We’ve been at least a half dozen times over the past twenty years, usually staying for two or three nights en route to another naturist destination. But this time, we were simply making a day visit with a couple friends – one a confirmed naturist, the other, new to the concept, but most certainty social nudity curious.
We did the best we could to prep them for this visit to the Naked City. For our naturist friend, this was something of a pilgrimage, having read so much about the most expansive naturist enclave in the world. And to be sure, depending where you’re looking on the internet, the place sounds like naturist Utopia. 24/7 nudity – in the shops, restaurants, and even in the post office. You can easily think you’ve got a good pulse on the place on the web without bumping into the language about foam parties and libertines (swingers) if you’re simply searching for the ultimate naturist destination.
On previous journeys, my wife and I have typically stayed in the modest Hotel Eve, tucked away at the edge of the village. While we’ve seen a few amorous couples there over the years, they have typically remained just within the lines of acceptable public display of affection. We understand “amorous”, and like to think we have cultivated a good appreciation for such in our 30+ years of marriage, but we have never chosen to imbibe in the libertine scene, nor are we likely to put our own affections on public display.
Admittedly, my wife and I hold differing perspectives on the sexual pulse of Cap d’Agde as you pass a club with pole dancers on the way to the grocery store, or a woman walking by in a negligée that simply exaggerates the body parts that a bikini typically covers up, while keeping her partner close by on a studded collar and leash. “There’s some wild and crazy going on in our midst,” we say. I have always thought it to be a bizarre study in humanity. While she has never felt like we’ve put ourselves in a particularly threatening situation, my wife finds the whole environment someplace between disquieting at least, and disturbing at most.
Until this time…
I had given a brief history of Cap d’Agde – the great naked city of France – to our friends in the car on our way down the autoroute from Provence, including the details of the original charter that still permeates the regulations to be acknowledged at the entrance today, banning overt sexuality and a wide array of other inappropriate behaviors. Some online reviews even tell stories of being denied admission at the gate due to the lack of an affiliation with a legitimate naturist organization.
In the meantime, I’ve kept up on my reading about the place over the years: the opening of a new “genuine naturist hotel” that hosts getting to know you parties on the terrace (along with alluring photos); the arson reports related to the total destruction of the most prominent swingers’ club (and the subsequent rebuilding) a few years back; and the varied reports of just what happens on the beach, especially around the time the sun begins to set. We certainly had an awareness of all that from our previous visits, but we simply weren’t prepared for what awaited us on this visit.
Once parked with clothing safely secured in the car, we made our way into the heart of the town where we consumed copious amounts of vin rosé beneath the relieving protection of misters that ameliorated the blistering heat during this prolonged heat wave in the South of France. We each ventured down to the beach now and again – the familial section of the beach near all the restaurants and shops – noting an occasional couple riding the waves locked in a suspiciously euphoric embrace. It was the typical intergenerational mixture of young families to senior citizens, with a near 100% compliance with the total nudity regulations. This was the Cap d’Adge we had experienced in the past.
Having made 8:00 pm dinner reservations, the defining moment arrived when we decided to take a stroll down the naturist beach as the sun was beginning to set. I suppose timing is everything on occasions like this, but we were hardly a few meters beyond the first beach bar when we came upon women on their knees pleasing their partners, then circles of spectators watching various displays of human sexuality – and as often as not, a circle of men, gazing on the event, pleasuring themselves in a participatory sort of way.
I should reiterate at this point that we (and thankfully, our friends who were with us) are of the live and let live variety of human. “Do what you want as long as it’s not invasive or hurtful to the other people around you.” But I have to say, this was a country mile beyond the world of bizarre. For me, it was something akin to a visit to the city zoo. “Ah, do you think we’ll see the monkey lick the other monkey’s butt today? And why doesn’t that bear ever come out of his cave!” What it wasn’t, however, (at least for me) was the least bit erotic. And my wife was (quite appropriately) offended by a woman who was simply gyrating in the sand to the pleasure of a circle of dozens of lonely-looking men. Naturist values be damned – this was in no way what we’ve come to associate with the pervasive values of social nudity in France!
It’s impossible to know the psychology at play amidst the people “playing” on the beach that day. Were they liberated? Desperate? Or just out having a good time with strangers and friends? Is that appreciably different than some of the groping and such that goes on at a New York City night club any night of the week?
