NUDE BEACHES OF CATALONIA

visited July/August 2014

Cala Futadera - Costa Brava

EXTENT
In no way is this supposed to be an exhaustive cover of all or even most of Catalunya's nude beaches. Like a lot of you, I was heading to Spain on a short holiday, had certain Catalonian destinations in mind and decided to google the nude beaches in those areas. Google brought up plenty of stuff but a lot was pretty basic - hopefully what follows will give some of you more complete info on these places. My Catalonian destinations by the way were Barcelona, Ibiza, Mallorca and Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava. So only beaches at these places or easily accessed from them were considered. And even then I didn't get to cover all possibilities.

RATINGS
I have listed the beaches in order of preference. I give reasons for my preferences but please keep in mind these are entirely subjective and you may feel differently. Ratings also depend a lot on conditions when I visited - for instance the northern beaches on Formentara-Ibiza were suffering badly from wind exposure and may well be much more idyllic in normal conditions.
I also had much difficulty differentiating places resulting in multiple ties for 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th - in fact I thought there was not a lot of difference between first and locations way down the list: all seemed pretty good to me with the exception of the last 2 rated beaches. There are also 2 unrated beaches.
Gotta talk abt my "eye candy" comments - once again I judge it on the scene when I was there. I tried to visit a lot of these places on weekends when locals will expand attendance - if you visit other times you may think differently. Also my rating on guys - I'm not gay but I realize some readers are and some female readers may not be turned off by ripped dudes.

IMAGES
I don't believe in pointing my camera at strangers on beaches, nude or otherwise. This means that some of the images on this page have been borrowed from other sites. I have tried to give credit and links where possible.
Because junior posters and some sensitive souls may access this page, I've tried to make any nudes tasteful and not too explicit. Everyone sees (almost) bare bums and bare breasts on everyday beaches these days - so if you are offended, all I can say is get a life.


FIRST - CALA BOADELLA COSTA BRAVA

This secluded beach is the second south of the large package holiday resort of  Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brave between the two ferry stop beaches of Platja Fenals and Platja Sant Cristina. This was my favourite beach in the Tossa region maybe because it is clothing optional on top of being so attractive. It also has a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Nudists seemed to confine themselves past the big rock in the background - the beach there is just as big as this side. There is also a tiny patch of sand 20m around the rocks at the very far end where wading in waist deep water was needed, 

As usual as many textiles were in the "nude" area as naturists - it's great that there is no pressure to conform to the norm on Spanish beaches. 

C Boadella  sand was the usual slightly coarse grained yellow brown stuff, quite clean as was the water. BTW I find this slightly coarse sand an advantage for ease of cleaning off feet at end of day. For a secluded place services are pretty good with lifeguards/first aid/beach showers and a restaurant/bar.

Visited - weekdays July high season

Nudists - many

Types - family/couples/friends

Eye candy - babes okay, hunks okay

Atmosphere - friendly/relaxed

Facilities - good.

Access - fairly easy

Local accommodation - plenty

Nice nearby beaches - Platja Fenels/Cala Treual, Platja Sant Crisina and Cala Banys (see Tossa page for these)

Nearest big resort - Lloret de Mar

My accommodation - Tossa de Mar

Access to C Boadella is along a dirt path off Av Boedella. The closest ferry stop is Platja Fenals and you can access from the south end of that beach or the center (see map down page). The Pl St Cristina ferry stop is further - don't try to rock-hop around the headland (see below). Make sure you take the Av Boadella exit from the roundabout at top - not the road into (I think) the Botanic Gardens.
If you type "Av Boedella Lloret" into Google Maps, street view will take you down the Avenue and show the entrance to the dirt track to the beach. Google Maps does this for all of the secluded beaches on this page.

ACCESSING THE LLORET AREA BEACHES

If you come from Tossa, all the above beaches bar C Boedella are easily reached on the DofiJet ferry coming in from the right hand side of image. If heading for Boadella the best bet is Fenals - the route from beach central is shortest, the one from beach south maybe easier to follow. 

On a second visit I caught a bus from Tossa into Lloret bus station top right (has a real good info office with lotsa maps etc), walked down the main drag to the southern end of the beach, took the headland walkway to the castle, went down to Fenals and across to Boedella. 

There are also local buses which can take you from Lloret to Fenals and St Cristina, but trust me, the walk along here is good value if you are not pushed for time.

EQUAL 2ND - PLAYA ES TRENC SOUTH EASTERN MALLORCA

This nice area towards the south west corner of Mallorca about 40km by road from Palma city is described by many as the nicest beach region on the island. Certainly if long sandy beaches fronted by clear shallow water with heaps of picturesque boats anchored offshore is your thing, this could be true. The fact that a considerable section of long Es Trenc and some of the other beaches are long time unofficial nude areas (some sources say Es Trenc is now an official nude beach) adds to the attraction for many. The beaches sure are popular - on a nice Sunday in July I reckon there were several thousand people scattered over the area. Scattered may not be the best term - in many places beachgoers were quite closely packed. Note Ses Roquetes is often refered to as Es Dolc.
The major access to Es Trenc is via the resort town of Colonia de Sant Jordi in the south or small Ses Covetes at the north end. There is also a big car-park behind beach-central. 
People walk from Sant Jordi to the southern beaches. I believe quite a few people park therir cars along the bush tracks behind these beaches and a lot of boaties moored in the shelter of that small islet and come ashore for some beach time.
At top of frame the start of a  similar in appearance to Es trenc but quieter 1km long beach can be seen. I extends north from Ses Covetes to the slightly bigger settlement of Sa Rapita.

