Naturism In Spain
By Luís Cortés

Is Spain really a naturist vacation option? read on you'll be surprised to find out just how far naturism has developed in Spain in the last twenty years, you will be so surprised by the positive forward development of naturism in this country, you'll will immediately discard any old harboured misconceptions you might of had about Naturism in Spain.

Spain is one of the most favoured vacation destinations in the world, yearly it receives on the average of fifty million visitors, with such a high number of guests it is plausible to say that many tens of thousands of these visitors are naturists.
Due to the lack of information of the past, many a naturist have only found the naturist possibilities Spain had to offer, by shear luck or by word of mouth only, the lucky ones read trip reports and articles in naturist magazines, usually describing one location only and normally reported by a foreign visitor to the country.

Spain's once only naturist magazine Todo Naturismo and the web site http://www.Virtual-Naturist.com & http://usuarios.iponet.es/lcortes/naturist/index.html are slowly trying to change this state of affairs regarding the lack of actual and precise naturist information about Spain.

This article promises to be different and will try and show you as much you may need to know for a first visit or a revisit.
The first area we will concentrate on will be the Catalonian region whose capital is the world famous city of Barcelona, we will also quickly go over all the naturist centres in Spain, take a short trip to the Balearic islands, ending with a short mention of the possibilities of Catalonia's neighbouring country France.

Barcelona is Spain's second largest city after Madrid it's national capital.
Barcelona is a beautiful Mediterranean city of 3.100.000 inhabitants, rich in culture and artistic monuments, cosmopolitan and enchanting at the same time.
It's international airport El Prat, at 14 km from the city centre, tel.: + 34 (93) 302 7656, is served by flights from all the worlds major cities and airlines, if making Barcelona one of places to visit don't miss out on these places; Barrio Gótico, La Rambla, El Puerto, Ensanche and Museo Picasso, more information can be received from the Tourist office at: Patronato Municipal de Turismo, P.° de Gracia, 35, Barcelona. telephone: + 34 (93) 215 4477 or from the many other informations centres dotted around the city, for car hire which is indispensable if planning a sightseeing tour of this region, it's best to phone the airport tourist information office at: + 34 (93) 325 5829 they will help you out with details & bookings.


While Cap D'Agde will be fine and dandy for some of you and ended it is extremely easy to get there from Catalonia, a short drive north or train ride will take you only half a day's travel time and even using the most basic of road maps will suffice for this trip, Cap D'Agde is by no means everybody's choice of a naturist vacation, if like me you prefer the more relaxed and intimate environment of smaller beaches and naturist communities, something which is nearly impossible to find in France's Mediterranean beaches & resorts, then the Costa Brava offers a good alternative.

As the Costa Brava boasts of as many as 40+ beaches and coves where naturism can be enjoyed, far too many to mention here! I will give you a sample and describe most of the ones found in the Girona province only.

From the confines of the Iberian northeastern tip where the Pyrenees abruptly end and meet the Mediterranean sea the Coast of Girona best
known the world over as La Costa Brava, has it's humble beginnings.

For the adventurous visitor La Costa Brava hides many a surprise just waiting to be discovered by those ready to seek them out.

For the adventurous textile a dozen & a half or more of these surprises come in the form of suddenly discovering a naturist beach and being confronted for the first time by nudity outside of the normal confines of their bedroom or bathroom, for the Naturist seeking these places of nude relaxation it is normally on their list of things to do anyway and usually takes the highest priority over the other holiday activities they may also have plans for.

From the French border one needs not travel far before finding the very first naturist beach, in fact it lays only 18 km from the border.
The beach in question is Playa Cap Ras which takes it's name from the adjacent Cape, Cap Ras, the Cape is one of the last bastions of the Pyrenees before they slowly submerge into the sea and are engulfed by it's warm waters.

Across the bay of Port de La Selva from Cap Ras lies hidden yet another beach where nudity can be enjoyed albeit in a more mixed environment, this is Cala Tamariua and is found just a few kilometres from the touristy and fishing port of Port Selva but for all appearances it could be a million miles away in the wilds, it is a bay of very modest size well tucked in between rocky formations that shelter it from the worst of what the sea can throw at it, making it an ideal place to swim or moor ones small boats in, snorkelling in this sheltered bay is also a pleasure and can reveal all the wonders that can be found in the sea with relative safeness from strong currents.
This is a mixed beach with 50% ratio of textiles and naturists, occupying each about 50% of the total area, due to the proximity between textiles and naturists many a white bottomed visitor have left their negative textilian customs and inhibitions behind on this beach, and hopefully for good.

The peninsula that culminates at Cap de Creus hides among it's winding shore line several more small beaches and coves where one can expose the skin to the warming rays of the Mediterranean sun and bathe in it's waters all in relative peaceful environments surrounded by
nature at it's best, these are Cap Creus (cove), Sa Conca, Cala Canadell, Cala Rostella and Cala Murtra.

