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Pillar · 14 regions

Is it legal? What each authority says, by country and region

By WikiLocation editorial · Facts checked 15 September 2026

There is no single answer and this page does not pretend to one. In most places the rule is local: a county, a city, a park service, a landowner or a municipal assembly decides, and publishes it. The table quotes those publications. Where the only official text is a criminal statute, the statute is quoted and the region is marked not designated.

How to read the table

Designated means an authority marks the area on its own page. Described, not bounded means an official page describes naturist use without a boundary or decision. Not designated means no authority does, and the law that applies is quoted. A beach with no official page at all is not in this guide, whatever other sites say about it.

RegionEntriesWhat the authority saysSource
Hawaii
Not designated; statute applies		 1 No state or county authority in Hawaii designates any beach as clothing-optional. Hawaii Revised Statutes section 707-734 makes it indecent exposure, a petty misdemeanor, to intentionally expose one's genitals to a person one is not married to "under circumstances in which the actor's conduct is likely to cause affront". Whether a given beach meets that test is decided by the county police and the courts, not by custom. This page does not tell you it is legal; it tells you what the statute says and what the park pages say. Hawaii Revised Statutes 707-734
Florida
Designated by an authority		 2 Florida has no statewide designation, but two county governments have formally set aside beach sections: Miami-Dade County at Haulover Park, and St. Lucie County at Blind Creek Beach (designated by the Board of County Commissioners in 2020). Both county pages publish the boundaries and the etiquette they expect. Miami-Dade County Parks; St. Lucie County
California
Designated by an authority / Not designated; statute applies		 2 California has no statewide designated beaches. Within Golden Gate National Recreation Area the National Park Service itself describes Marshall's Beach as clothing optional. Black's Beach in San Diego is jointly owned by the City and the State; the City's own page describes the beach, its cliffs and its lifeguards and says nothing about clothing, so it is listed here as not designated. National Park Service; City of San Diego
Oregon
Designated by an authority		 2 Oregon's two designated beaches are both state-managed: Oregon State Parks lists a "separated clothing-optional beach" among Rooster Rock State Park's features, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's beach-use brochure for Sauvie Island Wildlife Area names Collins Beach as clothing-optional with posted boundaries. Oregon State Parks; Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Texas
Designated by an authority		 1 Texas has one clothing-optional public park, and its owner says so in the first line of its page: Travis County Parks describes Hippie Hollow as "the only clothing optional public park in Texas". Entry is restricted to people 18 and older. Travis County Parks
New Jersey
Designated by an authority		 1 Gunnison Beach is federal land inside Gateway National Recreation Area, and the National Park Service page states plainly that it is a clothing optional beach. It is the only such beach in New Jersey with an official page. National Park Service
Canada
Designated by an authority		 2 Canada's two best-known clothing-optional beaches are both run by local government and both say so in their own material: Metro Vancouver's Pacific Spirit Regional Park brochure states that the beach, except at Acadia Beach, is clothing optional; the City of Toronto's beaches page lists Hanlan's Point Beach as clothing-optional, a designation City Council made permanent in April 2002 after a 1999 pilot. Metro Vancouver Regional Parks; City of Toronto; City of Toronto
United Kingdom
Designated by an authority		 3 The UK has no national designation scheme; the three beaches below are marked out by their landowner or council. The National Trust marks nearly 1 km of Knoll Beach at Studland with green-topped posts; Brighton's naturist beach opened on 1 April 1980 as the first public naturist beach in the UK; part of Morfa Dyffryn National Nature Reserve is a signed naturist beach, per Natural Resources Wales. National Trust; VisitBrighton; Natural Resources Wales
Portugal
Designated by an authority		 4 Portugal designates naturist beaches by decision of the municipal assembly. The Federação Portuguesa de Naturismo lists nine official beaches with their dates: Bela Vista (Almada, 1995), Meco (Sesimbra, 1995), Salto (Sines, 2002), Adegas (Aljezur, 2004), Homem Nu (Tavira), Alteirinhos (Odemira, 2008), Barreta (Faro, 2011), Adiça (Almada, 2015) and Malhão (Odemira, 2019). The entries below are the four we could also confirm on a council or Turismo de Portugal page. Federação Portuguesa de Naturismo; Câmara Municipal de Almada
Spain
Designated by an authority		 2 Spain has hundreds of beaches used by naturists and no national designation register we could read: the national tourism portal blocks automated access, so it is not cited here. The two entries below are confirmed on official city or island tourism pages: Barcelona's Mar Bella has a designated nudist area by the city council's own description, and Ibiza's tourism portal calls Es Cavallet one of the first nudist beaches in Spain. Ajuntament de Barcelona; Ibiza tourism portal (ibiza.travel)
France
Designated by an authority		 3 France's national tourism agency (Atout France, france.fr) publishes its own selection of naturist beaches and villages, and that page is the source for all three entries below. It states that "France offers a huge number of beaches and lakes designed for naturists", some next to naturist centres with full services. France.fr
Croatia
Designated by an authority / Described, not bounded		 3 Croatia's naturist beaches are catalogued by the Croatian National Tourist Board itself, with a beach classification field that reads "Nudist beach" on each page, plus figures for length, width, capacity, lifeguards and parking. The Kvarner regional board dates the tradition to August 1936, when the Rab authorities allowed King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson to swim nude in Kandarola Bay. Croatian National Tourist Board; Kvarner Tourist Board
Germany
Designated by an authority		 3 Germany regulates nude bathing locally. Munich's Badekleidungsverordnung of 24 April 2014 (amended 7 January 2020) requires swimwear in public in the city and then exempts six named Nacktbadebereiche, including the Schönfeldwiese in the Englischer Garten. On Sylt, the island's tourism service publishes which numbered beach sections are textile, mixed or FKK, and which are supervised. Landeshauptstadt München; Landeshauptstadt München; Sylt Marketing (sylt.de)
Australia (New South Wales)
Designated by an authority		 3 New South Wales designates nude bathing beaches formally, and the state's own agencies say so: NSW National Parks calls Werrong Beach and Samurai Beach "designated" nude beaches on their park pages, and Destination NSW (sydney.com) describes Lady Bay as "a designated nude bathing area". Other Australian states have their own schemes and are not covered here. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service; NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service; Destination NSW (sydney.com)

Three patterns worth knowing

Designation by the landowner. The National Trust at Studland, Metro Vancouver at Wreck Beach and the county parks departments in Florida decide for the land they manage, and their pages are the rule. The boundary is physical: green-topped posts at Studland, lifeguard towers 12 to 16 at Haulover, posted signs 1,400 feet from the private-property line at Collins Beach.

Designation by ordinance or assembly. Munich's Badekleidungsverordnung requires swimwear in public and then lists six exempt zones with their exact limits. Portugal's nine official beaches each carry the date of a municipal assembly decision, from Almada in February 1995 to Odemira in April 2019, on the federation's list.

No designation, a statute. Hawaii's indecent exposure statute turns on whether conduct "is likely to cause affront". No park page in Hawaii mentions clothing. The honest entry is the statute and the park's hours, and that is what the Hawaii page carries.

Every entry, by status

Sources and last verified