Es Trenc from the Ses Covetes end. Might be a good pic to click-expand. This 4km stretch of sand is whiter and finer grained than most Spanish beaches, but no Whitehaven (wait if clicked). For such a busy beach the sand had little trash. The water was clear and shelved gently making this a good beach for kids. Tidal range seemed tiny meaning if you park in my favourite location close to the water you don't have to keep moving yer towel/sarong. That dark stuff in the water was finely ground sea weed, probably a remnant of winter storms. I don't like weedy beaches but overall this was no problem.
The beach has life-guard towers, change facilities, a number of beach bar/restaurants, lotsa beach chair/umbrella hire areas although there is no lack of space for dudes like me to spread a towel or sarong. Sometimes a bit close to others if privacy is yer thing - I personally don't give a damn.
Nudists can be found most places along here but are concentrated from about 20% on from the camera to the 50% mark. Once again, plenty of "textiles" in the mainly nude area, and nobody cares. As nobody cares abt nudists in the mainly textile areas. I wish people in Oz were as cool as the Spanish in this respect.

One of the half dozen or so beach bars spread along El Trenc

Es Trenc from the opposite southern Sant Jordi end. I think technically this area is called Playa Estanys and mightn't be Es Trenc until you hit the rocks at the far end, then walk the next small bay. Maybe 1.5km. I thought the above section of beach was pretty nice particularly for an area easily reached from the many accommodation options in Sant Jordi. Didn't see any nudists until the far small bay.

Es Trenc at right, a long way from most places. 
Portals Vells at left is the area in which Playa del Mago, another of my top ten nude beach, is found

Visited - weekend July high season
Nudist numbers - lots
Types - families, couples, friends, singles
Eye candy - numbers make no shortage of eye candy both sexes.
Atmosphere - holiday-weekend vibe (I got the impression this beach is super popular with locals from the Palma city area)
Facilities - good
Access - good if staying in Colonia de Sant Jordi, distant if in or near Palma city.
Nice nearby beaches - Sant Jordi harbour beach, Es Dolc, Es Carbo
Local accommodation - plenty
Nearest big resort - S'Arenal/Platja de Palma
My accommodation - Can Pastilla/Platja de Palma

NOTE - Es Trenc is a pretty sweet beach. I would probably have rated it higher if it was closer to the main holiday accommodation spots towards the central and western areas of the south coast. However if you have no desire to be near Palma or the airport and decide to stay in Sant Jordi or nearby Es Trenc would be hard to beat.


EQUAL SECOND - PLATJA DEL TORN, L'HOPITALET DEL'INFANT

I recently read on a camping review website that del Torn is arguably the best nudist beach in Spain. I can't judge it on a national level on account I haven't traveled widely in Spain, but I do rate it my (equal) second favourite naturist beach in Catalonia.
Del Torn isn't exactly short at 1500m. I thought the water clearer here than at Arenal, the main textile beach to the north. The sand was similar yellow-brown coarse stuff but there tended to be a fair few pebble rocks close to the tide line, particularly further south. These got really hot around mid-day.
It doesn't look all that crowded in the shot but I reckon there was close to one thousand people scattered along here. As typical in Spain, quite a few were "textiles" and the naturists didn't give a damn. Families and couples seemed to be the go, maybe boosted by the very big El Temple del Sol naturist camping area which starts behind/right of camera and is hidden by the first 400m or so of dunes in this shot.

I cropped the previous pic to show the above chiringuito (beach bar/cafe) about one third of the way along the beach. This place was so crowded around 1400 that I had to prop myself  at an outside drink stand - no problem, it was nice out there. One of the reasons for the crowd was maybe the two sisters looking after the bar - clad only in sarongs around the waist, they had the most stunning figures and brownest skin I've seen for some time. The other girl serving the tables was not exactly a drunk-scarer either. I reckon the girls are a smart ploy by the owner to keep male patrons hanging around/buying more drinks. I hung around/bought more drinks. 
I've been a naturist for many years but for me it was kinda novel to see naked people entering a restaurant. The idea is to wrap a towel/sarong around or put on a pair of shorts before you sit down. I staggered in after a 20 minute walk back down the hot beach clad in my usual sun-avoiding long sleeved business shirt under Aussie bushman's hat and over $3 knock-off Billabong board shorts from the Bali bargain bazaar (years of 10 hour surfing days in a period when I couldn't afford sun screen or rash vests has blitzed my skin - don't mind limited sunbathing these days but unnecessary sun exposure I avoid) and no-one seemed to notice. Mum told me Euros are polite.
There is a second chiringuito on the fore-dune abut 2/3 up the beach.

I found this small sub section of del Torn, way up the far southern end most pleasant mainly on account it was sheltered by the high rocks at right from the onshore breeze. I like tiny sheltered beaches. About 100 other people thought the same. This is a compact area only 70m across (image Google Earth as are all the modified "maps" on this page). Lots of pebbly rocks between the two beach areas were quite hard on bare feet, particularly when the sun heated them.

I've explained previously that I'm not keen about waving my camera around nude beaches unless I can get distant shots like the above. However I was too lazy to climb up here so I had to pinch this one from HERALDO.es

Here's a nice one of the main beach from the same rock - image Tripadvisor.

GETTING BETWEEN ARENAL (the main L'Hospitalet beach) AND DEL TORN

I stuck to the shore line going south. At first the going was easy, over an easy section of rocks/sand and across a short beach. But the next 200m or so was not so simple with the rock shelf very rough underfoot - you need sensible footwear here. Fortunately there were no big vertical changes or wide sea gutters as is usually the case when I go rock-hopping in unknown places.
On the way back I cut up through the camping area which is much easier - see below.

White track going south - as said I don't know the local name of beach x (maybe it is Cala d'Oques as in the first camping area: then again the southern-most area of long Platjay Arenal may be called this). Beach x is only abt 180m long. Proximity to the camping areas saw it fairly crowded with a 50/50 spit of nudists and textiles (El Templo de Sol is a naturist camping area - it's pretty big with less than half showing on this modified Google Earth image).
Yellow track going back - up a good set of stairs and then a path thru a small section of El Templo - nobody seemed to mind passers-by along here.

