Only one naked beach (photos)

Leucate, France In addition to being one of France’s well-regarded shores for skinny-dipping and nude sunbathing, the half-mile-long Leucate Plage also sports two naturist resorts and a clothing-optional campground. In other words, there’s a healthy balance of naked tourists and bare-bottomed locals. Be forewarned, the beach is only accessible to naturists, and residents and visitors of the resorts. There are some clothed party poopers as well — “textiles,” as the Euros call ’em — so if you’re a , you can probably still have some fun here as well, but wandering over fully clothed isn’t gonna fly.

The hilarious moment Eva Longoria fails to realise she is the only one wearing a bikini on a very naked beach

The Belgian coast line only has one beach to please naked beach goers and naturists at present: a 300 metre stretch in Bredene. As the beach is a huge success, some are suggesting an extension. “On summer days the beach is packed”, says Arlette Debbaut of the Belgian Federation for Naturists. “However, we do realise that all beaches along the Belgian are busy on hot days. It’s not as if we have more rights than people wearing bathing suits. So we leave the decision up to the local municipality.”

On the beach, it is therefore possible to be naked without offending public decency. So how can women go topless on the beach without being eroticized by all the men around them? Because . When reunited, specific conditions can normalise, if not make breasts invisible. One of the most common arguments women will resort to to justify topless sunbathing is that “We’re all made the same”. Kaufmann concludes that “normalisation stems from breasts’ impersonality in general. The archaic visual attraction would then only be due to the scarcity of the good which, now abundant, is no longer attractive”

Corniglia, Italy Hidden from prying eyes behind the mountains of , this pebbly little cove requires a bit of a schlep to reach. The old railway tunnel that led from Corniglia to Guvano was closed by the village because it was deemed unsafe. So if you’re not into trespassing, it can take more than an hour to take the long route through still-difficult terrain. And yet, it’s all worth it. The beach is the stuff of legends, an Italian hippie oasis in the 1970s that was one of the wildest party spots in Europe. Though the difficult journey and risk of landslides have tamed the crowd, the prospect of naked Italians and warm Mediterranean water should be enough for you to don some hiking boots to make the journey.