Regardless of intent, what Cap d’Agde is not is the naturist Utopia the forefathers set out to create, if simply imagined through the eyes of a person who travels half way across the world to visit this iconic naked city. Even given our recurring experiences with the place, our wandering trek through the sexcapades, as perceived along side our young naturist friends, was simply over the edge! What if an eager husband has been working for years to convince his partner that naturism is a holistic movement intended to embrace body acceptance in a non-threatening environment? It’s difficult to imagine that if Cap d’Adge were the first stop on a journey of naturist exploration that the reluctant partner would ever go near another “naturist place” EVER – again!
I suppose this is really a microcosm representing the confusion in the general public’s perception of social nudity to begin with. We keep trying to convince people that it’s not just one giant orgy in the making, except… when it is! And in this case, the naturist charter that supposedly governs the place has been completely undermined by the actual law of the land. While Cap d’Agde is advertised as the great naked city, it is actually the primary destination for, well… MANY giant orgies, which in turn generates copious amounts of revenue through tourist taxes from the tens of thousands who go there each year to experience exactly that. I might add that this is not an effort to condemn such activities, nor do I have a desire to pass judgment on people who enjoy such an environment, but if one is trying to make a case for non-sexual social nudity, Cap d’Agde is not going to do much to help your case.
I’ve tried to imagine the dinner conversation for the young families who stay there for weeks at a time each summer. “Mommy, why were those men all standing in a circle around that woman this afternoon?” Perhaps that simply becomes a teachable moment over macaroni and cheese, but such a conversation would require a level of tolerance that most Americans could never imagine. Be that as it may, but just a word to the wise…
If you are curious about social nudity and you’re eager to find out what it’s all about, there are about three-hundred naturist centers in France alone. Cap d’Agde may not be the entry point you were hoping for.
Photos were found on a Google images search. If you find one that belongs to you, we will be most willing to remove should you ask.
Reblogged this on Naturalian's Blog and commented:
Never been – love Euronat though!
Yup!! Euronat is the real deal! 😍
Damn! You’ve beaten us in timing again…
Next week we’re going to publish our own experience of Cap d’Agde. We can already tell you that it was… ehm… interesting 🙂
Hahaha!!!! Early bird gets the … um … worm!
Here’s our experience: https://www.nakedwanderings.com/blog/2019/07/18/cap-dagde-day-famous-nude-village/
Alternative title: That awkward moment when we went to Cap d’Agde 🙂
I don’t have a problem with public affection- you see it in the textile world today. As a nudist though there should be respectable boundaries that we follow when showing that affection.
I still believe there are many people who call themselves nudists who really don’t understand the true meaning. Just because you take your clothes off in public don’t make you a nudist.
Sorry to see a place I have always wanted to visits based of its original vision turn into a place I would rather avoid based off the activities that make nudity sexual.
Thank you for sharing,
It’s so hard to be an advocate for family friendly nudism/naturism when when sex is thrown in your face in such a manner. Especially in public!
You say you’ve been to Cap d’Agde before, so I’ll call it astonishing that you were somehow astonished by what you saw there. Everything that’s written about it says it’s been primarily a sex resort for years, yet you only just seem to have noticed!
I’d be quite willing to say that if people want a sex resort, let them have one, and good luck to them (as long as they don’t do it in the street and frighten the horses). But the infuriating thing is that Cap d’Agde was built as a “nude city” and functioned that way at first, and then the level of open sexuality just ratcheted up and up, to the point where I can’t believe any naturist would want to go there. And yet you say some of them do go, and even bring their children! That’s astonishing, too. But I think it’s totally lost to naturism.
Hi Joe! I think there’s no difficulty in advocating non-sexual naturism, no matter what else goes on in the world. You just have to be clear on what naturism is and what is actually something totally different.
At times it doesn’t seem how clear you are. Others just want to take the opposing point of view just to piss you off enough to decide it just isn’t worth it anymore. So rather than advocating in groups you become more of a loaner and say things at times when it hits you just right or wrong.
Any place that uses nudism/naturism to advertise hedonism are the ones that aren’t being clear in what they are saying. They just happen to be nude in their more animalistic form verses the nude in its purist form.