Platja del Torn in relation to the rest of L'Hospitalet

L'Hospitalet de l'Infant is a laid back seaside resort town about 140km south west of Barcelona. Because the trains don't usually waste time I visited as a day trip but if I come back to the general Barcelona area I aim to stay a few days here. It is a pretty nice place and there is no shortage of holiday accommodation.
Hospitalet is on a section of the coast is known as the Costa Dorada. This starts roughly above the 0 on the distance scale - Hospitalet is pretty much central on the Costa Dorada. Tarragona is the biggest city in the area - tends to have a fair bit of industry particularly chemical in nature and a busy port but nevertheless some nice beaches. Fact is the whole coastline is made up of a string of nice beaches and resorts - the train line from just south of Barcelona tends to stick immediately behind the beaches for a large part of the journey.

Visited - weekend high season July
Nudists - many
Types - families, couples, singles, gays
Eye candy - plenty of people = no shortage.
Atmosphere - holiday-weekend vibe (seemed plenty of native Catalonians plus camping area and other holiday makers)
Facilities - beach restaurants, showers, can't remember any lifeguards
Access - good if staying locally, fair distance from Barcelona (110 minutes train + 3km from station).
Nice nearby beach - Platja Arenal
Local accommodation - plenty

I have more info on L'Hospitalet de L'Infant here.

4TH - MAR BELLA - BARCELONA
Not too long ago nudes were found on all Barcelona beaches. But the local government decided to make things more tourist friendly by restricting them to one beach, Mar Bella.

Mar Bella is 4th from right.
Barcelona has 9 beaches over a 5km stretch from Sant Sebastia in the south to Llevant. Banys Forum further north is an enclosed swimming area with no sand but lots of other attractions. Note these beaches did not exist in their present form before the '92 Olympics - they were created to increase the attraction of the city. I've experienced Sydney post-Olympics: not too many initiatives have given a major long term benefit. But these beaches have for Barcelona, being heavily used by locals and tourists alike. The most accessible to visitors are the first 4 from the south, but very good bus and metro transport means any beach is no great stretch. Forget about the bus and metro - a good walkway runs in back of the beaches with plenty of restaurant/bars, workout areas and rest stops and its an entertaining stroll to do the stretch. This is people-watching paradise - bikini babes, hunks, jocks, naked people, fashionistas, joggers. in-line skaters, skate boarders, surfer dudes, volleyballers, basketballers, fitness freaks, beach-footballers, beach-tennis players, lovers, street entertainers, hippys/new-agers,/freaks and normal families.

This is Barcelona's official nude beach. It is the third beach north of the Olympic marina which kind of divides the beach strip into two parts. Mar Bella is easily reached by metro from Poblemou station about 2 blocks inland on the L4 line and by using the H16 bus which serves all the beaches every 12 minutes.
The nudists mainly stick to the area in front of the dunes but such was the crowd when I called by that they extended past this region which represents about one third of the total beach area. Note like all Spanish nude areas "textiles" are welcome - although there were fewer in the nudist section than at most other clothing optional beaches I visited. Mar Bella has the life guard tower, showers, beach bar/restaurant etc that all the Barcelona beaches have.
Barcelona Yellow's pic above is a bit misleading in that when I visited weekend days in high summer (July) the beach was absolutely packed. This was somewhat disconcerting to me because although I'm a longtime naturist and have visited many clothing optional beaches, my usual location back home is a 12km strip of country-area sand where the nearest people (may be nude/may be not) are usually at least 300m away. BTW the mixture of locals to tourists at Mar Bella seemed to be 80/20 - by the white patches on display quite a few travelers seemed to be keen to sample some all-bare sunbathing for the first time. Good for them.

Visited - weekends high season July

Nudists - many hundreds within relatively small area

Types - family/couples/friends/singles/gays

Eye candy - heart attack babes. No shortage of cut hunks

Atmosphere - hedonistic weekend

Facilities - very good

Access - frequent buses and trains (train station maybe 10 minutes walk). Beachfront promenade makes central Barcelona within 30 minutes walk

Local accommodation - Barcelona isn't exactly lacking. Mar Bella isn't accommodation central but no doubt has some hotel rooms, pensions and apartments within close distance of the beach

Nice nearby beaches - all the Barcelona beaches are up to scratch

My accommodation - Sants Montjuic (about 40 minutes walk)

Instant heart attack. Actually I chose this pic because the rocks reminded me of those in the back of Mar Bella's nude area - you have to trust me on this (image WHATBOYSWANT)




EQUAL 5TH - CALA FIGUEURES/FIGEURA

This tiny beach is located under the big Camping Llevado and Apartmentos Cala Llevado sites on the Costa Brava about 3km south of the lovely small resort town of Tossa de Mar and abut  5 km north of the bigger Lloret de Mar. The very big package hell hole of Blanes is abt 10km south.

Tossa de Mar is about 100km north of Barcelona and 100km from the French border. The nearest airport is at Girona.

Cala Figeures. As usual there was no shortage of textiles. Lovely place - I really like these small beaches with high forested headlands and sparkling clear water. It was more crowded when I visited than in this shot which I had to pinch from Panoramio-Dani Gianani - I couldn't see any easy way to to climb up here for a distant pic. 

This pic from COSTA BRAVA COM is more representative of the numbers when I visited. 

Um. wait a sec, if you look closely that is a different beach. Actually its Cala Pola, a real nice textile beach about the same distance NORTH of Tossa de Mar. Naughty COSTA BRAVA COM.

COSTA BRAVA COM redeem themselves with a second photo - this is the real deal. As you can see, Cala Figeura is smaller than Cala Pola.

Accessing these beaches from the high arrival point at the end of the track from Tossa (it meets a road near the rear of the apartments' supermarket) is a bit tricky. I found the best way was to walk down thru the apartment area (marked yellow) - the final descent is by a steep set of steps under the Ll of C Llevado -  walk across to Cala den Carlos on the paved track, cross the beach and take the short path across the rocks to Figureures. I also checked the road at far right but it had a zig-zag making it longer. I exited by a set of steps behind Cala Figeures which lead up into Camping Llevado's huge camping/bungalow area. I think this extends way up to the main coastal road many hundreds meters out of frame. There is a bunch of other accommodation providers in the general area.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - small beach so numbers limited

Types - family/couples/friends/singles. Large proportion seemed to be guests at immediate local accommodation.