Heading south and in the middle of Roses bay we find near the town of Sant Pere Pescador a immense stretch of sand broken up only by frequent rivers and streams it's length of over 12 kilometres has been given different names such as Empuriabrava, Can Comes, Sant Pere Pescador, Empuries, where naturism is practice in many places along this stretch, many campsites and tourist complexes dot this stretch of shoreline and usually near one of these places there is a naturist zone nearby.

Further south and past the town of L'Estartit we find yet another wide expanse of sand, Playa de Pals is well recognizable by it's giant red and white painted Radio Antenna masts of Radio Liberty, seen from miles around these masts are not easy to miss.
Playa Pals is nudist only in some zones but has the advantage of providing services not found at quieter and out of the way beaches. Not far from the southern end of Playa Pals a 300 meter walk along a footpath will lead you to a smaller bay with a more intimate atmosphere than the previous beach mentioned, this small quaint cove seems to be more popular for nudism than it's bigger neighbour and is better liked by the naturist and sea alike, as the sea strokes it's shore in a more gentler manner and Mr. wind stays well north of here in the more open areas.

We don't have to travel very far south again to find yet another marvellous opportunity to shed our garments and enjoy more of that golden Mediterranean sun and this time if we like we can stay at a nude resort quite close to the two small coves I am about to mention.

Camping Relax-Nat a campsite with an exclusive family atmosphere lies just north of the fishing town of Palamos, many of it's residents use the small coves of Cala Bona and Cala Streta when a change of view from the closed environment of the campsite is the order of the day if it becomes to claustrophobic, the coves which are neighbours to one another separated only by a very small outcrop of rock can be mistaken as one as ended are in most guides, they are well away from the hassle of the usual textile tourist haunts and lay in an area of complete tranquillity, yet only a mere three kilometres from the main costal road.

On the winding stretch of the Tossa de Mar road we find yet more excuses to throw our clothes aside, although not many textiles will bump into these secret spots where Cala Vallpresona must take the crowning glory for secretiveness away from Cala Senyor Ramon and Cala Sa Futadera, as the access is not only difficult to find but hard and an exhaustive experience for the unfit, elderly or infirm and really too much of a bother for all the lazy types, yet the rewards can be blissfully appreciated and fulfilling, Cala Sa Futadera on the other hand can only be reached by boat and is by default nearly always empty.

To reach the first most northern of the three beaches Cala Senyor Ramon, a turn at kilometre 35 of the GI-682 (Tossa De Mar) road, signposted for restaurant, some steep steps must be negotiated to descend down to the beach, a huge mount abruptly rises up from the sea at this spot and in bygone years before access was improved this beach was a favourite for the early pioneers of naturism in Spain.
Cala Vallpresona lies just one kilometre further south and offers the visitor something unique in Spain for the naturist, namely free camping on it's pine wooded slopes that back this hidden treasure, as beaches go it wins no prizes, but for sheer freedom and the possibility of continuous naked living by the sea completely free of charge, rules and regulations, while maintaining the unique sociable atmosphere only an naturist environment can produce, it deserves a worthy mention.
A narrow broken path leads from the road down to the beach, the path is remoulded with every winter rain fall as it plays a different roll in winter time to that of the summer dry season, the trip down takes an agile person approximately ten minutes, eventually near it's base tents spring out from in between the thick blanketed forest of pine, these tents are haphazardly placed where there is just enough room for them, the path winds it's way around trees and tents before finally bursting out into the sunshine and ending on the shore.

The beach is some-what rocky but a few and very small pockets of sandy surface can be found to lay on, to once again disrobing and bearing all, although if you think of it one can do it at the top of the hill before descending as all that use the path are naturists coming up from the beach or themselves descending to it, on the way up it's even a better idea to do it naked specially if leaving early while the sun still shines, beach shoes are generally recommended.

The place has a terrific peaceful and friendly atmosphere and if you are travelling light, then this place should be seriously considered for a few days rest, remembering to take enough groceries and water to last that long of course.

Three kilometres South of Tossa De Mar we pass Cala Llevador which lies hidden completely enveloped by a blanket of green dense Mediterranean jungle type of vegetation that cover the mountains that have fallen to the sea.


Lastly before we reach the southern borders of Girona we have one last chance to sample the Costa Brava in a naturist fashion, this is at La Boadella beach mistakenly named as Santa Cristina in many guides, Santa Cristina is it's next neighbour and definitely not naturist.
A brisk 400 meter walk from the hotel of Santa Cristina will take you there, unfortunately it takes many textiles to! and the naturists has to suffer the humiliation of being pushed to it's edges when the numbers of textiles reaches insufferable high numbers.


The river Tordera establishes the natural border between Girona (La Costa Brava) and Barcelona La Costa Dorada, which in contrast offers a more gentle and flat contour of the coastline. This coastline we will explore next time along with the region of Tarragona making Naturist Catalunya accessible to everyone who enjoys this life style or simply wants to live life and experience freedom as is ones right to do, the one beach we think worthy of mentioning and in fine detail now is the beach of El Torn at Hospital de L'Enfant in the Tarragona province.

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