I love touch and pleasure, don’t get me wrong. But to use the words of nudism/naturism for sexual endeavors is far from what just being nude is all about.
The nudist French aren’t as puritanical as nudist American/English. The U.S. was begun by Puritanist and would have us all put in ‘lock stocks or whatever they did back then. Behead us is more like it. No matter if you were straight-laced nudist or a more laid back nudist. Hey, if you don’t dig Cap d’Adge — stay away. There are ‘nudist camps’ with strict rules—-join them and be comfy with your love to be naked. Nudism is a joy — and we follow the flock we belong in . .This has been fascinating reading, no matter. . .
Wow! The ‘hardly a few meters beyond the first beach bar’ part is what really amazes me. One would think there’d be some sort of area set aside for that. If I understood you correctly, your issue was not the sex on the beach itself, but the fact that it was unavoidably in your face in what what ostensibly a ‘strictly social’ nudist/naturist setting. In that we’re in complete agreement. if I’m in a strictly social setting, I expect not to see sex.
From what I’ve heard/read. what you witnessed is not too terribly different from what goes on on some of the wilder textile beaches, particularly during Spring Break.
All of my nudist/naturist experience is from a gay male perspective. At the risk of painting with too broad a bush, here’s how it basically works. There’re 3 types of parties/events. There’re sex-oriented parties, where everyone gets naked, socializes a bit and the ‘fun’ begins. I want to be quite clear that I’m not aware of ANY nudist/naturist group that hosts these. There’re strictly social events that’re no more amorous than the average happy hour or back yard barbecue. These are the majority of events. Then there’re ‘mixed’ (my word for them) parties. Mixed parties have a CLEARLY delineated play area or after-party play time. Said areas are always out of the way and NOT the focus of the event. If you’re intent on sex, a mixed party is not for you. I.e. if you’re a last-minute guest who didn’t see the info, you’d think you were at a strictly social event. ‘Strictly social’ policies are usually rather strictly enforced.
All policies are spelled clearly in advance. It seems to work as I’ve not once, not ever come across people ‘playing’ when I thought I was in a strictly social setting.
I’m surprised Cap d’Agde doesn’t have a similar set-up. My gut feeling is that they don’t want to. Not to stereotype, but if organizations routinely run events attended entirely by gay male nudists have no problem separating sex from nudism/naturism, surely an entire town ostensibly focused on naturism can as well.
As a man married to a man we do not go back to places where we have seen sex or there is no kind of attempted control over it.
I will always advocate that that nudist/naturist gathers should be safe for all ages and/or orientations. My daughter grew up with my being nude and her fiancé accepts it as well. And maybe one day we, and the grand kids, will all be at the river with the other families.
One of the happier moments I had at our local river was the day a regular couple, to the spot, brought their 10 week old boy and girl twins. With everyone else it truly felt like a family. And that’s a feeling you don’t forget when that’s what you try to advocate so damn hard about!
Where is the closest nude beach from Lomira Wisconsin?
Haven’t a clue! Check the AANR and TNS websites. They would both have listings! Good luck!!!
There’s an area that my nudist Dad and I visited on Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee . . . it was an undesignated do as you like area, not even on the map by nudist except for those in the know. Sorta like a smaller Hippie Hollow/Lake Travis in Austin — where we have a nudist Uncle & his nudist lover live near-by— so we are quite accustomed to where to set ourselves up and be ourselves. There are area’s for nudist families, nudist straights/couples and nudist gay area, and all it seemed to us had ‘the bushes’ for extra pleasures (shock) except the nudist family area—hich is how it should be. YOU choose.
Incidentally, to Dan Carlson (we have nudist cousin with same name!!) — I was surprised since you said you had been to Cap d’Adge many times. Should have already been on top of what ‘s what with the French, nudist gossip travels fast. I have never even been and knew about most of what you spoke of. We have only been nudist at Dirk Bogard’s place in the Cannes area, when we stayed at his home completely naked and traveled by car clothes free to the nearest nudist beach, which was. set up exactly as, Hippie Hollow/Lake Travis. Or else take any ‘newbie’ to a restricted ‘nudist camp’ and abide by its prudish rules. My nudist family has never been ‘card carrying’ nudists . . .we knew that scene . ..zzzzzzz
a big snore. tennis anyone ? Naked Johnny and Naked Deryck (Dad)
crosstown79th@gmail.com
* We find this conversation most interesting. Thanks for the article. Good read Dan. Stay naked.