Eye candy - okay. No cut blokes (until I arrived - he he he he)

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday vibe

Facilities - kiosk, showers 3 mins away at adjacent beach

Access - steepish stairs from accommodation - about 3km hike from Tossa. Coastal ferries don't call in at these beaches - best bet from Lloret is local bus, walk down from main road at Camping Llevado stop. Some parking along roadway far right of above image

Local accommodation - plenty

Nice nearby beaches - Cala den Carlos, Cala Llevado/Llorell, Cala Portopi adjacent (see Tossa page for more details)

Nearest big resort - Lloret de Mar

My accommodation - Tossa de Mar

EQUAL 5TH - PLAYA DEL MAGO, SOUTH WEST MALLORCA

One of the tiny beaches in the gorgeous inlets of Portals Vell is Playa del Mago, Mallorca's original official nudist beach

Catch a #107 bus from Palma city or places along the way like Megaluf. This terminates at the Casino. Walk down the road and take the 2nd right - a dirt road that heads downhill. This turns into a track which drops thru the bush to the sea. Second inlet is Playa del Mago. Maybe a 10+ minute stroll from bus to beach.
I walked in from Megaluf - it has way more buses from Palma. On account I kinda got lost in the bush south of Cala de Cap Falco it took the best part of 2 hours.

Playa del Mago is a very compact beach. When I arrived it was super crowded - an overflow of people had spread along the rocks at the side of the inlet. About a quarter of the beach goers were "textiles" but nudists aren't offended by this in Spain, unlike some hard-core naturist destinations. There is a nice restaurant/bar just behind the beach, very crowded. Note the beach had some shade on the southern side after about 1300 for mean dudes like me not prepared to pay for a sun lounge/umbrella. Water was clear despite lotsa moored boats. The inlet shelves gradually which makes this a good beach for kids.
I haven't got any pix: naturists get nervous abt single males taking photos at their beach. Okay, I could have hiked along the headland and got a distant shot - but I was tired from my "lost in the bush" routine.

This gives a good idea of the size of the beach, although it does extend another 20m far left of frame - pic looks to be shot from the bar/restaurant behind the sand. It is not as crowded and has more textiles than when I visited. This suggests the pic was taken weekdays away from high season with a high proportion of tourist visitors who have arrived, not seen many nudists and don't want to rock the boat. I got this shot from Hoy viajesaperu.com

It's about 15km from the Porals Vells placemark to Palma's

Visited - weekend high season July
Nudist numbers - plenty. Small beach but really packed in.
Types - families, couples, friends, singles. gays
Eye candy - no shortage.
Atmosphere - holiday-weekend vibe
Facilities - good
Access - 10 minute walk from bus stop. Buses from Palma limited - take abt 1 hour
Nice nearby beaches - other small Portals Vells beaches, Cala Cap Falco, Cala Vinyes
Local accommodation - mainly high end apartments and vilas
Nearest big resort - Megaluf
My accommodation - Can Pastilla/Platja de Palma

See my Mallorca page for more info about the general area.


EQUAL 5TH - CALA SENOR RAYMON: COSTA BRAVA

Senor Raymon is about midway between Tossa de Mar and St Feliu de Guixols - 11km to each. Barcelona is about 110km. 

The turnoff from the main coastal road from which I shot this pix is well signposted. As you can see, the access road is good enough for vehicles. Those boats past the far headland are moored off Canyet De Mar - a resort area way down in a tighter bay than this.

Senor Raymon is a pretty nice beach - sand is clean although hardly white, not crowded and the water is clear. There are some big underwater rocks just offshore in the northern quarter - I took my face mask out and saw some okay fish but the scene was hardly mind-blowing.

About half the people here were nude. 

Interesting sign, but the earth didn't move for me the whole time I was on the Costa Brava. I don't think the dudes owning those clifftop villas were too put off in the planning stages.

Some people left their cars up on the main road and walked the 800m or so to the beach. A

 few nosed vehicles into rare clearings alongside the track. Others drove down to the restaurant 150m short of the beach which has quite big parking areas - charges 7/4 euors cars/motos. A short not too steep path/steps leads down to the beach from behind the restaurant - marked in yellow. The access road is not too rough and I found only a few short very steep sections on the way out on my bicyclee. The first 20m from the road was paved. Note the zig-zag section closest the N symbol is not being used.

Straight line distance from C Congats place marker to Senor Raymon's marker is 350m.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - reasonable number distributed along longish beach

Types - family/couples/friends/singles

Eye candy - average

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday vibe

Facilities - none on beach, restaurant/bar with toilets, car park 150m up from sand

Access - best have vehicle from Tossa de Mar or Sant Feliu de Guixols, access road ok as is track from carpark

Local accommodation - flash resort apartments abt 2km nth at Canyet de Mar.

Nice nearby beaches - Canyet de Mar looked okay from road You could call in at naturist Cala Futedera and its nice textile near-neighbours Cala Giverola, Cala Pola and Cala Bona  on the way up from Tossa de Mar or continue on 5km to them if you are based in Sant Feliu (see Tossa page for more details). 

Nearest resorts with lots of accommodation - Tossa de Mar and Sant Feliu de Guixols both 11km

My accommodation - Tossa de Mar

Cala Futedera at lower left is a nice mixed beach 6km north of Tossa de Mar - see down-page. Cala Vallpersona (also down-page) is another mixed beach very close to Senor Raymon. It's about 11km to Sant Feliu de Guixols from Senor Raymon. Note that the coastal road is super twisty with big changes in height - a good work-out on a bicycle even for a dude like me who cycles daily in a very hilly home town.

EQUAL 8TH - CALA FUTEDERA:COSTA BRAVA

This lovely little beach is just around the headland nth of  the popular and attractive holiday apartment beach of Cala Giverola and is abt 6km north of Tossa de Mar - 106 from Barcelona. The road is way up the top but access is surprisingly easy down a set of stairs to left of shot. The hardest part is having to wade about 15m thru thigh deep uneven-bottomed water past that rocky area at left of image (note tidal range is small on this coast so that wading would remain thigh deep most times).

