Last
updated 16 March 2008
Peloponnese
Romanou
My correspondent, who visited in Jule/July 1998, says Romanou is a very small
town north of Pilos on the Peleponnese. The beach is easy to find. Just drive
into the village, follow the sign to the beach. Near the sea there is on
your left hand a parking place, keep on riding straight ahead. Follow the
sand road as far as you can. At the end of the road you find a beautiful
long beach. The beach is visited mainly by Greek men. There is some cruising
of gays in the dunes behind the beach.
Kodili beach
This beach is outside (about 1 km) of a small port called Vivari.
This port there is half way on the road from Drepano Nafplioy to Iria (about
10 km from Nafplion/Argolida).
When you are in Vivari you can see a cape on the left side of the bay with
a white chapel (probably Agios Nicolaos) on the tip of it. Close to this
cape is the naturist beach. To reach it you follow the road along the coast
in the direction of Iria. The road goes up and after about 3 kilometers on
the highest point there is a turn-off. There is a sign with "Kodili beach"
on it. By the way you have a magnificent view from here over the bay of Argos,
peninsulae in front of it and the high mountains of the Peloponnese behind
it. It is an asphalt road which goes down until the beach. The beach is in
fact divided into to parts by a hill, which foot just touches the water.
The road arrives on the right part, which is about 300m(?) wide. Here are
two bars. The left part seems to me the part most suited for naturism. You
must
climb over rock for a few meters. It's a big beach but most of it is pebbly.
Another beach nearby is reported.
After 1 km from the turn to "Kodili" and before a small bridge, you
can see, on your right, a village house with pine trees and rails around
it. There you turn right on to small road with half-asphalt for the
first 50 metres and then unsurfaced until the end (not so bad). At
the end there is said to be a very big beach suitable for nudism. However
there much shingle both on the beach and for two metres while entering the
water. The water is not clear. Once you have passed the shingle you can
swim quite well although there are many rollers. Overall, my
contributors do not think it is a really exciting beach. But you are quite
alone : not more than a few couples.
From Nafplio, follow the main road east. The road is the one to
Ligourio and Epidaurus, but the main signs say "Tolo" - the important
thing is that it’s the main road out of Nafplio which isn't the one which
goes north to Argos! (There are only two major roads out of Nafplio.) 2
miles/3km outside Nafplio take the right fork signed "Tolo", then 1.5
mile/2km later fork left for Drepano and Iria. Turn left (east) when you
get to the T-junction in the middle of Drepano about 2.5 miles/3.5km
further on. Another mile or so brings you to the little fishing village of
Vivari. The road then climbs up the hillside (Taverna Exedra a few hundred
metres out of the village has a wonderful set of outdoor tables perched on
a platform built out from the cliff with a beautiful view of Vivari and
its little gulf - recommended! - GPS waypoint N 37 32' 10", E 22 55' 24"),
and starts winding round the contours. Go past "Lefka Beach Camping", and
right at the top of the hill there's a shack and a right turn (GPS
waypoint N 37 31' 59", E 22 56' 04"). You report this as an earth road,
signed "Ag Nikolaos-Kandili", but it has now been tarmac-ed all the twisty
way down to the beach, and is signed "Kodili" - we saw no mention of Agios
Nikolaos.
Unfortunately, the cutting away of the hillside involved in producing a
full-width roadbed meant there was a *lot* of stony debris in parts,
giving one the choice of driving on the outside of the (unfenced) road or
risking the underside and tyres (by now this problem might have eased).
The road ends in the middle of the beach, by two large wooden structures
which are presumably high-season bars, but were empty when we were there
at the very beginning of June 2001. One can drive along the very good
stony surface behind the beach proper to either end of the gently curving
bay - around 500m total. The south-eastern end has a little rocky outcrop
one can clamber over or wade round, giving access to another few hundred
metres of beach. All the beach is a mixture of pebbles and coarse sand,
with a fair bit of rock and stone underwater in some areas, particularly
the stretch beyond the south-eastern end of the "car park". The day we
visited was a Saturday, and there were quite a few people around, although
certainly no crowds. But not one was naked. And while they were spaced
out, particularly at either end, the spacing was never enough for one to
be able to get into a large gap and strip comfortably. So we put on
cozzies, had a very pleasant dip, and went elsewhere.
Instead of turning off to Kondili, we recommend staying on the road for
another mile. As it flattens out, there are several houses on either side
of the road, with pines and other trees. Just as you say, this is a
hundred metres before a bridge, and there's a part-tarmac dirt track off
to your right along the boundary wall for the first house on the right -
there was a 'P' painted in red on the stone corner of this wall when we
were there (GPS waypoint of turn-off N 37 31' 41", E 22 57' 23"). Our
advice is not to follow the track all the way. After about 100m, take a
left turn by a large eucalyptus tree, go past another track heading off to
your right and a whitewashed wall on your left, then follow the track
round to the right and go all the way to the end - there's room for
several vehicles to park there (turn round when you arrive, just in case).
The original, western, track is rather longer and less kind to the tyres
and suspension, although there is a large rough parking area at its end
(don't try the middle track, it's very narrow in parts, and it is very
easy to end up blocking access for the farmers who live and work there).
If you use the easier eastern track, turn right when you get onto the
beach, turn left at the beach if you used the western track.