Hi Johnny.
Sorry… I deleted your other comment as the sexual innuendo simply complicates the conversation even more.
Just replied to Blondiegeek, and in large part, I agree with him.
Yes – Correct. We’ve been to Cap d’Agde several time since 1997, usually at MY urging as a naturist blogger who likes to keep a pulse on what’s going on with naturism in general. And Cap d’Adge is an extraordinary place that veered a good bit off course from it’s original mission statement. And as I said in my reply, I personally don’t find it appalling, surprising, erotic, or much of ANYthing other than intriguing by the sheer size of the place, and the ever-changing human show on display. All the while, I’m not sure she could tell you exactly why, (because she is NOT a prude,) but why wife finds the place disingenuous at best, violating at worst.
And I hear you… So you don’t want to play tennis or golf, naked or otherwise, on your holiday. Some people love Vegas. Some people love bungie-jumping. Some people love reading a book on the beach. I’ve been blogging for a long time simply to celebrate the virtues (I use the word cautiously) of social nudity. What I’m doing while naked is of little consequence, but I don’t want my right to enjoy social nudity to be undermined by those who make that inherently sexual. While a smallish percentage of the population is ready for just plain nudity, I’m going to venture that there are even fewer who are ready for open sex on the beach when they go to a regular beach on the Jersey Shore. When that becomes an acceptable norm on a nude beach, and it’s still strictly taboo on a textile beach, we’ve collectively shot ourselves in the foot.
I live near a large city in the eastern United States. I’m always intrigued that there a huge billboards on the Interstate for sex clubs in the city, but the clubs themselves are in old warehouses on the edge of town. I suspect the permits included rules about being X number of miles from a school or a church or all that. Do I think that’s all pretty silly? Yup. Do I think Americans are prudes? Yup – though even Amsterdam has a specific district where most of the sexual stuff takes place. Can I have sex with my wife on a family beach on the Outer Banks? Only if I want to get arrested!!
My point is that there’s a time and place for everything. If people want to screw in the bushes or on the beach, PLEASE choose a textile beach so we don’t give the prudes even more fodder for their narrow minded viewpoints. That is all.
Hey Nudist Dan:
Posting an article my nudist Dad had me read, about America and public nudity in his days. It covers, nude swimming, nude atYMCA, me’s clubs, showing at school, military life, etc., It appears nudity was much more common back then (40-60’s) general nudity in general. We don’t seem to have progressed instead we are going backwards or into some weird far-flung future.. I see guys at the gym take showers with their underwear ON. I remember when I was ingrate school on the swim team, we practiced trying in the nude. And that changed by the time I reached high school out in Arizona. Very prudish nowadays. Oh, we have plenty of nudity — the XXXX variety — My nudist Dad said, that would never have gone over back then. But, men doing one another naked and I presume women also, was common.
Let us know what you think?
Naked Johnny
crosstown79th@gmail.com
http://www.frank-answers.com/frank-answers-about-swimming-naked/
NUDE HISTORY SWIMMING NAKED IN AMERICA: AND HOW WE HAVE DE-DRESSED ALL NUDIST MEN’S CLUBS,GATHERIGS. GOOD READ:
Naked Johnny – crosstown79th@gmail.com
http://www.frank-answers.com/frank-answers-about-swimming-naked/
Wow! Great article!!! More than one could ever hope to know on the topic! 😀
FWIW, I get the impression from some of the responses here that I’m a man. Actually, I’m the wife half of the couple! 🙂 I wonder if that changes people’s impressions of what I’m saying…knowing that I’m a woman? 🤔
Reasonable question! But it doesn’t change mine! 😀 I also think think there’s a prejudice against swingers, which again, in find peculiar in this age of hooking up!! Why does ANYone care about ANY of this?
But alas, they do. I simply want to create a forum where people can make informed decisions, and understand what people are thinking and doing in a broader context.
Thanks again for you candid comments! It’s a great thread!