Cala Futadera from the main road. Beach has clean fairly coarse sand, very clear water. It is a nudist beach but most of the people there when I visited were textiles, a lot of them from those boats. As can be seen the area is very popular with boaties......

....and hanging around on pleasure craft in a sheltered cove seems to be a fine way to spend a lazy summer afternoon.

If you come by car or moto, park in the area marked on the main road. Take the smaller road which drops down the headland - it is sign-posted private which everyone ignores. When you come to the garage of a villa you will see the concrete steps starting at the left. These go steeply down the hillside to just short of the beach. A path continues to the end of the headland far right.

I visited this beach on my trek from Tossa - I came up from Cala Giverola on the "track nth" so marked. This hits the private road a short distance from the down stairway.

Straight line distance from the parking place-marker to the garage marker is 250m.

Cala Futedera top right. I walked up from Tossa de Mar unlabeled lower left - I've marked in the walking track: gaps mean walking the road or beaches. It's 6km from Tossa to C Futadera by road - the trekking track short-cuts so I'm guessing the walk is maybe 4km. But there is a hell of a lot of verticality in it.

I forgot to do a distance scale - the straight line distance from the start of the track to C Futadera is only 2.3km

I have details of the other beaches and the walking track on my Tossa de Mar page. The departure point of the track out of Cala Futadera is a bit hard to see - have pic.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - very few

Types - family/couples/friends/singles/boaties/one gay couple

Eye candy - some lovely textiles: those boat guys always get the best girls. My old beat-up surfboard just doesn't cut it. Not even after the candy-apple repaint

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday vibe

Facilities - none: just a small stip of sand

Access - steepish stairs and tricky short wade.  About 4km hike from Tossa. 6km drive/ride. No access problem if you step onto the sand from boat.

Local accommodation - flash resort and apartments >2km south at Cala Giverola; surprisingly big camp area with pool and some apartments >3km at Cala Pola

Nice nearby beaches - Cala Giverola, Cala Pola, Cala Bona (see Tossa page for more details). Futadera is a nice call in for naturists with cars/motos on the way to Cala Senor Raymon another 5km north.

Nearest resort with lots of accommodation - Tossa de Mar

My accommodation - Tossa de Mar

Sweet textile doesn't need to be nude to be hot. Bet her boyfriend has a boat.

 (image WHATBOYSWANT as are all other beach girl shots on this page)

EQUAL 8TH - CALA COMTE/CONTE/COMPTE - NORTH-WEST IBIZA

Cala Comte is a complex of 4 beaches about 10km west of Sant Antoni (San Antonio) at the north end of Ibiza's west coast. Above is the main central beach shot from the big chiringuito (beach bar/restaurant). 

The nude beach is abt 3 minutes walk south of the central beach bar/restaurant - there is a set of steps which take you down. Like all Spain's naturist beaches there are plenty of "textiles" there and nobody cares.
Sand is okay at all these beaches - not white but brown/yellow (the Ibiza guides call it "golden" - he he he he) and pretty clean - I reckon someone does a big clean-up after the crowds leave. The sand is fairly coarse grained.

Water is very clear - some of these spots are pretty rewarding if you have a mask and snorkel. Cool islets offshore and apparently this area has killer sunsets - I was gone by 1600 and can't confirm.

Note some sites refer to this beach area as Cala Conta but I think technically that is immediately south.
Quite a lot of parking in the area and fairly regular buses from Sant Antoni/San Antonio - L4.

The nude beach is bottom right - the northern beach immediately right of central beach, the 3rd beach below same. I came in on the ferry from San Antoni - a scenic run every 30 minutes from 1030.
Straight line distance from ferry place marker to nude beach's - 570m

Ferry route Sant Antoni-Cala Compte. Cala Bassa is a nice textile beach in the area. Yellow route at right is main road to Eivissa/Ibiza - frequent buses. Sant Antoni is a fairly big package holiday town which has spread around the bay half way to Cala Bassa. Favoured by Brits - it is 20km from the airport and 18km from Eivissa/Ibiza town.

Relative position Cala Comte to the island's airport and Eivissa/Ibiza town (26km). Platjas Cavalet and Ses Salines in the far south are two other beaches which feature on this page.

Visited - weekdays high season July

Nudists - several dozen in a fairly small area

Types - family/couples/friends/singles/gays

Eye candy - okay

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday vibe

Facilities - none: just a small stip of sand but showers, chiringuitos etc at other sections of sand

Access - short stairway from overlooking cliff.  Regular ferries and buses from Sant Antoni. Big parking areas but popularity means they fill up in high season

Local accommodation - none at beach, some apartments, vilas and a camp area within a few kms. Sant Antoni has heaps of everything

Nice nearby beaches - Cala Bassa. Google Earth shows some nice looking strips of sand immediately south of Comte but I didn't get to check them. The Sant Antoni bay beaches looked okay for town beaches

Nearest resort with lots of accommodation - Sant Antoni

My accommodation - Eivissa/Ibiza town

EQUAL 8TH: AIGO/AUGUAS BLANCA - NORTH-EAST IBIZA

Aigo Blanca top - distance from Eivissa/Ibiza town abt 30km. From Santa Eularia, the northern east coast's biggest town - 12km.

 Look for the well- signposted turn-off on the main road. This leads down to a car-park about 300m short and high above the beach - a winding concrete path and some steps drop sharply to the sand.
Aigo Blanca is an official nude beach but is very popular with all beach goers. About 80% of people on the crowded sand were "textiles" - nudists mainly concentrated on the near section of the main beach with a few venturing around to the small beach in foreground (good idea to don foot-wear if you are going to rock-hop to it). There are 2 beach cafe/bars, plenty of sun-lounges for hire. Sand is clean coarse grained brown/yellow and the water is very clear.
The beach background left is Figueral - close in a straight line but 5km by road.

One of the reasons I had insufficient time for neighbouring beaches is that I spent too much of it at Agio Blanca. After some nice sun and a swim in the naturist area I repaired to the beach bar at the opposite far southern end for a reasonably priced beer or three. I'm a sucker for places like this.

