcement trends. Each of these areas got a rating3. Denmark. between 0-5, with Oregon getting 25 points, the next 3 got 244. Netherlands5. France Yes, those and Spain and the Canaries are generally the best locations. They got about all of that as correct as possible. They do know what they are able to know. And yes, Spain and the the Canaries, is as far as the democratic countries are concerned, are really special and good places culturally for the nudists and naturists.[/quote] The list has the top 20. Spain is number 6ReactReply
- MEMemberMay 30, 2026
Sounds about right.
I read somewhere that spain was among the several few only places where "if the town or municipality does not make nudity illegal" then "nudity is legal anywhere else."
That was something I had accounted for, though I know now that those legal statistics were in error.
It is more like "most towns often ban public nudity but not private nudity, but nudism is legal in a lot of the major cities but not all of them."
Probably, since I have not seen the listing, my guess as to what NaturismRE posted as the top seven nudist countries.
1 France
2 Denmark
3 Iceland
4 Norway
5 Finland
6 Spain
7 Sweden
I will read the listing later.
I do not know if any of that is correct.
ReactReply - MAMarcusJun 8, 2026
here is the answer from ChatGPT:
Germany
Often considered one of the most nudist-friendly countries in the world.
Has a long tradition of Freikrperkultur (FKK, "free body culture"), which promotes non-sexual social nudity. Nude beaches, lakes, campgrounds, and sauna culture are widespread. Public attitudes tend to be relatively relaxed compared with many other countries.
France
Home to some of the world's largest naturist resorts. The famous Cap d'Agde is often called the "naturist capital of the world." Large naturist organizations and extensive nude beach networks.
Spain
Has many nude beaches, and Spanish law is generally permissive regarding simple nudity. Coastal areas often have mixed textile and nude beach use. Social acceptance is relatively high in tourist regions.
Croatia
Long history of naturist tourism dating back decades. Numerous FKK resorts, campsites, and beaches along the coast.
Netherlands and Denmark
Generally tolerant social attitudes. Designated nude beaches and naturist facilities are common. Nudity is often viewed pragmatically rather than as inherently sexual.I do not agree with Cap dAgde as a capitol of naturism, because it is now a capitol for swingers. But France has many resorts for naturism.
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