Dan: Quickly please edit my recent post — I did not re-read and many many typo’s. I posted is below in case my post is too garbled is below. I should learn to proof read my own comments! haha Naked Johnny
http://www.frank-answers.com/frank-answers-about-swimming-naked/
A great review from an open minded perspective. I totally agree with your evaluation and non judgemental approach. If others chose to do what we do not, so what?
The campground in Cap D’agde is the family oriented, more pure naturist experience. We have a permanent pitch there and live there 6 months out of the year. In fact I’m writing this comment, naked in my caravan, right now! 🙂 My (very conservative) midwestern parents came to visit this year (who are most certainly NOT naturists), and they had a good time, and even got naked! Basically,if you know cap d’agde, and want to keep things strictly naturist, you just have to know where to go – ie, avoid La Baie du Cochon (Stick to the family end of the beach), stay on the camping (where you can rent a cottage if actual camping isn’t your thing), and don’t go to the swinger clubs. Easy peasy. The two worlds of pure naturist and libertine can and do co-exist. I’d argue that you absolutely can introduce people to naturism here, because I’ve actually done it. 🙂
Something that’s difficult for us to understand is why genuine naturists would visit a place like Cap d’Agde in the first place. Especially if they know what’s going on and especially with children.
It must be impossible to leave your kids a minute alone outside the camping because who knows what they will encounter.
There are so many great naturist places in France, like Sérignan Plage which is literally right around the corner. Why not visit those instead and be (more) sure that nothing will be going on?
It’s like having a swim in a river full of piranhas while there’s an absolutely safe river right next to it. Is it the excitement that something might happen? Is it the risk? We’d love to find out.
Well for us personally, we’re swingers so obviously we like Cap for what it is. 🙂 Been to Serignan, it’s beautiful but super quiet and boring. We love how lively Cap is, by contrast. We don’t have kids but we have several naturist, non-swinger friends with kids in Cap and they don’t seem to have any issue with what their kids may or may not see. Also keep in mind that European attitudes towards sexuality are generally more liberal than Americans. After all, sexuality is natural! Frankly when we’ve been out in the village with our friends with kids, the kids really couldn’t care less about the sex shops, etc, they just want money to get a snack or to run around. 🙂 From what I’ve seen it’s really a non issue. And on the beach, just stay on the family side. Yes there is sexuality but people are by and large respectful and consent is king, so it’s not like you’re gonna have people jerking off on you or your kids. It’s really not the minefield/river of piranhas that you describe. The great thing about Cap is that you can let your freak flag fly, whatever it is that you’re into (including pure naturism), and you’re not going to be judged or condemned for it. While certainly not perfect, it’s probably the closest thing in the world to true paradise/freedom and that’s why we love it.
Hi Blondiegeek.
Replied to your last message while traveling, but it didn’t take. I REALLY appreciate your perspective, both in that post and in this one, particularly in the spirit of the question posed by “naked wanderings.” Why put it to the test when there are so many other great places to get naked?”
I think you addressed that pretty well in response, and it helps – within this conversation – to know that you are swingers, which TOTALLY makes sense if Cap is your place of choice. (Nice work getting the conservative relatives on board with visiting! REALLY!)
Don’t know if you read the post I did a few weeks ago about Social Nudity in the era of Casual Sex. Bizarrely enough, (and I MEAN this!!!) there’s this huge stigma around swingers, while most 20-somethings don’t think twice about “hooking up” with someone just for the pleasure of physical contact of friends with benefits. And yet, they tend to freak out when someone suggests getting naked on the beach. Go figure. I guess what I’m trying to say is that YOUR sexual preferences are none of my business, nor are those of my children, or my neighbors, or my co-workers. Live and let live, I say! There are a LOT of reasons people choose who they have sex with and when. But in the context of THIS conversation, THAT’S NOT EVEN A THING!
What IS a thing is the title of this original post – WHY A NEWBIE NATURIST SHOULD NOT VISIT CAP D’AGDE! – In THIS case, we took a young female (20-something) friend who is a fervent naturist and had read a lot about the place, and a gay friend (30-something) who had only experienced something like this (beach nudity AND sexuality) on a gay beach, where he described the sexually-charged scenario as “normal,” except WAY MORE than he’d observed any place else. They are both liberal, open-minded people (Thank God!) and the found the whole experience to be interesting, much as I described in the post.
