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Where to
‘get your
kit off’
in Spain
They say that that when you go on
holiday you should take twice the amount of money and half
the amount of clothes.
The latter is especially true when you take a naturist vacation.
The number of holidaymakers
who are shedding clothes is increasing and the beaches where
you can get an all over tan are getting easier to find.
Costa del Sol.
·
Benalnatura
is not far from Torremolinos. You find it at the second
bay south of Benalmadena.
It’s a pleasant little beach backed by a eucalyptus grove.
Palm trees and red hot pokers grow in the little garden
that surround the beach bar. I arrived in the morning and
found Miki, a statuesque blonde,
fishing from the rocky headland.
She was a Dutch girl from Den Haag who along with her Spanish
partner Miguel set
about transforming the cove into a regular little Eden.
It took them a year of badgering the town hall
every day to have a shower installed.
People gave plants and a lot of work
went into laying the paths into the shaded areas
There’s a barbecue in the secluded grove and the beach bar
is surrounded benches and tables intricately imbedded with
shells.
It’s all very social and there was much laughter as visitors
from as far away as New York and Japan sipped cooling drinks
under the bamboo umbrellas.
Holidaymakers lay sizzling, nude in the sun and occasionally
slipped into the sea to cool off. Benalnatura is a place
with a very relaxed atmosphere and quite a contrast to the
other bustling beaches.
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Costa Almeria
Further south on the
Costa Almeria there are superb beaches and dramatic
headlands. This where you find a naturist village and a
nudist resort called Vera Playa Club.
Founded in 1991
The Club is fully naturist, except for the dining room and
during the evening and night.
Costa
Almeria is at the northern tip of Andalucia, Spain's most
southern province. The Club's nearest towns are Garrucha
and Vera, three and six miles away respectively.
The Costa Almeria is on the same latitude as Tunis in North
Africa.
(The hotel, incidentally, is in the bay where Hannibal
and his elephants landed to invade Europe.)
· Costa
Natura was the first official naturist resort on the Spanish mainland.
It’s near Estaponona
and from the sweeping beach you can see the Rock of Gibraltar.
It is far enough south to have sunshine most days of the
year. The striking architecture is typically Andalucian
and amid the brilliant white walls, tiled patios
and sweeping lawns you find an Olympic size swimming pool,
whirlpool and sauna.
I found some some Scots holidaymakers there on a package
holiday and involved in a pretty competitive game of boule. The
international needle match generated some pressure
and the steel
balls flew through the air with unerring accuracy.
Costa
Natura consists of 196 privately owned apartments including
12 Time-Share apartments, of which 105 and the 12 Time-share
apartments are for letting, bar, restaurant with entertainment,
mini market and sports facilities
There
are special offers during the winter and it is possible
to rent an apartment from £320 a month for a minimum of
a two month period.
Visitors are able to make an inspection visit
and spend a day there for a modest fee. (http://www.costanatura.com/indicees.htm)
Spanish Islands 
·
Formentera
is the smallest of the Spanish islands in the Mediterranean
but when it comes to shedding clothes it leave Mallorca
, Menorca and Ibiza in the shade.
Come the summer, six million tourists flock to the Balearic
group but practically all the nudists fly into Ibiza and
take the ferry ride to La Sabina in Formentera.
This little port has an almost ‘North African’ feel to it.
How ever once you have hired your bike and pedalled
round towards the glorious beaches backed with pine
trees, the word ‘paradise’ takes on meaning.
You can eat at a cafe in the trees or lay in the sun and
watch the boats bobbing at anchor. You could even pass yourself
off as a millionaire,
since you have no clothes there will be no clue as
to whether your transport is the luxury yacht or the bike
leaning against the tree.
·
The
Island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries is less than sixty miles from Africa
and sand from the Sahara has been known to blow across.
It is hot all year round and if you fancy a naked
Christmas lunch it is ‘the’ place to picnic. In the north
of the island at Playa de Corralajo impressive sand dunes
back a wide
beach that sweeps down to the sea..
It’s an island of strong winds and while you might be entertained by watching
the kites flying, there will be occasions when you
won’t enjoy having your tender bits sand blasted.
The answer is to pop into one of the little ‘nests’
of volcanic stone that have been constructed close to the
shoreline. Any ones with the towels in them have usually
been claimed by early rising German holidaymakers.
·
Gran
Canaria. Between the two large resorts Maspalmomas and Playa de Ingles
there are massive sand dunes in which sunbathers make themselves
shelters like craters of the moon.
If you, slap
on the sun screen, lie back and disengage the brain, it
can be a bit disconcerting to wake and look up to see a
camel train of tourists plodding by.
Factfile
Naturist
Holidays in Spain http://www.pengtravel.co.uk/Peng/Peng_Travel.html
Brochure:
Peng Travel
Tel: 01708 471832..
Naturist Guide to Europe, costs £8.50 Tel
01723 503456
United
States and Caribbean. naturist resorts, travel agencies,
tour companies
http://www.tanr.com
Costa
Natura
http://www.costanatura.com/indicees.htm
Benalnatura
(in Spanish)
http://www.arrakis.es/~benalnat/
Naturist
Locations in Southern Spain
http://www.naturismo.org/malaga.html
Links
to other articles on "Where
to get your Kit off...."
Spain
France
Crete
& Canary
Islands
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