10 Things we learned from Clothes-Free Travelling in Northern Europe

Last summer, we spent three months travelling more or less around the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Starting from the German North Sea Coast, we made our way into Denmark and from there crossed into Sweden. We followed the Swedish coast from Malmö to Stockholm, from where we took a ferry to Estonia. Then we started following the coast back south, through Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, to eventually end up in Germany again.

After having spent the majority of our summers during the last decade in popular naturist destinations like France, Spain, Croatia, and Italy, it’s fair to say that this was something completely different. Here’s what we learned from going naked in the north.

There are a few countries in the world where public nudity is not against the law. But usually, like in the UK and New Zealand, this comes with a side note saying something like “you can be naked as long as you don’t disturb others with it”. Which basically means: If you find a part of a beach where nobody is around, it’s okay to drop the bathing suit.

We had heard a lot about the Danish nude-friendly laws, but always figured that the principle wouldn’t be much different from those other countries and that the beaches known to receive nude visitors would turn out to be some remote corners. But what we found instead was a very clothing-optional culture where everyone just did what felt best to them. No judgement. Even those who had spent their beach time in a bathing suit didn’t bother wrapping a towel around to switch into dry clothes.

When we took the ferry from Sweden to Estonia, it seemed like we also crossed an invisible border between the German FKK empire and a whole other style of naturism. In Denmark and Sweden, social nudity largely exists on nude beaches, in naturist clubs, and in public saunas. In these places, it’s considered completely normal to be naked among people you’ve never met before.

Nude beaches also exist in the Baltic countries, but aren’t hugely popular. The naturist club scene was completely gone, and the sauna culture is considered something sacred, but also something you do with people who are close to you, and not with strangers. We found this very interesting. In southern Europe, we’ve met quite a lot of naturists who travel the extra mile to avoid possible encounters with friends, colleagues, or family members. Exactly the people who usually share a sauna in the Baltic countries.

Every country we visited had its own variety of the sauna experience. In the previous paragraphs, we already explained how the people you enjoy it with differ on both sides of the Baltic Sea, but there are also differences in how it’s experienced. In Sweden, we found that the saunas were either practical (a quick hot rush after work) or social (drinking beers and sharing laughs in the sauna).

In the Baltic states, most saunas were private. Either you have your own, or you rent someone else’s for yourself and your company. In southern Lithuania, we found the first “sauna complex” on our trip, a place with a variety of saunas and hammams. When we travelled through Poland in the direction of Germany, we could almost literally see these complexes grow into the mega sauna places where people spend a day or sometimes several.

While sauna originates from the north, it’s fair to say that Germany is still the place to be if you want to experience this in a “naturist way”. Their sauna complexes are huge, often with a large number of different facilities, and most importantly, the dress code is usually very nude. Germany is also where the Aufguss concept originates from, where a sauna master uses scents and towels to enhance the experience.

But the question is how long Germany will manage to stay on the throne, because a rival is lurking. We didn’t only learn that Poland has been seeing an upsurge in sauna centres in recent years, but also that about half of the sauna masters in the world are Polish.

Since we are from Belgium, where naturism has been largely influenced by FKK, our concept of social nudity is that it’s gender-mixed by default. In fact, we can’t really think of any gender-separated places where nudity is the norm other than the showers at the gym.

Sweden was the first country where we found gender-separated saunas. In fact, where different male and female sections were the norm, not the exception. And later, we would find the same in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Estonia, we even found a nude beach that was for women only, and if we had travelled the Swedish coast in the other direction, north of Malmö, we would have encountered gender-separated nude beaches there as well.

One of the reasons why we had been looking away from southern Europe for this summer was because last year, we had spent July and August at the Croatian coast and it had been a bit too much… People-wise. Being in the middle of everything can be fun for a few weeks of holiday, but if you’re packed like sardines for months in a row, we can tell you, it quickly loses its charm.

In northern Europe, we found exactly what we were looking for: Space. Everything is spacious. Beaches are plenty and long, pitches at naturist clubs are double, if not triple what you find in France or Croatia, and once you go inland, you can often walk for the best part of a day without encountering another person.

Many countries in northern Europe have the concept of “Allemansrätten”, the Right to Roam. Basically, this means that you are free to camp on uncultivated land for one or two days without having to ask the landowner. We had been dreaming of parking our campervan at the edge of a forest next to a lake. Having skinny dips and sipping wine naked in the evening sun. It all seemed very idyllic.

But our plan had a few flaws. For one, Allemansrätten mostly applies to tent campers, not to campervans. Also, uncultivated land usually means thick forest. So it’s not easy to enter, and if you do manage to find a spot between the trees, you’re likely to be inside by 5 PM because it gets pretty cold in the shade. So instead, we found ourselves spending most nights on campsites.

When we drove into Denmark, the inside of our van looked as if we were about to enter a war zone. Or escape from one. There were groceries everywhere. The summer of 2026 will already hit the history books for its insane diesel prices (the preferred drink of our van), so we figured that if we didn’t want our bank accounts to dive into the deep reds, we’d better buy as much as we can in Germany.

Eventually, the north turned out to be not that extravagantly expensive as we thought. Instead of trying to bring as much as possible, we should have spent more time finding out where the real price differences are. Bringing beer and wine from Germany had proven to be a smart choice. But we also brought a lot of pasta, only to find out that it was about half the price in Sweden. If you’re going north, don’t shop much, shop smart.

When we started publishing content about this trip, we received so many comments asking, “Is it not too cold for naturism?” Understandable, because the images you often see about these countries include a thick carpet of snow. But that’s just in winter (and large parts of spring and autumn, to be fair).

In summer, however, we regularly had very agreeable temperatures hitting the mid-twenties Celsius. Perfect for being naked outside but not enough to have you sweat like a pig after taking more than three steps. And the nights cool down enough for a very comfortable sleep. The only thing we have been missing is long evenings outside. As soon as the sun goes behind the trees, you want to go either inside or start looking for a woollen sweater.

While the outside temperatures were probably warmer than you’d think, the water temperature definitely was not. The Baltic Sea is cold. Very cold. As in only agreeable if you first spend a few rounds in the sauna. If your idea of a great nude beach trip includes floating in the sea for a few hours, this is not going to be your place.

Unless you’re Swedish. The Swedes seem to be built for these temperatures. Even when it was not 25 degrees Celsius. Even when we ended up on a nude beach and could not get the courage to take off our clothes, there would be a few Swedes happily skinny dipping. But we’re not Swedish, we just very much enjoyed travelling there.