But your suggestion that one can go to Cap d’Agde and NOT notice the sexual undercurrent is NOT accurate, and is misleading to a newbie naturist who might simply be looking, as our young friend was, for the Mecca of French naturism. Even sitting at dinner that evening (in the “safe” zone, if you will) the parade was well under way with couples in provocative attire on their way out to have a good time for the evening. HOORAY FOR THEM!!!! I hope they had a GREAT evening! Seriously! Some of the women were so super-charged erotic that their pictures would never even be allowed on a Paris newsstand. We weren’t peeking in the doors of the clubs. We weren’t milling around the sex shops. And we weren’t still on the beach (just a few meters away, that evening) where all the sexual activity was taking place. We were eating our burgers and salads at a seaside restaurant while watching the sunset.
I think it’s GREAT that a place like this exists where people can live out their fantasies. And I think it GREAT that Europe is more laid back about sexuality in general. And god bless the parents who are at ease with saying, “Hey Suzi, see those guys jerking off? They’re just having fun watching that woman perform for them!” Truth be told, those kids will probably grow up with fewer hang-ups about sexuality than even the most liberal American, because they’ve seen it all! Unapologetically. On the beach. Next to a sand-castle.
BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE A CASE FOR THE VALUE OF NON-SEXUAL NUDITY, THIS PLACE IS A NIGHTMARE! It’s at odds with everything naturists have lobbied for, especially when it comes to the objectification of not just females, but humans in general. My wife was DEEPLY disturbed by the woman gyrating in the sand while so many men stood… stroking on, which led to quite a long discussion between us. Was she doing it for money? Their pleasure? HER pleasure? No way to tell, and it doesn’t matter. But my wife felt the woman, willingly or not, was being used for cheap (Free!) gratification of others, and as soon as she was done, those dudes would move on to the next one. All fun and games for those who wish to play. Maybe harmful to children. Maybe not at all. But it’s not naturism.
Would I go back? My wife and I disagree on this point. I didn’t find it erotic. I had no desire to participate. We chose a long time ago to be monogamous and we’re still good with that. I think it’s an entertaining show simply to watch people do what they do. They’re not hurting me. They haven’t approached us. We never have felt like we’re in personal danger. My wife, on the other hand, finds it objectifying and abusive, and while she was already tepid on the place, I don’t think she’ll EVER go back under any circumstance after this experience! And we’ve been a LOT of places and seen a LOT of naked people in a LOT of naked situations. She’s a seasoned naturist, and still finds Cap d’Agde to be sensory overload.
So I’m with Nick and Lins. Depending on what your desires are, and where your threshold is, people should maybe give Cap d’Agde a try. BUT IT’S NOT A FIRST STOP. Had it been the first place for our young female friend, it would have most certainly been her LAST! Would she go back now? Dunno. Maybe. Maybe not. But NOW she has a context for what naturism is all about so that when she talks to her textile 20-something friends who ask her whether “getting naked with others is simply an orgy waiting to happen?” she has enough data from various other experiences and places that she could reply – “You gotta know what you’re looking for, and what you’re not. But no… social nudity is just that. Social. Nudity.
Sorry to rant on so long, but this post has gotten a lot of hits, and a LOT of comments, many who simply condemn the place outright. I’m not advocating for that. Just don’t put the word naturist on the entry gate and then make me sign of code of ethics (that is largely ignored) before I can take my clothes off. That’s not naturism. I don’t even thing it’s wrong! It’s just not naturism.
In the end, it’s all about respect. We don’t have anything against any kind of lifestyle, as long as there’s mutual respect. Nude beaches are something the naturist community has fought for many years. The least one can do is respect the naturist values on those beaches.
When some tourists were thrown in jail some time ago in Asia for posing nude in front of temples, we were the first to say that the authorities were right. Those people were being disrespectful towards the local religion and culture and we, as naturists, don’t want to be linked to them.
The problem with the sex industry is that it goes so very fast and that new things become boring very easily. They don’t have time to fight for their rights. So instead they just hijack an existing lifestyle and make it their own. The same thing happened with Thai massages. We love Thai massages, they are awesome. But many people will start grinning when we tell them that. Because they think that Thai massages come with happy endings by default. We don’t want the same thing to happen with naturism.
