The Nudist Travel Guide Blog introduced the Naked 'Must Do' List series to provide a resource about Cap d’Agde Naturist Quarter in France, the world's largest naturist village.

The Naked Must Do List series explores the best activities Cap d’Agde vacationers can enjoy without clothes. Part 1 talked about nude grocery shopping. In this Part 2 of the Naked Must Do List, the essential activity of dining out au natural is the focus.

Dining while nude is a liberating and fun experience in the Naturist Quarter. There are 30 or 40 different places to dine during the main tourist season from May to October.

The Nudist Travel Guide Blog author has eaten at a handful of the inexpensive, outdoor terrace-style restaurants in the Naturist Quarter - a return trip will be necessary to try the other restaurants. All restaurants so far were enjoyable and being naked made for a unique dining experience hard to duplicate anywhere else in the world.

Clothing is OK too. People tend to wear some form of covering in the evening and at least one fancy restaurant even requires patrons to wear nice clothing.

Even on the beachfront terrace cafes during a hot summer day, some of the patrons will wear clothing. Maybe they just prefer to be nude on the beach or maybe they are novices. At Cap d’Agde, it doesn’t matter if you wear nothing at all or dress like an Eskimo. Everybody blends in and it is a very tolerant culture.

In his more sexually-focused than naturist-focused book on Cap d’Agde, “The Naked Truth about Cap d’Agde”, Ross Velton briefly discusses restaurants and makes the point that Cap d’Agde “lacks the consistently fine dining opportunities found elsewhere in the country” and also says that non-fussy eaters will have no problem with the selection of foods. His opinion seems correct.

There are no 5 star gourmet restaurants in the Naturist Quarter but the selection of foods is vast and varied enough to keep everyone happy.

On many of the menus can be found dishes like mussels with Roquefort, grilled shellfish, shrimp, squid and octopus, goat and sheep cheeses, fish soups, and beef dishes. Some menus include Italian pizza and pasta dishes while other include more exotic dishes.

So bring your towel to sit on and head for one of the commercial areas in the Naturist Quarter for a selection of restaurants to be discussed in Part 3.

Have you dined at Cap d’Agde? What was your experience? Comments welcome.

What is being without clothing at a nudist resort is really like? What is the true naturist experience?

Take the Nudist Travel Guide Blog's "30 Minutes of Nudist Audio Challenge."   The challenge is to listen to 30 minutes of real life stories as told by naturists of all ages and learn what nudism is really about.  This challenge will provide participants with a more accurate understanding of naturism and help dispel myths and misconceptions.

The 30-minute audio piece was created by ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio National's Street Stories - the same quality as NPR (National Public Radio) in the United States.  Great job by Kevin Klehr of Street Stories!

Here's part of the description from the Street Stories website:

"In this program producer Kevin Klehr goes 'Swimming with Nudists' and invites listeners to grab a towel and learn about the extraordinary rules nudists must abide by in their quest to feel free. Whether nude bushwalking, playing frisbee or attending an inner-city dinner party, you must never forget the Code of the Nudist."

This insightful, high-quality audio collage of naturist stories is an essential listen for anyone curious about the nudist travel experience:  Listen to the 'Swimming with Nudists' audio MP3 file here (ABC Radio National's website)

After listening to the audio, listeners should reflect on it.  If what the naturists in the audio are saying is try, is nude recreation worth a try?

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).