Barcelona is an ultimate tourist destination with countless sights of interest, be it history or art, beautiful views, gastronomic delights, vibrant night life and, of course, beaches. Now, what other major city can boast with a naturist beach in its central area? And not just one, but two!
One beach is located in the southern part of the hip Barceloneta area and is called Sant Sebastià. You can see it on the right side coming down by cable car from park Montjuïc.
Isn’t it great to strip down and dip in the sea after all that sightseeing? The location is especially perfect if you go there after checking out the Olympic site and city news from Montjuïc. That’s what we did.
Another well known naturist beach is Mar Bella. It is a little further away from the historic centre, but you can see the famous ‘Egg building’, for example. It also has a dune with tall grass, which gives it a bit more natural and secluded feeling.
All beaches within the city boundaries have showers, which is useful if you want to continue exploring the city straight after the beach.
Both naturist beaches of Barcelona are full of locals and tourists but are not overcrowded.
You will be most certainly offered a ‘masaje’ right on the beach; we thought it was a good idea, but just did massage to each other instead.
The clothing optional section is big enough for a walk
or even a short run.
But when the sun was high we of course went to swim
or simply relaxed in the breeze
and in water.
Well, actually the sea was quite rough, so it was difficult to relax in water and we mostly played in waves.
Which in the end was a lot of fun!
Thumbs up to Barcelona’s liberal attitude! Actually I read that some people took it one step further and were even walking naked on the streets, but unfortunately the new mayor was apparently looking for some ways to distract people’s attention from economic problems and proposed a law forbidding even walking topless in the city (even for men). Let’s hope the trend will be reversed soon, otherwise we’ll loose just about the only big city with naturist sea beaches in the centre.
I chanced upon that beach when in Barcelona just recently (October 2013).There were several people naked,so I joined them and had a lovely time! There was nothing to suggest we were at risk of getting in trouble for being naked. I LOVE BARCELONA!!!
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are you talking about Sant Sebastià? I’m really happy to hear that! I love Barcelona too, and having such a beach in the centre of the city is definitely a part of its appeal to me 😉
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Thnx for the suggestions guys! I will go there as soon as I’ll visit Barçelona again! 🙂
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Great review, sadly, you’re not allowed to sunbathe naked now on sant sebastia beach.
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oh, since when? we were there just two years ago
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although, technically, it may not be fully legal to go naked on Sant Sebastia beach, the truth is that nobody really cares. Some time ago there were some news about local cops trying to fine people naked on that beach (rumor is that they were pressed to do it by the management of the posh hotel at the end of the beach….), but I have been going there to skinny dip for the last few years and I have not had any problem. It is not a nudist beach like Marbella, more of a “clothing optional”, or “do whatever you want as long as you don’t throw sand on anybody else” type of beach
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That’s a good news, that despite the introduction of this backwards law in Barcelona, people can still practice their lifestyle and sunbathe clothes-free!
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