Good news for nudist travel. According to a 2006 study by the Naturist Education Foundation/Roper Poll, 54% of Americans support having public land set aside for nude sunbathing. In 2000, 48% said yes, and in 1983 only 39% said yes.

Those under the age of 35 show even stronger support with 65% saying yes to nude sunbathing. (View entire study.)

Now, people need to get out and try nude sunbathing, whether it be at Sandy Hook Beach in New Jersey or Haulover Beach in Miami or at many of the other clothing-optional beaches throughout the United States. There are also many campgrounds and resorts (for example, Cypress Cove - see past review) that offer more seclusion and ammenities.

The "Naturist Quarter" in the beach town of Cap D'Agde in France is the site of the world's largest naturist village. Measuring over 1 mile along the shore and then approaching a half-mile inland at its deepest, the Naturist Quarter covers a lot of ground. Cap d'Agde offers the freedom to do lots of activities without the requirement of clothes - making for a great nudist travel destination.

In this series, the Nudist Travel Guide blog looks at the 'must do' activities with a few 'do not do' ones thrown in for good measure. Let's get started with the topic of buying food.

If you are staying at Cap d'Agde for a few days or a week, most humans are going to need food. Getting food in the nude is fun.

Whether staying at a rented apartment/condo or "the" hotel (Hotel Eve is the only hotel in the Naturist Quarter), you can walk to one of the 4 or 5 grocery stores in the nude and do your grocery shopping au natural. These little grocery shops are similar, but they are worth exploring.

The stores have a selection of the perishable foodstuffs like milk and cheese, the necessities like paper towels and common items you'd expect in a grocery store. The stores have snacks, cereals, breads, drinks, canned goods, and lots more.

There are a few fresh fruit stands and several meat shops scattered throughout the shopping centers in the Naturist Quarter. Of course there are a few bread shops and wine shops in the Naturist Quarter too - this is France after all!

On the 'do not do' list for Cap d'Agde is bringing lots of clothes. Sure, most people put on some form of covering at night, but more clothes means more laundry. While there is a laudry mat or two onsite, doing laundry is still a chore. Who needs chores on vacation?

This is part 1 in a series. Return to http://nudisttravel.blogspot.com soon for more of the Naked 'Must Do' List for the World's Largest Naturist Village!

Hiking is good for you and excercises the body and the mind.  Hiking is quiet time away from day-to-day life. Naturist hiking offers more freedom from day-to-day life and gets you even more in tune with the earth.

If you've ever wondered where to hike in the nude among the most pristine settings on earth, northwest Canada may be the answer.  In a really good article about nudist hiking in northwest Canada, George Walker says that "The [Canadian] North, more than anywhere else on the continent, offers what naturists most desire: guaranteed privacy and stunning terrain."

Check out the article.  It is entertaining and informative:  "The Great Wide Open"  (UpHere Magazine - Explore Canada's Far North).  Just watch out for grizzly bears.

Have you ever heard of the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR)? This is a unique nudist travel option with an activist twist.

This current message on the official WNBR website is the easiest way to explain it: "On March 10th and June 9th and 30th, 2007 cities across the world will experience the naked joy of the world's largest naked protest against oil dependency and car culture in the history of humanity. It is time to stop indecent exposure to automobile emissions and to celebrate the power and individuality of our bodies! Naked Bicycle People Power!"

If you are looking for something worthwhile to do in 2007, this could be it. The current locations for 2007 include London, Miami, Seattle and Washington, DC but more locations will likely be added as the event nears, according to the website. Updates on locations and more info is available on the official WNBR wiki.

I found this quote from Conrad Schmidt, founder of World Naked Bike Ride: "Our message to the world is one of simplification, human harmony and love. For a future to exist for tomorrows generations, we have to stop wasting the life blood energy of the Earth, stop fighting and killing in the name of consumerist wealth accumulation and learn to love and respect all life on this planet." How could any person disagree with that message? Sounds like an event worth traveling to.