Which maybe coloured my judgement a bit - the nude section of this beach is nothing to write home to mum about, but I liked the overall place. Hell, I liked the whole day of bicycling north of Santa Eularia.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - several dozen on a beach with maybe 300+ people

Types - family/couples/friends

Eye candy - average

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday vibe

Facilities - 2 chiringuitos, life guards, sun lounges in textile area

Access - paved road from highway, 350m walk from big paid carpark although some people were parked closer. Last 150m steep walk.

Local accommodation - none at beach, some apartments, vilas within a few kms. Plenty of accommodation at Sant Vincenc 3km north and Figeural 5km south.

Nice nearby beaches - Sant Vincenc and Figeural

Nearest big resort - Santa Eularia

My accommodation - Eivissa/Ibiza town

EQUAL 11TH - ILLYETES PENINSULA: FORMENTERA IBIZA

Formentera is a smaller island starting abt 6km south of the southern tip of mainland Ibiza. Administratively it is part of Ibiza. The island has some gorgeous beaches and is both a major day trip destination and a holiday location in itself with quite a lot of accommodation. 

According to my research, nudism can be found on just about all Formentera's beaches. However I only had time on my day trip to check the peninsula north of the main port.

Note I'm not too happy with my rating - I feel that if conditions had been less windy these beaches would have been much more idyllic. A good excuse to revisit sometime.

The Illetes/Llevant peninsula has a number of beach areas. I think I have labelled them correctly but readers are welcome to post in at the foot of this page with corrections.
I wanted to walk from the port up to the tip of the peninsula - I didn't hire a bicycle because the roads and tracks end well south of Es Trucadors. I walked up on the western side and intended to return on the eastern side but a very strong north-easterly wind was blowing making conditions unpleasant that side.
I found naturists on only 2 of the above beaches - Playa Illetes and Es Trucadors. Apparently the eastern side of the peninsula is also popular with nudists but conditions were very blowy that side and on the day of my visit there were virtully no beach goers there.


PLAYA ILLETES

I thought Playa Illetes was the nicest beach on the peninsula (some of the beaches on the eastern side may be as nice when it is not too windy). Illetes orientation and the sand hills in back of the beach meant it was well sheltered from the blustery winds. This along with the road and buses from the south terminating a short distance behind camera contributed to a crowd of several thousand people although it was not too squeezy - still sufficient room to spread a towel/sarong.

500m long, whitish sand, clear water - this was by far the most popular beach on the peninsula. Even though island websites say all the beaches are a haven for nudists, 99% of people here were "textiles" - a few naturists were in central and far-end areas. There is a lifeguard tower behind camera and a bar/restaurant behind-right.  A nice little islet easily waded to was left of camera. 

ES TRUCADORS

Further north, past the end of the dune area you cross a rocky divide to reach this section of beach which goes right across the the headland. With no real dunes for protection this was windier on the lee western side, hence fewer people, although maybe twice the crowd was present when I first passed on my way to the top of the peninsula. This was the most popular nudist area with maybe only half the people here textiles.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - <half a dozen on crowded Illetes, maybe 2 dozen at Es Trucadors

Types - family/couples/friends/singles

Eye candy - okay. Some nice textiles on Illetes

Atmosphere - relaxed holiday

Facilities - Illetes good. Lifeguards, chiringuito, beach showers. Trucadors nil

Access - car park and bus stop at Illetes - otherwise an hour walk from the port. 10-15 minutes by bicycle. Can't ride to  Trucadors - walking: another 10-/15 minutes

Local accommodation - none on the peninsula: plenty around La Savina and the rest of the island

Nice nearby beaches - other peninsula beaches okay on the western side - the eastern side continues south and the beaches there read up really well.

My accommodation - Eivissa/Ibiza town

POSTSCRIPT - I feel I may have short-changed Formentera, The more I hear and read about it, the more I would like to get back there and spend a number of days checking the whole place out. It seems I had just scratched the surface at the above locations.

Bjarne from Denmark contacted me. He holidays frequently at Formentara and has written some good stuff about the place HERE and HERE.

In his message to me, Bjarne added: "When talking about Formentera you should not forget the small uninhabited island of Espalmador, just north of Formentera with the popular mud bath and the pristine beaches."



EQUAL 11TH - SES SALINES aka LAS SALINAS: SOUTH-EAST IBIZA

Ses Salines at bottom of image. Es Cavalet is another nudist beach - see below. Eivissa is 10km by road, the airport terminals 8 and the center of the long tourist strip at Den Bossa, the nearest resort with lotsa accommodation, abt 7 - I forgot to place-mark Den Bossa, it is that long beach strip to right of airport - accommodation runs the full length.

Patjal Ses Salines from the north. This 1500m long and fairly wide patch of sand is regarded as the "in" beach for summer, a haunt for the cool crowd and celebrities. But I didn't recognize anybody. Then again, nobody recognized me. This beach has very clear water which shelves gradually making it good for kids, and a full range of facilities including some rather swish beach bars.

Platja Ses Salines from the southern end.

A better idea of beach length might be gained if you click-expand image. The crowd extended right to this end. There were only a few nudists on this beach (all this end) maybe because they are well catered for at nearby Es Cavalet. To get to Es Cavalet's south end, simply take any track leading into the sand-hills at back.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - only a few

Beach goer types - poseurs-glitterati/family/couples/friends/singles

Eye candy - some excellent textiles

Atmosphere - hedonistic holiday

Facilities - Good. Lifeguards, chiringuitos, beach showers. 

Access - car park (big but crowded) and bus stop. Buses frequent but can be crowded at end of day.

Local accommodation - none. Some apartments and villas a few km north before Den Bossa. Latter has a vast amount of accommodation. Lots more in Ibiza town.

Nice nearby beaches - adjacent Es Cavalet okay. Apparently there are some nice little beaches on the coast not too far to the west, but these are accessed by a distant road west of the airport

My accommodation - Eivissa/Ibiza town

EQUAL 11TH PLACE - ES CAVALET: SOUTH EAST IBIZA

It took me way longer than I thought to walk the sand hills/scrub across to Es Cavalet. Lotsa tracks there, head roughly north-east and you will arrive (music from the beach bar in the southern gay section is a good guide), but if too far south you will end up on the rocks south of Es Cavalet beach proper. No big problem.
Note that the sand-hills have a reputation as a gay beat but I saw no-one when I crossed at abt 1500.