Between these two points (GPS waypoints N 37 31' 09" E 22 57' 14" and N
37 31' 12" E 22 56' 08" respectively) is an area a few hundred metres long
used by naturists - they seem to cluster round the point where the middle
track comes out onto the beach. There's less sand here - unless the sea is
very calm in which case a narrow strip appears right by the water's edge -
and the underwater is almost entirely stones and rock, so plastic sandals
are recommended for avoiding scratches and sea-urchin spines.
Non-naturists use this beach too, although there are rather more of them a
bit further east by the two tavernas of Kandia beach (again, recommended).
A few miles further on again a new tourism area is being developed at
Iria Beach - two or three miles of gravelly sand with the 200m strip
between sand and road being infilled with villas, campsites and
apartments. The limited beach nudity we and a few others enjoyed seemed to
be unremarked and accepted. Not the greatest CO beach ever, but certainly
pleasant and worth a visit if you are in the area. There's even a few
trees providing natural shade if you get there early enough to grab them,
and the views across to the islands of Platia and Psili are good - if the
air's reasonably clear you can see Astros on the other side of the
Argolikos Gulf.
Mavrovouni beach
A beautiful sandy beach , length 6 km, situated 3 km outside Gythio town,
in southern Peloponnese, in Laconia the distance is 3 hours drive from Athens.
There are 3 camping sites "Meltemi", "Gythion Bay" and "Mani Beach".
The beach is easily accessed. On its one end near the rocks its completely
isolated and reportedly ideally for nudism.
Vathi Gythiou
A very beautiful beach in Gythio 10min. after Mavrovouni beach. There is
a camping site there named "Porto Ageranos". A report says that on
the left of the camping site, as you arrive there is a river that goes in
to the sea and the possibility of free camping and nudism.
Unfortunately, a depressing report rreaches the Captain. There are two camping
sites "Porto Ageranos" on the beach's southern end near the Hotel "Belle
Hélène" and "Kronos" on the centre of the beach near the little
river. "Porto Ageranos" is deserted, "Kronos" chaotic and quite dirty. North
of the little river there is about 1 km for naked beach life. My contributors
and their Greek and Italian friends (3 couples) frequented this beach once
a year since 1994 in July. What they found in 2000 was the worst yet: a real
dust-bin with hordes of free running dogs, voyeurs, men masturbating in the
dunes and in the water, men coming close to you taking sun in a distance
of 10 meters showing their erections. Once a lovely place, Vathi Gythiou
is degenerated from year to year. The Captain deplores
this kind of behaviour - it is not what naturism is about and gives ordinary
naturists a bad name.
Rio
Rio is 7 Km from Patras. The beach
is after the Porto Rio Hotel. You're passing Porto Rio's beach (on foot and
direction to Patras) and after the bushes there is the beach that you can
swim nude.
Kalogria
As you arrive at Kalogria facing the
sea, on your right hand there is a small hill. You pass the hill and there
is a wonderful sandy beach where you can swim nude. Reports from 2003 and 2004
say it is a very nice beach, but it seems to be mostly occupied by Greek
(probably gay) males. Sometimes there are clothed couples or families, and
rarely mixed nudist couples. The beach is quiet and idyllic, away from the
noisy music at the main beach, and the sea bed is fine sand with a very
gentle slope.
Kalo Nero
On the west coast of the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Kyparissia,
there is the village called Kalo Nero (= beautiful water). with an immense
and large sandy beach on the south and the north. From about 2 km on the north
of the last houses the beach is nearly deserted for distance of more than
5 km. Even on Sundays in August there were not more than 20 persons on this
immense beach, that is ideal for nude bathing and walking. No sun loungers,
parasols, tavernas or anything like that. My contributors enjoyed it a lot
and will come back!
Trahila
Take the street from Agios Nikolaos and Agios Dimitrios to Trahila in the
region called Exo Mani and pass through the small village of Trahila. About
half a km later you find on your right cliffs with dressed and naked bathers
(50% to 50%). The water is very clean an nice but there is few space for
taking sun.
Zaxaro
There is a beach at the thermae of Kaiafa on the west side of
Pelloponnisos, 5 minutes from Zaxaro. It is an enormous sandy beach
just in front of the railway station of kaiafa. There is a small forest on
the beach where free camping is practised. The beach is so long that can
never be crowded. Anyone who wants to practise nudism will surely
find a place to do so, especially on the left side as you watch the see.
the day my contributor was on the beach (August 2002) were 6 people, all
nude, at a distance of about 100 metres.
Finikounda
There are three lovely beaches in Finikounda. The one on the Methoni side
is the longest. There are three points of entry to the beach. My
contributors visited in August 2002. They used the turning off the main
road furthest away from Finikounda. They entered the beach and walked
back towards the town. Here there was a stretch where there were always a
group of nudists well spaced out on a great stretch of golden sand.
Textiles walked by but were not intrusive. It was a very relaxed spot.
Other Barefooters visited during 2007. They found the beach quite
easily but came in from Finikounda end, found it a long walk along the
beach, which was made of very gritty sand and was hot in the heatwave. On
arriving at the area we found three couples and a few gazebos, and lots of
young Greeks walking up and down. But the wind spoiled their visit -
they had a good run on the hot sand to retrieve their brolly. They
felt they had been to better beaches
Zaga beach
Zaga beach is the beach in the little town of Koroni. It's
a very long beach but not crowded at all. If you walk along the beach to
the middle there are good opportunities to be nude. Barefooters who were
there in june 2007 sunbathed and swam nude all the time. When they took
off their swimsuits others did too. There were about five people
more. No one stared when they walked along the beach. Lovely sandy beach
with trees for shade.
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