The events around the world are clothing optional. So if you want to show your support, but aren't ready to be naked, you can still participate...though that would defeat the purpose. You can register for the event on the WNBR website.

A post by Suncatcher on the www.nudist-resorts.org forum gets at the impact of WNBR and its importance to nudism: "I believe onlookers are first intrigued by the casual non-conformity and the novelty, but the lasting impression is one of harmless fun that motivates them to wonder why society is so hung up on simple nudity. Who exactly is served and protected by an ordinance that criminalizes simple non-sexual nudity? When the population majority realizes that only people with an unhealthy self-image are served by such ordinances, then maybe we will begin to see the dismantling of anti-nudity legislation" (source).

That is a day pure nudists and naturists look forward to - and it would certainly open the doors for nudist travel, a freedom so very limited. I encourage you to learn more about World Naked Bike Ride.

While browsing through some naturist links, the name Nudist Passions stood out as worth sharing with nudist travelers looking to meet singles or make penpals. Nudist Passions is a free personals website with a nudist/naturist theme.

The site is similar to the local personals sections found in the back of newspapers, except the personals are all from nudists around the world - nearly 11,000 of them. The personals appear friendly and mostly well-mannered. The visitors to the site regulate each personal though a voting tool and this improves the quality. Some of the personals are dating oriented, but others are just people looking to casually meet other nudist people locally or when traveling.

Unlike a paper newspaper, there are many ways to skim through these online personals: browse all personals, browse by group/interests, browse by state, or search by keywords, relationship type or age range.

Clicking "browse by group/interests" reveals 19 different categories under which a personal could be listed. There are 4 nudist travel related categories: clothing optional vacations, naturist campgrounds, nude beaches and nudist resorts. Other categories range the gamut from nude activism to seniors to smoothies. Everyone is different.

There are many other cool features to this website including on online dating safety page worth reading to understand the risks of online dating. Visit Nudist Passions : Free Nudist & Naturist Dating & Personals (may contain nudity).

Did you ever wonder what goes on at the true nudist and clothing-optional campgrounds and resorts? The family-friendly places that meet the standards set out by AANR and other bodies are much like textile (clothed) campgrounds and resorts. Based on experience, this list shows some of the most common nudist recreation activities.

1. Lounging on the beach or by a pool

2. Swimming / skinny-dipping

3. Picnics at nudist campgrounds and dining at resort restaurants

4. Hiking naked

5. Camping au naturel

6. Nude petanque

7. Nude volleyball

8. Nude ping-pong

9. Nude tennis

10. Dancing at dance night at a nudist campground 

The blog 'Nudist Travel Guide' celebrates 1 year of clothing-optional and nude travel-related postings. Nudist Travel Guide is an educational guide to the world of nude travel and features reviews of nudist destinations and accommodations, current events, and naturist resources.

While creating awareness of nudist organizations like the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR), the largest, most long-established organization of its kind in North America, the guide has reviewed destinations including Cypress Cove Nudist Resort in Florida and Cap d’Agde in France.

Nudist Travel Guide was the first to point out there are 2.4 Million nude telecommuters in the US workforce. Though organizations like AANR, Federation of Canadian Naturists (FCN), International Naturists Association and The Naturist Society (TNS) are seeing membership growth, AANR, one of the largest, only has 50,000 members.

There is a disparity between the number of telecommuters and the number of nudist organization members.  This presents an opportunity for future membership growth, especially since telecommuters only respresent 12% of the workforce.  These organizations all offer a wide array of membership benefits.

The blog is a Blogger success and is accessible at:
Nudist Travel Guide - nudisttravel.blogspot.com 

Though a relatively new to the travel scene, there are now many clothing-optional sailing options, from large cruise ships with a thousand people to more personal chartered yachts with you, your mate, and maybe a handful of others. Whatever the choice, clothing-optional boating offers an escape from the complexities of modern life and an alternative to one-size-fits-all travel options.