We wouldn’t have any problem with the existence of sex beaches, as long as they are called that way. If you really want to have sex on a beach in front of others, get a group together, start a movement, get 100 000 signatures on a petition and we’re sure that one mayor or another will see the political value and give you a designated beach. Just don’t do it on the nude beaches.
Bravo!
Cap d’Adge has always been on my radar to visit from the beginning of our social nudism venture. To live nude in a city and do everyday things while being nude was my dream. I had convinced my wife that we should give it a try and she agreed after spending several annual trips to Club Orient on the island of St. Martin.
But I began reading many trips reports and some of those were of Dan and his wife’s experiences in the past. Though not as negative as this last report, his concerns at those times gave me pause. It took me 20 years to convince my wife that social nudism was safe, free of overt sexual activities and it wasn’t one big orgy. I was not about to take a chance and have all the work I’d done, all the research I’d done to be ruined. Cap was put way up on the shelf until I’d read some more promising news and experiences.
We’ve known Dan for quite some time and as stated, many of our nudist travels and social nudism experiences were guided by Dan’s experiences and blog entries. If Dan and his wife enjoy a place, I know my wife will enjoy it and feel safe and comfortable. To that, with this last report from Dan on Cap, I can say without hesitation that Cap has been taken off the shelf and tossed away.
As always, thanks for a informative report on all the nudist places you visit and share with your readers and friends. Our best to you both!
Hey Andres… Great to hear from you. 🙂
Just replied too Blondiegeek. I’m not saying you shouldn’t visit the place. You should just take a sedative first and know what you’re getting into! LOL Though know you both, I suspect your wife may share some of the same discomfort as mine did.
It’s an experience. That much is true.
Dan,
I understand what you’re staying and I read your response to Blondigeek. I agree with what you said to her, completely. You’re right, your wife and mine are on the same page. Naturism or what Blondiegeek referred to as “pure naturism”, is what I sold my wife on as to what social nudism was all about and she believed what I said. Though she’s become a seasoned social nudist since before you and your wife and we met, I think Cap would bring to the surface all those hidden and underlying thoughts and fears she’s kept at bay for all these years. Though it would be great to experience Cap so we could speak to this issue on a actual experience level, I think we’ll forego that experience! ;D
I don’t want to get off topic but I guess I must to address some of the things you’ve eluded to with Blondiegeek. There are lots and lots of swinger places to visit here in the US and several local to where we live, yet, swingers always seem to tire of their own places and gravitate to those that are more for the “pure naturist.” I’m not saying that they can’t visit but we have extensive experience with being at a pure naturist, quiet and boring nude venue and these swinger groups visit and disrupt the atmosphere. Their groups then expect those of us that want the quite and boring to join in or we’re somehow the bad people.
Why would swingers want to visit a place that is typically quiet and boring? This situation hasn’t happened once, twice, it’s happened at almost every nudist/naturist venue we’ve visited and we’ve visited many here in the US and a few abroad. It’s not just us but it’s the pure naturist that has spoken with us time after time and stated that “when they visit, we just stay home until they’re gone!” I still wonder, when they have their own places to visit, why visit a place that is the exact opposite of what they are looking for?
With that said, you and your wife have visited so many other places that interest my wife and I to enjoy our pure naturism and we’ll do our best to finally get to visit those someday. Hopefully run into you in Europe one day in the future.
Never thought I would get there to begin with. Yet I have no interest either. It’s hard enough to fight the stereotype of sex and nudity. Add the fact I’m a man married to a man and it’s even worse. Just happy we are accepted at our local family friendly spot as part of the family
It sounds much like a posh version of our local lay-by on the A43 road. Dogging and Swinging. While i’m curious we wont be going.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll cross that one off the bucket list
The problem is this idea that somehow open sex is necessarily and inherently a bad thing. That’s a moral/religious judgement with little supportive evidence that witnessing sex acts is by its nature, harmful. When we observe animals in nature we can see them having sex in the open, but surely we are not offended by such sights. Why then should we be offended if we see human’s have sex?
If someone is offended by seeing people have sex that is because they have accepted the religious prohibitions (mostly christian based) on sexuality as universal truths. If, however, a person were to grow up in a society which had no religious prohibitions about public sex, they would not see anything wrong with it.