Buses connect Pl Ses Salines with Eivissa ( L11) and Eivissa-Den Bossa-Ses Salines (11B) - for Es Cavalet get off at the roundabout where the nearly 1km road into Es Cavalet meets the main road (near top-left of image). There are big parking areas at Ses Salines, limited at Es Cavalet and the beaches' popularity meant space was at a premium in high season July - no problem for me on my mountain bike.

The seemingly cultivated area immediately north of the Ses Saline's place marker is actually one of the salt mining evaporation lakes from which this area gets its name. There is a bigger section out of frame to the north-west between the main road and the airport.

This 1km long beach has a reasonable width. Water was clear but there were a few rocks just offshore in central areas. Sand was clean but hardly the white stuff the websites claim. The southern area closest camera is a gay area which had a fairly big crowd of nudes and the Speedo set - no shortage of cut pecs. The mid-sections of he beach is nudist (this beach is an official nude beach) and the northern end family. I can't remember any life-guards (water shelves gently and there seems to be little surf in high season) but there are two pretty swish beach/bar restaurant/bars each end. There was a fair crowd in each area but nowhere near as packed as at Ses Salines - and plenty of unused beach between.

Ibiza has a reputation for being pretty wild but I thought things were not too over the top. The wildest thing I saw was at Es Cavalet where some couples very late in the day tended to get a bit ....um .... affectionate. Crikey! Mum warned me about Euro nude beaches.

Note - the ratings below are only for the mid-beach nude area:

Nudists - several dozen spread over maybe 400m

Beach goer types - seemed mainly couples/friends/singles. Some exhibitionists. Some hopefuls wandering the sand hills behind central beach

Eye candy - average. Maybe better than average for yoyeurs late in the day. Crikey!

Atmosphere - hedonistic holiday

Facilities - none mid-beach. Chiringuitos each end. The north end has showers. 

Access - car park north end (small and very crowded). Bus stop Ikm away on main road - buses frequent but can be crowded at end of day.

Local accommodation - none. Some apartments and villas a few km north before Den Bossa. Latter has a vast amount of accommodation. Lots more in Ibiza town.

Nice nearby beaches - adjacent Ses Salines is a very nice beach. Apparently there are some nice little beaches on the coast not too far to the west, but these are accessed by a distant road west of the airport. Den Bossa to the north is okay for a big resort beach but aint exactly close.

My accommodation - Eivissa/Ibiza town

12TH PLACE - PLAYA ES CARBO: MALLORCA

Es Carbo is one of the beaches south of Colonia de Sant Jordi. It's not a bad beach with okay sand and water - the latter shelving slowly making it a good family beach. But I rate it 12th for 2 reasons; * there were only a few nudists on a beach with several hundred people * the nicer nude section of Playa Es Trenc on the north side of Sant Jordi is as easy to access for most people. I figure only nudist boaties (the offshore island here makes for nicely sheltered moorings in the lee, and people staying on the south side of Sant Jordi who fancy a bit of skinny dipping/sunning will venture this way instead of heading to Es Trenc.

Take the concrete walkway south of Sant Jordi's harbour beach leadiing to Es Dolc aka Ses Roquettes (this beach is rather similar to Es Carbo - popular and mentioned in the nude beach forums but absolutely no nudes when I passed by on a busy high season weekend). At the far end of Es Dolc, walk across a couple of rocky area and small bay for about 10 minutes and you come to the above first section of Es Carbo which recurves around the far corner to make the total length something like 1500m. Similar conditions to Es Trenc - distance from town meant fewer people but still pretty popular. References suggested this was also popular with naturists but there was only a few couples at the very far end.

Visited - weekend high season July

Nudists - only a few

Types - couples. Plenty of textiles: families, couples, singles.

Eye candy - okay textiles

Atmosphere - relaxed weekend

Facilities - just the sand

Access - 20 minutes walk from town. Seems to be some parking on dirt roads behind beach.

40km from Palma city.
Nice nearby beaches - Sant Jordi harbour beach, Es Dolc; immediately north of Sant Jordi - Playa Estanys, Playa Es Trenc
Local accommodation - plenty
Nearest big resort - S'Arenal/Platja de Palma
My accommodation - Can Pastilla/Platja de Palma

SECOND LAST PLACE: BALMINS - SITGES

Sitges is an attractive seaside resort near Barcelona. It has long had the reputation as a top location for gay and lesbian holiday makers but these days can be best regarded as an all round destination.

Sitges is located about 35km south west of Barcelona - close enough for a day-trip which is how I did it. 

The town area has 11 beaches, 10 of them west of the harbour, flanked by a nice walking promenade. In the photograph I have place-marked Balmins nude beach at right against the marina. Alguadolc is mentioned on naturist beach sites but there was no sign of nudes when I visited so it doesn't feature on this page although it is on my general beaches and islands blog Sitges page. Basso Rodona is Sitges' famous gay beach - Speedos and cut pecs rule.  Platja del Muerto at far left of my modifies Google Earth image is the site of two tiny nude beaches - one exclusively gay and the other mixed gay/straigts - I feature these down page.
I pinched the map off Gay Sitges Guide.

The very first of the 10 beaches west of the marina is Balmins - a gay/free nude beach. The far half tended to be almost exclusively gay when I visited - the near half a mix of gays, lesbians and other nudists. 

I was underwhelmed by this beach - it has a very flat profile which meant 80% of the sand was wet despite the fact that this coast has a tiny tidal range. Consequently people tended to be jammed together. A small stream runs across the beach - result: the sea water was not particularly clear. My shot doesn't show about half the mixed nude area - the shot is a cropped section of a wider shot showing all the coastline from the north. I didn't take any pix down on the beach for the usual reason.

This pic from sitgesonline.com better shows the mixed nude area in background and the gay half closer the camera. A chiringuito beach bar/restaurant is hidden by the divider rock.

