The whole purpose of our recent trip to Europe was to take up my prize of two weeks accommodation on the Spanish Mediterranean island of Formentera Atlantic . As we were travelling so far, we decided to take a long holiday around Europe and visit some naturist venues in France and Spain
Montalivet: On the Atlantic Coast of France, on the Medoc peninsula near Bordeaux
Here we met up with fellow BOP Naturists from Tauranga, who were also on their way to Spain to u ndertake the El Camino de Santiago. The grounds at Montalivet were so large, that after a coffee (yes coffee!) at our friends' campervan one night, we got lost in the dark going home when we took a wrong turn and couldn’t find our bearings. Luckily a couple came along and pointed out the direction of the beach so we then knew where we were. For a moment there I thought we would be sleeping under a tree!
There are various accommodations on the site. We chose a Tithome – a Portacom with 2 bedrooms which were lockable and a canvas front with a fully equipped kitchen and dining area, the sides of which could be pulled back to make a bigger covered outdoor space. We also had an outdoor deck. They have more basic and much flasher cabins as well but our little Tithome served us well.
One beach access (there were two) was close to our accommodation. The long sandy beach, which is patrolled during the peak season, stretched out in both directions. The outdoor heated pool had a huge water slide, fountain and Jacuzzi. All in all a great experience and we would recommend it as a naturist venue to visit.
Vera Playa:This naturist beach at Vera in the south-east of
The apartments are all well equipped and in very good order and each block has its own swimming pool.Inside the naturist area there is a hotel (need to be dressed after 8pm) and a few small shops and restaurants, but outside the naturist area (shown by a sign, not a gate) there is a large textile supermarket so clothes are needed to shop there.
The public streets not as tidy as inside the resorts so you would want to wear something on your feet if walking to the beach. We would definitely go back to Vera Playa and recommend it as a great resort-style naturist holiday.
El Portus: This was another naturist resort in Southern Spain near
The resort is 12 km from Cartagena
This pool was about to be closed for the winter even though it was about 30oC during the day (but the crowds had left). During the off-season, the outdoor ‘winter pool’ up the hill is enclosed with a concertina roof and walls, which converts it to indoor. The beach consisted of small pebbles and sloped down quickly so was really only good for those who were confident in the water (which was quite warm according to Col
As a naturist camping spot, we would recommend El Portus as a good place to stay, especially with the beach and restaurants on-site. It was only 6 km to the small village of Canteras
Sierra Natura: This quirky naturist resort was situated up in the hills behind
Formentera: Formentera is a very small, laid back island in the Mediterranean, 30 minutes by fast ferry south of For the first week, we stayed in Es Calo, a small fishing village on the north side of the island, and for the second week at Migjorn Beach
Most days, we would wander down to the beach in a sarong (or shorts if cycling), find a spot amongst the textiles and strip off. No problem, no sniggering and no-one took a scrap of notice. We could totally relax and not be worried that some prude was going to come along and call the cops. There were couples, families, individual males and females and children all enjoying a day at the beach and whether you had togs on or not didn’t matter. Isn’t that a sensible and enlightening attitude? We hired bikes and cycled the whole length of the island several times. On the northernmost tip, the peninsula was only about 100m across. This area, Ses Illetes/Llevant is advertised as an area where naturists gather, but we found that all beaches on the island (except maybe Es Pujols) were naturist friendly, with textiles and naturists mingling together and totally accepted. Es Pujols is apparently Formentera’s ‘party’ town with quite a few shops, restaurants, bars and apartments together with a few nightclubs. Here we didn’t see any naturists on the beach, although some women were topless.
The island is perfect for cycling (or mopeds) having only one hill, 150m high. We walked/cycled up the hill and got great views down the length of the island. At the end of the road, a few km from the town of El Pilar
The western side of the island only had one beach, a small cove called Cala Saona, which was a haven along the rocky coastline. To get there we had to cycle through the capital, To us the island was just paradise. Although we had to be dressed away from the beach, most of the time we just wore a sarong, except if we went for dinner at a restaurant. The weather was great – high 20s every day and down to low 20s overnight. The sun seemed less harsh than in NZ so we could be on the beach all day without getting burnt and developed a great all over tan!
If you are interested in reading more about our experiences on Formentera or the other naturist resorts we visited, take a look at my travel blog:
www.glennesblog.blogspot.co.nz. Just remember that the first post is the most recent.
www.glennesblog.blogspot.co.nz. Just remember that the first post is the most recent.