Clothing-Optional Campgrounds: A World Guide

Clothing-optional campgrounds are the backbone of organized naturism worldwide — more numerous than resorts, more affordable, and often run by nonprofit clubs rather than commercial operators. ClothesSuck currently tracks 60 published campgrounds across 21 countries, from historic Adriatic coastal sites to small membership clubs on the outskirts of Paris and Auckland.

Where are the world's clothing-optional campgrounds?

France leads with the deepest bench — a mix of coastal sites in Cap d'Agde's naturist quarter and rural inland campgrounds across the Dordogne, Provence, and Île-de-France. Croatia's Adriatic coast has its own well-established cluster, including Koversada near Vrsar, one of Europe's oldest large naturist campgrounds, dating to 1961. Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and Czechia round out the European core. Outside Europe, the pattern shifts toward membership clubs: New Zealand and Australia both have small, close-knit naturist club networks (often requiring a visitor introduction before your first visit), the US has a scattered set of independent campgrounds concentrated in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, and Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa each have at least one well-documented property.

What's the difference between a naturist club and a naturist campground?

In practice the line blurs — many properties are both at once, run by a membership association that also welcomes day visitors and campers. ClothesSuck files a property under Campgrounds when camping (tent, RV, or cabin) is the primary way to stay, and under Clubs when membership and a clubhouse-centered social scene are the primary draw, even if the club also has camping space. Several of the properties in this guide, including New Zealand's regional sun clubs and a handful of European associations, are genuinely both — check each listing's own detail page for which access model actually applies.

Do I need to be a member to camp there?

It depends heavily on the property and the country. Commercial coastal campgrounds in France, Spain, Croatia, and Germany generally take day and overnight bookings the way any campground does, with no membership required. Club-model properties, common in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and parts of continental Europe, more often expect you to contact them ahead of a first visit, sometimes for a short vetting conversation, before you can book a site. Where a listing's access model says "contact before first visit" or "visitors by advance arrangement," plan for that extra step rather than showing up unannounced.

Are naturist campgrounds family-friendly?

Most are. The large majority of the campgrounds in ClothesSuck's catalog are labeled family-oriented, reflecting naturism's own roots as a family-camping movement in much of Europe and Oceania. A smaller number are explicitly adults-only or cater to a specific community — River Ridge Campground and The Woods Camping Resort in the US, for instance, are both clothing-optional but serve gay and LGBTQ audiences specifically rather than operating as general family resorts. The audience label on each listing states this explicitly rather than leaving it to assumption.