Larger nudist cruises sail in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. Expect all of the accomodations and friendliness but without the clothing (except when going to shore). Among the options are: Bare Necessities Cruises and Caliente Resort's Windjammer.

Chartered yachts are more intimate. Many offer easy access to the water for ocean skinny dipping, naked snorkeling or even nude scuba diving. Here's few chartered yachts/sailboats options for naked cruises in the Caribbean: Caribbean Nude Sailing, Nude Crewz, and Boat In The Buff.

Just don't use the phrase "Nice dinghy!" or you may get thrown off the ship.

This picture shows the future of airline travel. The only thing that wouldn't be fun is being a skinny person sandwiched in the middle of two very large people. This isn't fun clothed or naked.


(Credit: Just_jane, Source: Flickr)

Back in 2003, some Southwest Airlines pilots actually tried being nude in the cockpit, but it didn't work out for them (Story). The pilots picked the wrong airline to work for. As mentioned in a previous post, Naked-air is probably the place to work.

Though in a strange foreign language called British English, hours of work with dictionary in hand allowed the understanding of a BBC UK article about football players playing nude.

Synopsis: 'Though using a soccer ball instead of a football, a group of 6 nude footballers were videotaped playing a game of soccer while in an empty stadium. The video ended up on Youtube for a short time before being removed because of terms of service violations. Though authorities were not impressed, the scolding was minor.'

In the US, when two groups of players scrimage one another and neither has team shirts, one team wears shirts and the other wears skins. Appearantly, in the UK "shirts versus skins" is a whole different ballgame altogether.

There is one thing sport playing US nudists have in common with UK nudists and other nudists around the world: Petanque. Petanque is common at naturist campgrounds and resorts around the world. Wherever your nudist travel takes you, be assured that petanque will probably be there.

When they aren't searching for cheap plane tickets to a naturist destination such as the central Florida nudist resorts, some nudist travelers spend time on online forums. Here's 4 of the top quality "authentic" nudist discussion forums online with active members and good moderation. These are good places to ask questions and learn:

• Nudist-Resorts.org forum - Very active with good members


• Go Bare - British naturist forum that is good to investigate is planning a trip to the UK area.


• Clothes Free - Very active on US and international nudist travel topics. Good place to get advice.


• Net Nude - Kind of an old-school forum, but it is active. Requires that you login before viewing.

This brings me to another important question: Where do nudists trampoline online? Surprisingly there is an answer.

When you can’t travel nude, working at home nude is the next best thing. The AANR (American Association for Nude Recreation) and others have recently made known the results of a survey conducted by SonicWALL, a network security provider. According to the survey of people who work at home: “Out of 941 workers surveyed, 12% of males and 7% of females reveal that they work in the nude.” That’s about 10%. How many people do you know who work just at home? Probably not a lot, but 1 in 10 work naked.

Do you know that 12% of corporate employees telecommute? A January 2006 article on telecommuting mentioned findings that 24 million corporate employees (12%) now telecommute at least part of the time (source: TheWeek).

Do the math. 10% of 24 million is 2.4 million. Yes, 2.4 million telecommuters work at home in the nude.

Here’s where the math doesn’t add up. There’s 2,400,000 telecommuters working at home in the nude, yet there are only 50,000 members in AANR, an organization whose mission is to "Promote, enhance, and protect in appropriate settings, nude recreation and nude living in the Americas."

Since AANR members come from all walks of life, from telecommuters to blue collar workers to Digg.com fanatics to retirees, one would have to assume that there are millions of people not afraid to be nude outside of their showers. Yet, these people are still afraid to step outside their doors nude.

These naked people should be reading educational websites like this one and thinking about becoming AANR members or joining other similar organizations worldwide.

There's a huge world of nude opportunities outside the home, from campgrounds to beaches to resorts and events.