Naked Vacations on the Adriatic Sea

Ben Curtis | benjamincurtis.me

Croatia has some of the most spectacular coastline anywhere on the planet. One interesting part of that spectacle? All the Europeans who come there to get naked at the beach. In this post, I’ll talk about the history of the nudist scene in Croatia, and some of the practicalities of checking it out, if that’s your thing.

Talk about a spectacular coastline!
Image | MacPepper, Creative Commons

People have been getting naked in Croatia for millennia. Just imagine those cavemen and women whipping off their mammoth-fur capes to work on an all-over body tan. (Word of warning if you’re really trying to imagine it: Neanderthals weren’t into bikini waxing nearly as much as people today.) But when it comes to the history of au naturel sunbathing in this part of the world, I like to point to two important events.

The first links to perhaps the most famous lover of all time: Giacomo Casanova. He visited the town of Vrsar, in Croatia’s Istria region, in 1743 and 1744. That much is fact. What’s legend is that he also swam nude in the ocean nearby. It could be true; it’s the kind of thing that this notorious libertine would have done, maybe just to shock the locals at the time. Whether or not he was the first famous nudist in Croatia, Casanova did leave his mark: for several years, Istria had a “Casanovafest” of erotic art, which a good friend of mine ran. And if you’re ever in Vrsar, you can take a “Casanova tour.”

The second historical event was the visit of Britain’s Edward VIII to the Croatian coast in 1936. Edward, you might remember, was the king who abdicated so he could marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Edward was also a bit of a libertine, and when he and Wallis were sailing around the island of Rab on the royal yacht, he evidently decided he wanted to go skinny dipping. They first got permission from the local authorities, which was probably smart, so as to avoid causing an international diplomatic incident. The area on Rab where these two lovebirds took a dip is still today a popular clothing-optional destination sometimes called “English beach.” By the way, this odd historical moment much later became the premise of a popular Croatian musical, named (appropriately enough) “The King is Nude.”

The island of Rab
Image | Wolfgang Zissler, Pixabay

It’s possible that Edward and Wallis got the idea for their plunge because by the 1930s Croatia was already firmly on the map of Europe’s nudists. Actually, their preferred term is “naturists,” and this trend goes back to the late 1800s. The idea was that exposing yourself to natural light and fresh air could be healthy, especially compared to conditions in many heavily industrialized cities in Central Europe. Croatia, thanks to its favorable climate, lovely landscapes, and proximity, became the preferred getaway for German and Czech promoters of this kind of “clean living.” Rab even had its own “naturist” resort around 1900.

But the boom in letting it all hang out outdoors really came in the 1960s. That’s when Koversada, a mecca of European naturist resorts, opened; it’s in Istria not far from Vrsar. Koversada can host some 6000 tourists, and you can have a whole naked vacation there: playing tennis, riding a bike, going for dinner, and of course soaking up the rays on parts of your body that normally don’t see the sunshine. Some of Koversada’s guests have been coming for decades. More resorts sprang up to capitalize on Koversada’s success, like Valalta, not far away, and others stretch all down Croatia’s coast.

It makes sense that this trend took off in the 60s. It goes along with the free-spirit attitude of the decade; think flower children and the Whole Earth Catalog. That culture was just as big in Europe as it was in North America. What was unique, though, was the broader boom of tourism in Croatia. Then part of socialist Yugoslavia, Croatian and other Yugoslav leaders realized that the Adriatic coast was like a tourism gold mine, so they invested heavily in promoting Croatian vacations, regardless of whether or not you wanted to wear your clothes while visiting. During the Cold War, Yugoslavia wasn’t part of the Soviet bloc, so it was freer and more open to Western tourists. It’s since this time that Croatia has really cemented its reputation for naturist-friendly holidays.

Lokrum, near Dubrovnik
Image | Filip Filipovic, Pixabay

Nowadays, you can find naturist beaches almost everywhere. You don’t have to go to the specialized resorts. Just look for signs that say “FKK,” which stands for Freikörperkultur, German for “free body culture.” A famous FKK beach is on the island of Lokrum, a short boat ride from Dubrovnik. And if you’re not into sharing the beach with some stranger’s pudenda, don’t worry. It’s not cool to get naked on just any Croatian beach. The naturists mostly prefer to keep their own company. In fact, relatively few of the naked sunbathers are Croatian. The vast majority seem to be sunburned, elderly Germans. They come all the way down to the Adriatic to let the wind whistle through their private parts. If that’s their idea of a great vacation, I say, “Live and let live.”

So the next time you’re enjoying the amazing turquoise waters of Croatia’s Adriatic, you now know that lots of other people like to enjoy it in their birthday suits. If the latter appeals to you, this website has some useful specifics. Or if you’re interested to learn more about Croatian history, please check out my book on the topic.