Our dim view about public sex is the result of social pressure to adopt these various beliefs as our own. Prior to Christianity no other previous religion placed so much emphasis on sexual prohibitions. With no one there to demonize it, people didn’t think acts of sex violated moral principles to the degree they did after christianity got it’s grip on our views on sex.
Always having our sexuality being “dissected’ from everything we do is possibly much more harmful than having a more natural and open relationship with human sexuality.
I love seeing people have sex in public – it’s the spice of life. The more the merrier I say!
V
Hi Chris, Just found your post in my spam trap and thought it deserved a response.
I think you missed the point to the blog post.
Actually, I’m quite open minded about sex. I like to participate in it. I don’t mind seeing it. I don’t care who else is having it. And if one is inclined to go to a place where you would like to see others and be seen having sex because that’s a pleasurable experience, I say, go for it!
BUT PLEASE DON’T ADVERTISE YOURSELF AS THE MECCA OF NATURISM SO YOU MAKE THE TOP TEN LIST FOR SOCIAL NUDITY IN EVERY MAINSTREAM MEDIA PUBLICATION IF THE PREVAILING NORMS ARE NOT ABOUT NATURISM!
You and I may even have similar views about sexuality, But in a campaign to help the general public draw clear delineations about simply social nudity, and what’s inherently sexual about that, Cap d’Adge is a VERY confusing place, and gets a hell of a lot of press. It’s simply not very good for helping the average guy on the street understand social nudity, OR sexuality. They are NOT one and the same.
Hello everyone, I’m a newbee for this blog. Let’s present myself: I’m in my early sixties, italian man, nudist since the age of twenty (it sounds strange for an italian guy, isnt’t it?:) ). Beside my long journey in nudism life, I had never been to Cap until two years ago, coming back with my wife (well, at that time she was not yet my wife) from a naked spanish vacation at Cabo de Gata (very nice naturist environment, I warmely suggest it).
Well, I was completely aware about Cap “double face” nudism approach, and both are not astonishing me or my wife. We share an open lifestyle, so we knew and accepted what was supposed to be there. So we enjoyed nudist environment during the day; yes, we enjoyed the very famous “plage des cochons” where sexual activity on the beach is normal, but we though this was all, except the clubs.
Well, we were wrong. It was during very first days of September, and temperature after sunset was too cold for a couple of Italians 🙂 so we dressed for dinner as Italians are used to: elegant casual. We were astonished when we reached the restaurant: most of the couples were dressing as they were at a swinger club. I repeat: we are not upset by swinger lifestyle, but we were not prepared to have the entire town transformed into a club after sunset.
I totally agree with all the comments above: Cap is not anymore (probably since longtime, as far as I can understand) a pure nudist or naturist environment, becoming a more sexual oriented resort. I do not judge this choice, what is important is to know it in advance.
Will we go there another time? Well, probably not: it is too expensive and the see is too cold.. 😉
One needs only look at ratio of the population of swingers and wannabe swingers to the population of plain vanilla nudists to see there’s going to be a lot of swinging. At least in the US, the population is heavily predisposed to think of nudity being inherently sexual, so their minds will automatically go to swinging. I’m not sure that’s something that will change any time soon.
I was at a nude beach near San Francisco once that turned out to be a gay beach. (Surprise!) Can’t remember its name. There were a few erections bobbing around as guys promenaded the beach, putting their wares on display. (Trolling?) A few couples were engaging in barely concealed oral or manual acts of pleasure. (The gay community has a lot of political power in SF and may be why there was no law enforcement.) The large majority of the guys there weren’t doing this sort of thing but they were clearly accepting of it.
Personally, seeing open sexuality doesn’t bother me but I would definitely NOT take someone there who was a nudist or wasn’t a gay swinger. I left fairly quickly because that was not the scene I was looking for.
Cap d’Agde sounds like it has decided that the larger market is in sexual fantasy and not nudism. Ah well!
On our last visit to Cap d’Agde we meandered into the sexcapade part of the beach rather unknowingly. I found the whole thing bizarrely intriguing, but not in an arousing sort of way. More like visiting the zoo. My wife, on the other hand, found it degrading and dehumanizing (I guess also like the zoo) and vowed NEVER to return to Cap again. To each their own, but we wouldn’t be comfortable in the SF scenario you described either. It’s simply not what we’re looking for when we say we are naturists.