Apartments behind are part of a big area in back of the large harbour/marina which starts close out of frame right.

Visited - weekend high season July

Nudists - quite a lot packed into a small area

Types - family/couples/friends/singles/gays/lesbians

Eye candy - okay babes. Plenty of cut gay guys. Speedos as popular as bare skin in their area

Atmosphere - seemed less relaxed, people worrying abt the encroaching sea and finding a spare section of sand

Facilities - good. Lifeguards, chiringuito, beach showers

Access - concrete ramp near chiringuito. Need to climb down rocks if coming from direction of camera in pic immediately above. About 20 minutes stroll from station. Frequent trains from Barcelona taking under an hour

Local accommodation - Sitges is a full blown resort town 

Nice nearby beaches - 10 fairly nice town beaches adjacent

My accommodation - Barcelona

I have some general info on Sitges here.

LAST PLACE: CALA VALLPRESSONA/VALLPREGONA - COSTA BRAVA

I rate this beach last on my list on account of lack of sand, isolation and not the easiest access from the main road. However as I point out it may be just the ticket for people seeking to get away from it all and for free campers wanting lack of hassle and seclusion.

Vallpressona is abt 10km nth of Tossa de Mar and 12km sth of Sant Feliu de Guixols , only a km or so sth of nude Cala Senor Raymon and about 4km nth of  free beach Cala Futadera where I ended my trek from Tossa. I called in to Vallpressona on my epic bicycle ride to Sant Feliu de Guixols - 65km return on that awesomely scenic twisting/climbing/dropping coast road. There are half a dozen beach areas between my trek's end and Sant Feliu but I decided I only had time for two - Vallpressona and adjacent Senor Raymon. Vallapressona is mentioned on naturist websites so I thought I'd drop down from the main road high above. As you can see it is a stone beach - it's about 300m long and has very clear water. There was no one on the beach when I called in. A few tents were set up in the bush behind the beach - some seemed to be long term in nature. This looks an excellent free camping area. 

There is a small beach just around the far headland called Cala Concagats, which appears on Google Earth's embedded photos to be sandy, like nearby Cala Senor Ramon. Seems the walk between beaches is not too difficult - I met a guy on Senor Raymon who was one of the campers I'd spoken to at Vallpressona less than 30 minutes earlier.

Cars should park up on the main road. The narrow dirt access track is well signposted there. I found I could ride my bicycle most of the way down to the beach and back - there were only a few parts too steep or rough for this inexperienced mountain biker. I'm not sure how a moto would go - might be a bit narrow and rough in places. Certainly inexperienced riders should walk the one km or so. Straight line distance from parking place marker to Vallperssona marker is 700m.

Visited - weekday high season July

Nudists - none (week day visit?)

Atmosphere - looked perfect for people who want to seclusion.

Facilities - none: 

Access - track from main road too narrow for cars. Experienced mountain bikers and good dirt motorcyclists should have few problems. 800m walk - not too steep

Local accommodation - flash apartments abt 2km north at Canyet de Mar

Nice nearby beaches - Cala Senor Raymon. Canyet de Mar looked okay from the road. Cala Futedera, Cala Pola, Cala Bona (starting 4km south) are nice call-ins for motorists visiting this area (see Tossa page for more details). 

Nearest resorts with lots of accommodation - Tossa de Mar 10km sth, Sant Feliu de Guixols 12km nth

My accommodation - Tossa de Mar 

The rocky beach here looks just like Vallpressona. But I don't remember seeing this young lady. 



UNRATED - PLATJA DEL MUERTO, SITGES
South-west of od Sitges town are the rather well known twin beaches of Platja del Muerto -about 2km past the Mirrimar Hotel.
 A  big confession: I didn't make it there: I got about half-way when I realised the very blustery weather was deteriorating further - it looked about to storm. This, plus the fact that I'd seen no-one since the golf course, made me think continuing might not be the best use of my time. Nevertheless I'll add what I have learnt about these beaches.

I made it as far as the Atlantida night club. Note there is a small creek to cross on the eastern side of the golf course - not too hard if in dry season (summer). That big snaky resort next to the Terramar Hotel is the Sunway Playa Golf and Spa. 
For people wishing to minimise walking it is possible to catch a taxi to the Atlantida (a side road comes in across the golf course and under the train tracks), There is limited parking if you have your own car or moto.
Note the walking track across to the beaches from Atlantida is rocky and has some steep slopes - some people chose to walk along the rail lines. The websites urge caution - the trains rock thru here at 130kph.

PLATJA DEL MUERTO 1

This is the first beach - a mixed nudist/gay beach apparently, in a small cove. The beach is pebbles. Note the beach bar/restaurant this end (images above and below GaySitges.com)

PLATJA DEL MUERTO 2

Just over the hill is the second beach, more exclusively gay. Also pebble surfaced. Apparently pretty popular, not so much for beach quality but for the extensive gay cruising area in the woods across the railway tracks. The outline of what you can expect in this area on the gay websites is pretty hilarious.

BTW - I think this second beach is the original Platja del Muerto. The first beach probably has a local name but I couldn't find it.

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If you see mistakes or have additional information please post it below. If you have questions maybe send them to lajolla22@hotmail.com - I don't check the bottom of my blogs' pages very often whereas lajolla22 gets looked at more frequently.

If you would like to do a TRIP REPORT on any of these or other Catalonia nude beaches please post it to lajolla22. I can then add it to this page.  Just a few pix with captions would be fine - it does not have to follow the format I use. Note my computer has problems with zipped photo files.

For people heading for California, my visits to nude beaches on the central and southern coasts starts about 60% down THIS PAGE

I'd say this is definitely Barcelona, but not necessarily Mar Bella. They say every picture tells a story - it's interesting to speculate on this one. From the tan lines I'd say we had a first time nudist here. From the cheeky look on her face she's got a friend to snap this one to send home to boyfriend or friends: look at me, aren't I bold. Wonder if she realised it would end up on the 'net with the whole world looking in? Um, long time nudists would say: who cares?