Last updated 05 April 2008

My correspondent and his wife have been going to Greek Islands for about ten years and naturist beaches for the last three or four. Their 1996 holiday was on Thassos in the North Aegean. Thassos is a half hour ferry ride from the mainland where the charter flights come into Kavala airport. They stayed in a self-catering apartment just to the west of Thassos town and had a car to get about in. Previous reading of the Naturist Guide to Europe (and Phil Vallack) had suggested several suitable beaches around the island.

For the "non-beach" times there are plenty of other interesting places to visit and Thassos town provides an interesting place to eat in the evenings. Where you stay depends on your priorities and on transport.

Thassos island has an excellent coastal road and the round trip is 96 km. There are few roads going into the centre and none that go across. It is possible to drive all the way round in about 2.5 hours. This itself is a problem from the point of view of naturist beaches, because the coast road overlooks most of the beaches so privacy is a little difficult to find. The north west coast is very rocky so opportunities there look a bit limited.

Paradise Beach

Paradise Beach is approximately 23km from Thassos town via the coastal road that circles the Island. Although not signposted itself there is a signpost for the "Paradise Bar on the Beach" which is visible from the anticlockwise direction (keep an eye in the rear view mirror if travelling clockwise). There is space for a few cars by the main road (5-10mins walk)

The Captain receives many positive reports about this beach.  Many Barefooters find it a real paradise, with ratings of 90 or 95%.  Sunbeds are only on the right part of the beach (not nudist during July-August). The left part of the beach gets very crowded (with no nudists) during July-August and you feel uncomfortable (like a nudist on a textile beach). There is a tavern. Another disadvantage is the poor access by car (but this is good for non spoiling the beach).  One contributor rated in 100% except during August, when it drops to 30%.

There are two roads "dirt tracks" that lead down to the beach. From Golden Beach follow the coast road for about 15 minutes and look for a blue sign on your left "Paradise Beach". The first time by Barefoot reporters made the journey they parked at the top of the hill in what they thought was the car park and followed the track down to the beach.  This led to a return trip to fetch the jeep and park near the beach where there is a makeshift car park. By the time our Barefooter had walked back up the hill and driven the jeep back, his wife had staked their naturist claim on Paradise and was already soaking up the rays.

The naturist end is definitely here, left as you look at the sea. The beach extends to the right but becomes more and more textile the further you walk towards the taverna. You then start to wonder if any woman here is going to brave enough to remove their tops. Definitely not when we were there as we passed this area regularly on our trips to the taverna for food, drink and being entertained by the blond lady, probably the owner, who must be related to Basil Fawlty. Don't ask for an omelette after 11.00 o'clock. Anyway, back at the naturist end of the beach everything was very relaxed with English German and a few Italians enjoying Euro naturism. My reporters came here every day after that and although it did suffer from textile encroachment at weekends, no one objected and everyone continued to enjoy are few precious weeks naked in the sun. Paradise Beach is definitely recommended, but get there early during July and August and set up camp and establish the naturist trend at the left hand side of the beach.

The beach runs north-south (like the road), faces east across the sea and is backed by hills on the west (which start to cast the beach into shadow during the late afternoon).

Its real name is "makryammos koiniron" to separate from the other Makryammos. Half a  kilometre long, all sandy although very windy sometimes.  Half of the beach has umbrellas. That section is textile.  The other is mainly nudist (80-90%) during May and June and maybe the first half of July.  In July and August the percentage decreases to 20-30% and even less during weekends.  At its best, maybe the best CO beach in Thassos.  A real paradise.  Nude walking and sunbathing accepted.  Access very easy by car (although be careful in some spots of the road). Taverna opens in June until September and provides food and drinks at reasonable prices.

Initial impressions may be of a superb beach but firmly "dressed"; but if you go a little further along that you will realise that the other end of the beach is definitely CO. There is no posted information on its official status; however a recent correspondent tells the Captain that his holiday rep told them that Paradise beach was the official naturist beach and was well known for it. There is good vehicular access with a reasonable Taverna & ice cream vendor. Clean clear water gently shelves out. Great fun in the waves if the wind is in the right direction otherwise very placid. Naturists tend to stay at the northern end (to the left as you look at the sea). The beach is generally quiet until mid-day then gets very busy - up to 90% textiles!

Several of my correspondents have found the beach so satisfactory that they did not do any further serious exploring in this respect. The sand is fine and clean, there are beds and umbrellas for hire if you wish, the atmosphere is sociable with a mix of Brits and other nationals. There is nothing in the way of water sports so noisy jet-skis are rare. To complete the convenience factors there is an excellent Taverna offering a wide range of good dishes. (The roast goat was superb). These comments were sent to me by a correspondent who visited in mid June, it may be different in the high season but we could find little fault with this as a beach.

