The Curious Nude Beaches of the German Wadden Sea Coast

We had no idea what to expect of the German Wadden Sea coast, in the north-west of the country. It was never really on our bucket list, but our plan for the summer was to head north, and we were looking for a place to stop along the way.

Then we remembered a petition that had been going around in naturist circles earlier in the year, backed by the International Naturist Federation, to stop the closure of a naturist campsite in Hooksiel. Which would mean a reasonable detour from our route towards Denmark.

It was an opportunity to try to find out why the naturist campsite would close its doors and be among the last to get naked in that very spot.

To describe Nordsee Campingplatz Hooksiel, as the place is officially called in one word, we’d have to choose between “massive”, “overwhelming”, and “ugly”. Luckily, this is our blog, and we can use as many words as we want to explain. Here’s the thing: it’s just an immense field with a length of 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) divided into 4 sectors, which are then again divided into 1500 camping pitches. All in long rows, back to back. There are no trees, hardly any bushes, just row after row after row of campers, caravans, and tents. As far as the eye can see.

The smallest sector, at the far end of the domain, is the FKK part. When we told the friendly lady at the reception that this was where we wanted to stay, her response was, “Are you sure? You know that’s where people are naked, right?” We were sure. But not too many people were naked. While most of the campsite was pretty packed, this section was barely 20% occupied. Truth to be said, it was a grey, chilly day, but this was the second week of July, so the high season should have already started. But no sign of that.

We quickly decided that this would be a one-night stop before we moved on towards Denmark, but the day after, the weather improved, and we learned that there was a nude beach within walking distance. We briefly took off our clothes so we could tell everyone we had been among the last to get naked on this campsite, then put them back on to go find the nude beach. Given the few occupied pitches, we didn’t have high expectations for the beach, but the worst that could happen was that we had a good morning walk.

It was around ten in the morning, and the nude beach was full. Couples, singles, and families spread along the 400-meter designated FKK stretch. We couldn’t believe it. If all those people were staying at the FKK camp, the place would have been pretty sold out. So they must have come from elsewhere. Somehow the nude beach culture was thriving here, and just like that, we decided to stick around a bit longer in northern Germany, hoping to find out more.

In most parts of the world where we have camped, campgrounds have names that stick. Euronat, for example, or Costalunga, or Riva Bella. The next campsite in northern Germany where we settled for the night was called Camping und Freizeit GmbH Wurster Nordseeküste. Really, we’re not making this up. Once again, we would find ourselves on a huge field divided into pitches, but this time without an FKK section. Not on the campsite at least, but there was supposed to be a nude beach. And not just that.

At the very end of the campsite was an FKK sunbathing lawn that was surprisingly crowded, given that the beach was just steps away. Once we got to the beach, we understood. This is the Wadden Sea Coast, which is basically a huge mud flat. At some parts, there are sandy stretches, but not here. Just lots and lots of mud. We took a few pictures because we had never seen so much mud before and then retreated to the FKK sunbathing lawn.

Later that night we went to the shower block and noticed that the shower cabins had no doors, just curtains. Neither were they gender separated. Naked people all around. There is a first time for everything, and this was the first time we found communal showers on a clothed campsite with less privacy than plenty of naturist resorts we’ve visited. Later, we would learn that this campsite had been a naturist campsite until 2018. After that, nobody seemed to have bothered adjusting the shower block. We’re not complaining, though, it made the place feel more like home to us.

Our next stop was the nude beach of Cuxhaven, a nice stretch of sandy coast on the outskirts of town with low wooden fences to stop the wind. A very agreeable place and probably what comes closest to nude beaches we’ve used to. Great to spend a day, less interesting to tell stories about. So let’s move on to the Holmer Siel FKK beach on Nordstrand peninsula.

The whole coastline over here is basically a huge grassy embankment with a coastal walking path. When you’re walking on that path, there’s sea and rocks on one hand, and a sloping grass field on the other. And sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. We thought that they were just there to keep the grass short, but a more important job is packing the soil with their hooves, which protects the embankment from erosion. Bet you didn’t know that either, right?

Anyway, so there’s this very long grassy slope full of sheep, and certain parts fenced off with the kind of fence people typically use to keep their chickens from running away. The first part for the bathing suits, the last part for the naturists, and the part in the middle for bathing suits or naturists who brought the dog.

The fences are clearly there to keep the sheep from pooping all over the place where people want to put their towels down, but it struck us as quite surrealistic that also the bathing suits, the no-bathing suits, and the dog owners were nicely separated by poultry netting. Add to that the walking path down below full of people having their Sunday stroll, and it made us feel like we were in a zoo. Not something that stopped us from taking our clothes off, but it was hard to get rid of the idea.

So we had a nude beach that was way more popular than expected, one that was replaced by a grass field, and one that made us feel like caged animals. What they all had in common was that they were not trying to hide. No long hikes or remote corners. Just a predefined section of a beach with FKK signage.

That’s what we were also looking for when we arrived at St. Peter Ording beach. While we’d put the other beaches in the “okay if you happen to be around” category, the Ording beach is one you should travel for. It’s nothing less than spectacular. A massive sandbar that looks like a desert in the middle of the sea. It also seemed like the number one tourist attraction in the area because there were people everywhere. The entrance to the beach was just packed, so we quickly started moving north, away from the parking, trying to find an FKK sign.

We didn’t find any. Just sand, sand, and more sand and in the far distance a few signs indicating that dogs could run free there. It didn’t come as such a surprise, given the number of visitors. Maybe this beach used to have a nude section a long time ago, before mass tourism had discovered it.

We turned around, and just before we got back to the entrance, we saw a naked person. And another one. And another one. And probably a few hundred more. And an FKK sign… We had walked right past the FKK section when we arrived, because our brains are programmed that we need to search for nude beaches. That they can’t just be where everyone is entering the beach. And yet, here, it was just there.

Meanwhile, we still hadn’t found the answer to why the FKK section of the campsite in Hooksiel appeared to be so unsuccessful, when everywhere else in the area people were clearly still enjoying getting naked, in many different ways. Our plan to stay in Germany had already stretched from one night to over a week, and we had to get north to catch some summer in Sweden. But we know we’ll come back one day to find out more.