Outdoor website Outforia has ranked the best (and worst) places to go skinny dipping. Photo / 123rf
Outdoor website Outforia has ranked the best (and worst) places to go skinny dipping. Photo / 123rf
Depending on where you live in the world, stripping down for a day at the beach is either an absolute no-no, thrilling escapade or ordinary occurrence.
Swapping a bathing suit for a birthday suit may not be for everyone but if you'd like to give skinny dipping a try on your next holiday, some countries will be more welcoming than others.
It can be hard to know what places will celebrate a free nipple or slap you in cuffs, so adventure website Outforia compiled data on the best countries in the world to go sans-togs, and the worst.
The top five countries are France, the US, Spain, Thailand and Australia.
Countries where it's best to go skinny dipping. Photo / Outforia
Unsurprisingly, laissez-faire France came out as the most nudist-friendly, with 397 public nude beaches and 212 naturist campsites.
It is also where you'll find "Village Naturiste" in Cap d'Age, where clothing is optional, according to Ouforia.
While one would expect another European country to follow, it is the US who claimed second place with 299 nudist-friendly beaches and the most naturist campsites in the world; 253 across the country.
Most tend to be found in warmer states like California and Florida. It's worth checking protocol as public nudity is only partially legal, in certain areas.
Spain comes in with the most nudist beaches (422), with many unofficial and secret ones too but is in third due to its lack of naturist campsites (95).
After these top three, the quantity of beaches and campsites where you can spend the day without bikinis or bottoms drops dramatically.
Thailand has nine beaches and 12 campsites while Australia has 66 beaches and 57 campsites.
The top 10 is completed with Israel, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Greece.
Outforia didn't just order countries according to the number of locations but also how enjoyable the experience would be. The ranking accounted for the average annual air and water temperature, meaning many of the world's warmest countries featured high on the list.
Countries where you should avoid skinny dipping. Photo / Outforia
Therefore, the worst places in the world to skinny dip were countries with stringent nudity laws and cold climates such as China, Russia, Iran, Estonia, Turkey, Belarus and others.