Paradise beach is easy to get to by car or motorbike but it is possible by bus if you are not staying too far away. It is on the east coast about 30 km by road from Pefkari but worth the journey. If travelling from the south on a motor bike watch out for the lethal wooden sign holder hanging out nearly invisibly at head height near the end of the long straight through Astris. My correspondents nearly didn't survive to write this!!! It seemed to have been moved their last day but it might be back! The best base for Paradise would probably be Potamia (which we didn't visit but heard was OK) which is not served by Airtours but is (we think) by Thompsons.

The only road down used to be at the  northern end. The naturists then tended to either use the small bits of sand between the rocks at the northern end or to walk down the beach to the southern end. This road has now been extensively eroded by rain water and should not be attempted without a four wheel drive (on the basis of their last visit my correspondent ignored the prominent sign at the West end of the beach, used the old road and had a hair-raising time getting the car back up).

There is a new and quite reasonable unpaved road at the other end of the beach leading to a good car park. There are also a bar, taverna and toilets at this end. Recent reports suggest that the road at the taverna end has now been partially tarmaced, but great care is still needed.  As the access has altered so the nude beach users have largely gone to the other (northern) end, but now occupy a much larger proportion of the beach. My contributor also saw a few naturists at the "old" end (though they may have been just following old habits). Despite any divisions between nude and textile sections, my correspondent did walk from one end to the other to snorkel around the rocks at the southern end without causing any outrage. An excellent beach.

A report from summer 2007 says that Paradise is easily the best: soft white sand, gently shelving, no weed, no stones, no water sports and distinctly CO.  Its still the best beach on the island to go nude.  It's a beautiful, calm sandy beach.  A lot of textile (3/4 of the beach) but still plenty of naturists too at the left side of the beach facing the sea.  There seems to be a very calm and understanding atmosphere, about the part of the beach that is naturist.

However the textile incursion continues and during the high season the only real option on Paradise Beach is the rocky section at the end. During the last week of August the sandy section appeared to be completely textile and nude sunbathing was confined to the rocky area to the left (facing the sea). Things improved during the first week of September although Barefoot reporters noticed a lot of textile visitors to the section.

You can't miss the beach since there's a huge sign with "Paradise Beach" at the main road.  The road from there leads down to a huge parking line near the Taverna.  The road has been cemented at critical spots.  From there you have to walk to the naturist section - my reporters didn't spend time trying out the other way down by car. 

Unfortunately, my reports didn't recommend the taverna - high prices, compared to prices in general on the Island, and when your meal has arrived and you taste it - you start looking for salt, pepper, whatever to give it some taste.

One point of note is that most of the local car hire companies are requesting that you don't drive down the dirt tracks to the beach unless you hire a 4WD/Jeep style car as they have had a few cars with damaged undersides. There is however parking just off the main road at the top of both tracks down to the beach and it only takes 10 mins to walk down and shouldn't be a problem for anyone of reasonable fitness.

A number of reports from 2003 suggest that there is little, if any, naturism in the other main beaches on the island and the reports that follow should be read with that health warning in mind.

Back to top of page

Chryssi Amoudi

The centre section of Golden Beach at Chryssi Amoudi was once very clothes optional but with an increase in the British package trade brought about by Thomsons during the last five years this has been virtually wiped out. It is still possible to sunbathe naked in the narrow sand dunes but it is not comfortable, does not offer much privacy and nude swimming is definitely out.

A report dating from September 1997 suggests no privacy at Chrissi Akti or Chrissi Amoudia (opposite ends of the same cove). Above Chrissi Ammoydia there are tavernas and villas or rented rooms and Chrissi Akti is actually the beach of the small village of Skala Potamias ("harbour of potamia"). The beach in the centre of the cove (and between the two aforementioned beaches) is 40 metres away from a dirt road connecting the two named beaches and a few hotels-tavernas between the beach and the dirt road. The whole stretch of the cove was 100% textile since even the slightly more private part in the middle was walked by people transgressing the whole stretch of the cove. Reports from 2003 suggest no improvement.

Aliki

Earlier reports suggested opportunities for naturism at Aliki on the smaller beach if you get set up before the textiles arrive; however this is directly overlooked by the road and more recent reports suggest no naturist opportunities there. However my contributor recommends the area of flat stones at the Roman marble quarry at the end of the peninsula. He stripped off to paddle in the pools at the quarry with no problem and the flat stones would be excellent for sunbathing (but look out for sea urchins in the pools, as ever in Thassos - they are everywhere).

Aliki beach was extremely crowded in high season 2003 and no sign of any naturism at all.

According to the Thomson Small and Friendly brochure, naturists use the beach below Archangelos monastery a few km further on. Very soon after the main Aliki beach one passes the Monastery on the left. Approximately 1km further along and at the bottom of a steep hill with a suicidal bend to the left, there is a steep dirt track off to the left. Follow along until it opens out to a flat parking area with several large olive trees affording parking shade for the car.

