The naked truth: dare you bare all?

By Nick Mayhew, Mail on Sunday

Last updated at 18:38 28 May 2004

• Click here for your chance to win a copy of Bare Beaches by Nick Mayhew! • Browse images from the book!

Not so very long ago nude bathing was regarded as a minority pursuit that appealed only to the cheerfully eccentric.

But today I can happily admit to not having owned a swimming costume for years because bare bathing has become a big part of the modern holiday experience. Find any list of 'things to do before you die' and you can bet skinny-dipping's right up there.

Like millions of other happy holidaymakers, I never wear anything but suncream on the beach. The thought that this most innocent of pleasures is something to be ashamed about faded along with my tan lines years ago.

In case anyone doubts the mainstream appeal of bare bathing, a generation ago mainland Spain did not have a single official nude beach. When we researched Bare Beaches, our guidebook to the world's best places to bare, we gave up counting at 70. And those were just the official ones. And we hadn't even started on the Canaries and Balearics.

Going nude makes a trip to the beach that little bit more special. It's exciting to break out of everyday convention and most first-timers talk enthusiastically about how fabulous it feels to swim naked.

For women it's a sublime escape from people telling you what you should and shouldn't look like. For men, let's just say tight swimming costumes will never look as attractive as an all-over tan.

As bathing naked has lost its stigma, millions of people have quietly discovered it feels wonderful and that surprisingly it's no big deal. As an experience to buy or add on to an existing holiday, it's as accessible as a spa treatment or a round of golf.

In fact, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic, hotels and resorts have been quietly developing facilities to meet the demand from these most discerning of sunbathers.

In Tenerife, in the resort of Playa de las Americas alone more than ten of the biggest hotels have recently made nude bathing areas available to their guests.

All the big tour operators sell holidays in which bare bathing is part and parcel of the local attractions, although in the UK many are blushingly slow to promote the fact. Bare Beaches was written to do the job for them.

Finding a nude beach has never been easier. The most popular countries for bare-bathing holidays are exactly the same as for ordinary beach holidays.

Spain, France, Greece and Portugal, with up-and-coming Croatia, cater for millions of clothed and unclothed beachgoers alike.

As for who's having all the fun, park your towel on a popular European nude beach and it won't take long to realise you're sitting cheek by cheek with our north European neighbours.

The Germans were the first to popularise nudism, which Hitler banned, and it has since been enthusiastically embraced by the Dutch, French and Scandinavians in particular.

But despite the popular misconception that we're a nation inseparable from our underwear, Britain is doing its fair share to fill the bare beaches of Europe.

The most recent survey by British Naturism, the UK's champion of unclad people, found that 24 per cent of Britons admitted going skinny-dipping. And one in seven of us owned up to sunbathing naked. That's a lot of bare bodies.

In fact, for a pastime that is so popular, bare bathing has a surprisingly low profile in the UK. Almost invariably it's described as naturism - a word that simply doesn't apply to millions of satisfied holidaymakers who have no intention of turning it into a social activity.

Most surprising of all, naturism in Britain has never had a femalefriendly image. But almost any popular European bare beach quickly dispels any perception that it's mainly for enthusiastic men and their reluctant partners.

Figures are hard to come by but a survey by one American tour operator, Sun & Fun Nude Travel, recently found that two-thirds of its bookings were made by women.

Perhaps it is the ultimate stress-busting activity.

Membership of British Naturism represents the very keenest of the UK's nude bathers and the most common profession among new members is teaching, followed by nursing.

Stressful jobs and a stressful lifestyle are the perfect incentive to throw aside your clothes along with your cares and get away from it all.

If you really want to luxuriate in the freedom of it, you can even try living naked for your holidays. Europe's coast is dotted with peaceful naturist resorts that have grown up around the bare beach experience.

Spain, Greece and Croatia have their own holiday villages where you can escape as far from the stresses of everyday life as is humanly possible.

But it is the French who have perfected the art of being bare on holiday with some of Europe's most peaceful and stress-free resorts. The choices stretch from rural campsites to luxury hotels, spas and health resorts.

If you're curious rather than convinced, almost all naturist villages are built around a public bare beach.

You can simply go for a swim and a sunbathe without staying. In fact, taking it lightly is the best way to see if you like it.

Nothing can prepare you for when you first take off your knickers in public. I can still remember my own nude debut, standing nervously by my towel and stepping naked into the sunshine for the first time in my adult life.

Amazingly, nothing much happened. The world carried on turning, the sun beat down without blinking. The lady nearest me flicked over another page of her magazine.

It felt really nice. And that was it. Fifteen years later and I can confidently say there's not much more to it than that. I've long since learned that bare-beach etiquette is much the same as on an ordinary beach.

You shouldn't go around staring at or taking snaps of strangers, whether they're wearing a bikini or not. And overt sexual behaviour is equally illegal.

Nude beachgoers tend to care a bit more about their patch of sand, so you won't see so much litter lying around. But one golden rule if you're sitting on a deckchair or a beachside bar -put your towel down first. For your own sake if no one else's.

After a lifetime of being told you should wear a swimming costume, there's never been a better time to ask what's wrong with the one you were born in.

Bare Beaches, compiled by Nick Mayhew and Mike Charles, is available at www.barebeaches.com or for £12.95 plus £2 UK p&p from Lifestyle Press Ltd, PO Box 1087, Bristol BS48 3YD.

CLICK HERE for your chance to win a copy!

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.