Everything you need to know about Vera Playa Naturist Village

Vera Playa is unlike anywhere else in Europe. It’s a place where you can walk naked through actual streets, grab a coffee at a terrace in your birthday suit, and live a true clothes-free life, not behind resort gates, but in a real community.

But being so unique also makes it confusing. Where exactly can you be naked? How does it actually work? Where do you stay? Is it comfortable? When you haven’t been there, it’s hard to imagine how a place like this functions.

Everyone’s curious, but nobody wants to show up unprepared or accidentally break the unwritten rules. After several visits and plenty of trial and error, we’re here to answer the questions you’ve been sending us about this fascinating corner of southern Spain.

The best way to understand Vera Playa is by thinking about your own village. Or your neighbourhood, in case you live in a city. There will be streets and probably a few parks, you’ll see bus stops, mail boxes, and garbage cans. Some dog poop here and there (this is only funny if you watched our very first video about Vera Playa). You’ll find shops, bars, and restaurants. And homes where people live. Vera Playa is just that, except that in all public areas and many private ones, nudity is considered a normal state of dress.

The story goes back to the 1970s when it was just another nude beach. Then someone had the brilliant idea to open a naturist hotel, and slowly but surely, an entire community grew around it. Today, you’ll still find the naturist hotel, together with over ten residential complexes, restaurants, bars, and that 2.75km stretch of nude beach that might be the biggest difference from your home town.

Back in the day, Vera Playa was a naked community surrounded by dry coastal land. But as the Spanish coast got developed and beach towns started growing towards each other, the situation got a bit confusing. The borders between “Naked Vera Playa” and the clothed world became invisible.

Ah, the million-euro question! The short answer is: it depends where you are.
As there are no signs or barriers separating the naked zone from the clothed one, you need to rely on local knowledge and common sense. But there is a rule of thumb. The town’s naked zone is roughly the same width as the official nude section of the beach. If you draw a square, connecting the edges of the nude beach to the main road, you roughly get an idea of where it’s totally fine to be naked. But even that has exceptions, as you’ll see further.

There’s also the difference between what’s legal, what’s accepted, and what’s common. Given the Spanish laws, which state that nudity is allowed everywhere except if it’s prohibited by local municipality laws (which isn’t the case at this part of the coast), the invisible boundaries of the naked town should actually be considered imaginary. From a legal perspective, you can just keep walking naked all the way to Almeria city, some hundred kilometers further, and beyond. But you’re likely to get a few weird looks along the way.

Generally, nudity is accepted in Spain in natural places like beaches and forests and in designated nude zones like Vera Playa. But even this doesn’t make it very common. In our experience, the presence of naked people differs from where you are. The beach is still the true nude zone and on sunny days, you can expect at least 90-95% of the people to be naked.

In the streets, we found the naked vs clothed ratio to be about 50/50. The main reason for this, we think, is that just like in any other village, people are on the streets with a purpose. The people going towards the beach will typically be naked. Those letting out the dog will dress or undress as they feel comfortable with. Those who want to do groceries or go to another town will be clothed.

And then there’s “Hotel Street”. This is where many bars and restaurants are. During the day, you can find several people stroll around in the nude. Towards the evening, when the street really comes to live, we found that most people dressed up.

Shortly summarised: Within the naked zone, being naked in public places isn’t just legal but also accepted, although it isn’t always common. In private venues, it’s a slightly different story. As anywhere else in the world, private places can dictate their own dress code. Once again, this is also related to where you are in town.

Shops are easy, they will always require you to cover up. A towel or sarong is usually enough. At bars and restaurants on the official nude beach, nudity isn’t just allowed but also encouraged. Then there are a few bars that are known to allow nudity as well, like Punto y Aparte, Benito’s or Oh La la Café, and you’re likely to find a mixed crowd here.

Any other place has an “ask first” policy. At some it will be totally fine to be naked, others will require you to cover up, and still others may allow nudity on the terrace but not inside. For newcomers, asking “Is it okay if I’m naked here” may feel awkward, but remember that in Vera Playa this is a very normal question.

Then there are the accommodation options. For most newcomers, the obvious option is the naturist hotel. It has a great location, and staying in a hotel is just convenient. There are rumours that guests are supposed to cover up between 8 PM and 8AM, but from what we hear, this only applies to the hotel’s bar and restaurant. If you still want to relax naked next to the pool in the evening, that should be totally fine.

Regular visitors will rather choose a rental apartment in one of the naturist urbanisations. Urbanisations are like gated neighbourhoods within a town. They have their own facilities like swimming pools or a sauna that are only accessible to people staying in the urbanisation. Popular ones include Natsun, Vera Natura, La Menara, and Bahía de Vera.

The advantage of staying in an urbanisation is that you have a whole apartment for yourself, with kitchen facilities, different bedrooms, and generally just more space than in a hotel room. As most of these rentals are privately owned, you can easily find them on the major booking websites.

Just make sure that you pick a naturist/clothing-optional urbanisation, because here’s where it gets tricky. Not all urbanisations allow nudity, even within the naturist zone. At Veramar 6, for example, it’s not allowed to be nude outside. Always double-check before booking, unless you enjoy awkward conversations with property managers.

Although Vera Playa is an actual town, it largely remains a vacation destination. To throw in some numbers, of the roughly 10 000 people that the town accommodates during high season, only 500 are actual residents. Even most of the residents we talked to started coming as a tourist and eventually decided to move in after they retired or because their job situation allowed it.

So the best way to describe daily life at Vera Playa is at vacation pace. Spending time on the beach, socialising, or getting drinks in a bar. Yet, especially in this age of remote working, it would be totally possible to move here in any stage of life.

Lots of people also wanted to know if you can really live 100% naked at Vera Playa. That’s totally possible, especially in the warm summer months. In spring and autumn you may find yourself going home when the sun starts to set, and in winter your outside time will be limited to just a few sunny hours around noon. But it’s possible. Groceries might be your biggest problem (as all shops require you to cover up), but you can easily order these online.

Although Vera Playa is a very welcoming place, we’d say that it’s not the ideal destination for everybody. If, for example, you like fenced off clubs and resorts because of the protection they offer, Vera Playa may not be the place for you. Also, if your idea of a clothes-free vacation is to be naked in nature, this concrete town will probably not satisfy you either.

On the other hand, if you like visiting nude beaches but find it annoying to put on pants for the short walk from your apartment to the beach, you will love Vera Playa. And if you always wanted to know what it would be like to live in a world where clothes are largely an option, this place should be very high on your bucket list.