The Monastery can be seen high on the cliff to the left. The beach, of graded polished pebbles, enters the sea as a shallow slope. However there are submerged flat slippery rocks with some sea urchins which can prove hazardous. The area was very quiet, (late September 2001) and a change from the sand of Paradise Beach. My contributors sunbathed and swam nude on several days, only seeing the occasional couple in the distance and a couple of snorkelers. The prevailing wind does seem to be more intense here, but, when Paradise Beach is overcast by clouds spinning off the towering peaks at the rear of the beach, this is the place to head for. They always found the sun here. No problems encountered here either from the monks, whom they never saw, or from any other visitors. A word of warning, be careful when leaving the dirt track to join the road, as traffic comes down the hill at speed and can be invisible until one edges out for better vision.

Potos

There is one super little beach about 1.5 km South (East or anticlockwise) from Potos. There is a layby on the road which often has a few cars or mopeds parked in it. It is small and on two occasions my contributor found Greek families already there who politely replied that they would rather he didn't go nude when asked, but on other occasions it was mostly nudist or mixed. It appears to be one of those places where the first party there gets to decide. Also 2 km East of Aliki there is a layby above a very attractive bay just before the road briefly leaves the coast to cross to the other side of the island (when I was there the layby contained adverts for the Gorgona taverna - not to be confused with the taverna itself which is in Aliki). Access to the beach appears very difficult, but in fact there is a good (though stony) track about 20 metres from the East end of the layby. Not suitable for a car but it's only 5 minute walk. There were never more than three other groups there (including one naturist couple and toddler) and going nude was no problem at all.

Beaches near Limenaria

There are two beaches on the east side of Limenaria below the German House (a derelict gothic building easily visible from most of the surrounding area). The main beach is the most easterly and the smaller one is next to it and apparently accessible by rounding the beach at shore level from the main one.

Earlier reports suggested that the beach below the German house, known as Metalia, might be suitable - but the Captain understands that it is now developed with absolutely no possibility of nude sunbathing.   A shame, because it sounds quite an interesting place.

There are two smaller bays nearer to the town, also accessible from behind the German House, which were very quiet but could only be reached after a scramble down the cliffs.

In Limeneria if you walk past the taverna on the beach which has the bows of two boats at the front of it and continue as far as you can go you will find a large sandy beach which is isolated and you can strip off and my contributors were not disturbed by anyone. The sea is quite rocky and my contributor only paddled about in the rock pools!

Another beach visited by my contributors was about 1 km west of Limenaria and has a sign for the Bio Bio taverna on it. The area west of the rocky outcrop was nudist while they were there, but the Bio Bio taverna wasn't open (opening "tomorrow":-)) A report from 1999 suggests naturist possibilities here.

The Captain hears about a beach about 1.5 mile north of Limineria. As you drive out of the town clockwise on the ring road it can be seen on your left. Park just past the large house on your right and reach beach by the small path. This beach was about 1 kilometre long and had only 3 other couples (all textiles) when my correspondent visited. Two days of complete nude sunbathing and swimming. The beach is very fine sand but sea is very rocky and quite sloping. Beach can be seen from the road above but this did not cause us any problems.

Trypiti / Tripti

As you go further out of Limenaria to the West (i.e. clockwise) about 2 km from Limenaria you come first to a layby a few metres from a small double cove (perhaps 40 to 50 metres wide), which was always very quiet (only two or three groups, often including a few naturists). Immediately after this lay-by is a signposted short road to a large and beautiful beach called Tripiti. There are a fair number of facilities including a bar and on the days my contributor visited there were 10-20 nude sunbathers and bathers at the East (i.e. left) end. One of my contributors says the cove near Trypiti is so quiet it's amazing.

A report from May 2003 says that most days the beach was deserted but towards the end of the holiday my contributors were joined by about 6 other naturist couples. The naturist section is to the left of the beach looking out to sea. It is coarse sand and unfortunately it is a little difficult getting into the sea because of rocks, but it is a lovely quiet beach with a beach bar on the textile section. My correspondent would recommend this beach.

Another Barefoot reporter describes it as a wonderful clothes-optional beach (the left part of it). Crystal clear waters but poor access to the sea.  Facilities not included (except two taverns on the right part of the beach), no sunbeds. Usually individuals and couples found there.

In August 2007 the nudist section on Tripiti was quite small and very close to the main textile area, and Barefoot reporters didn't really feel too comfortable there.  However, going on towards Limenaria there is a small bay immediately after Tripiti that was about 50% nude.


West of the island

A correspondent did manage to find a few small, deserted beaches on the west side of the island, north of Skala Maries. These were mainly rocky and partly overlooked from the main road. It was possible to find plenty of positions where the trees blocked the view from the road but there is hardly time for passing motorists to do a double take anyway. My contributors remained relatively undisturbed here for hours.

Skala Kalirachi 

This beach is 3 km south of Skala Kalirachi.  After the road makes a 90 degree turn to the right you pass a traffic sign saying speed limit of 30 is suspended and after 50m a new sign with 80.  There is a small parking space from where you can see the beach. You can park the car a little further down.   Beach has stones - but there are several small sand dunes. 

Part of the beach can be seen from the road above - but its possible to find a spot hidden by trees. And even if you lay visible from the road people passing by will only see you for a second.

Back to top of page