Why Arnaoutchot isn’t yet another HUGE Naturist Resort

Nearly 50 hectares of domain, about 400 camping pitches and roughly 350 different rentals. It does sound pretty overwhelming, right? We imagine that some of you now think “Wow, maybe that’s just a bit too much for me…”. Especially if you’re used to visiting smaller naturist clubs or campgrounds, where distances are short, and everyone knows who you are after just a few hours, those numbers might all but attract you.

It is a fact that Arna, as the locals call it, is one of the largest naturist resorts in Europe, with up to 2 500 guests every single day during the summer months. Yet, when we were there, it never really felt that way.

Even though we visited in early June, the resort was already surprisingly full. Or maybe not that surprisingly… The French Atlantic coast is known for its rather unpredictable weather, but for the coming week, our weather forecast app showed nothing but bright sun and temperatures regularly hitting the 30°C mark. Excellent weather to visit this coastal resort, we figured. And we were not alone, the three ladies at the reception had their hands full when we showed up just after noon.

We got our pitch assigned, and all along the main road, people were walking or cycling. But once we turned into our “neighbourhood”, silence just fell upon us. You see, if you’d put a few thousand people on a 50-hectare lawn, it would seem crowded. But the way Arna is structured, it feels a lot more like several small naturist campgrounds than one really big one.

Add to that the pine forest that’s all around. You might see campers, tents and chalets all around, but in between those and above and below them is nothing but green. Have a look at the drone shots in our Destination Clothes Free video about Arnaoutchot. Does this look like a resort that accommodates 2500 guests? Or rather like a huge forest with a cabin here and there (and a huge pool in the distance, but we’ll get to that).

Of course, we don’t want to over-romanticise. When the resort is at full capacity during the summer months and when all the families start arriving, it will get busy and potentially much louder than when we were there. We woke up every morning to the sound of birds, but we can’t promise that you won’t be woken by your neighbour’s five kids.

Where you can really get an idea of how many people are at the resort is at the central area, which consists of a variety of pools, including brand new water slides that were still being built while we were there, but should already be open by the time you’re reading this. There are also three restaurants, a shop and a few other things that attract larger crowds.

If you came for peace and quiet, this is not the place you want to be on a warm afternoon in high season. Luckily, there’s also the beach. This is the pride of any resort (naturist or not) that happens to be on this coast: A huge set of dunes and, behind them, endless sand and the wild Atlantic Ocean. It may look busy when you watch it from above, but because of the rough sound of the crashing of the waves, when you close your eyes, it will feel as if you’re all alone. Or if you want to keep your eyes open, this beach is HUGE and can be enjoyed nude for a long distance. Just walk a bit further.

Even inside the resort, it’s very easy to escape the crowds. The most obvious choice is Bassins d’Arna, the spa area. Lots of larger resorts have their own spa centre, but often this isn’t really a place you’d want to escape to. Many times, it’s just a concrete building with a few massage and treatment rooms, and probably a sauna or two and a jacuzzi. Equally densely populated as the pool on busy days.

Well, nothing like this at Arna. They didn’t just decide to build a spa centre, but rather something like “spa gardens”. It’s a large secluded area in the heart of the resort that consists of gardens, a pond, several relaxing areas, and, of course, some treatment rooms, saunas and jacuzzis. But it all feels so very natural. Walking through that door is really like walking into a completely different place.

But that doesn’t solve your problem of being woken up by the neighbour’s kids at 7 am, right? If that’s your biggest worry, we’d recommend asking for a spot at the far end of the domain. Neighbourhoods like the “far west” are known for being much quieter than those closer to the central part. And you’ll be quicker at the beach.

For over 50 years, Arna has been a family business. Only back in late 2023, it was sold to a large campsite group. We all know this means that some priorities are shifted. But we definitely believe that the new owners are well aware that the family DNA is one of the strengths of Arna, if not the biggest strength of all.

Of all large naturist resorts in Europe, Arna is definitely one with the largest numbers of returning families. Some of the guests came with their parents in the early nineteen seventies and are now still returning with their own grandchildren. Playgrounds are everywhere, and the children’s program is huge. In the end, it’s the kids of today that will decide if a naturist resort survives tomorrow, and the Arna management seems to realise this very well.

On one of our last evenings, we had dinner at the restaurant. It was a bit late, and the ocean breeze carried a certain chill. Yet, we had decided to go naked anyway. The terrace was full, but the majority of the guests had put on some clothes. We didn’t think much of it, this is France, after all, a country where clothed dining at naturist resorts is considered quite common.

When we stood up after paying our bill, a naked lady rushed towards us. She said she recognised us from our videos and then quite apologetically mentioned: “You know, most of the time there are more naked people in the restaurant”. We smiled, thanked her for coming over and said that we couldn’t really be bothered, as long as we were allowed to be naked.

Later that night, we thought about this encounter again and wondered if she wanted to avoid that we wrote about all the clothed people in the restaurant, picturing Arna as yet another huge resort where clothes are sometimes as common as nudity. But she didn’t need to worry, we had already realised that this too was something that made Arna feel more like a smaller naturist campsite than a huge resort. Nudity really still feels like the norm here. She had only reassured us that the guests also still find this very important.