My week on a naturist island 😱

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[00:00:03.25] - Oliver (Host)

Imagine this. A friend invites you to spend a week on a beautiful Mediterranean Island. He says it's peaceful, quiet, surrounded by turquoise water and with the fantastic Mediterranean weather, a perfect escape from work and emails. You picture yourself relaxing on the beach, eating fresh fish, swimming in the sea. It sounds idyllic. So you agree. You get on the boat carrying your bag and your book. The sea is calm, the air is warm. Everything looks perfect. You feel peaceful already, and you're still just approaching the island. But then you notice something strange. People are pointing at the hills in the distance. You squint, trying to see what they're looking at. There are people in amongst the shrubbery, in amongst the bushes on the edge of the island. And then you realise the figures walking along the cliffs - well, they're completely naked. Welcome to this week's episode of English and Beyond: Intermediate English Podcast. If you find anything in this podcast hard to understand, please be aware that there is a free transcript on our website morethanalanguage.com, as well as flashcards to help you learn the most difficult vocabulary and a comprehension activity to help you practise it.

[00:01:46.16] - Oliver (Host)

My name is Oliver. I am an English and Spanish teacher from the UK. And today, I'm going to tell you about my week on a naturist island. Now, before you panic, no, there is nothing in this story that is perverse or scandalous. I want to make that really clear. It's not going to get graphic at any point. This is a cultural story about a tradition that is much more common in parts of France, Germany, and many other European countries than it is in Britain. I knew nothing about naturism before this week. My friend, helpfully, hadn't warned me about the naturist identity of our island destination, but now I know a little more about this lifestyle choice. For many of its followers, naturism is basically a philosophy of life. Some people feel more comfortable in nature without clothes, and whole communities have been built around that idea. In Britain, it's unusual, to say the least. We have very few official nudist beaches, if any, and most people never go. But in other European countries, it's much more normal. So in this episode, I want you to discover it with me as if you were my guest. We'll walk through the awkward first moments, the daily rhythm of swimming and hiking, a little bit of history about how naturism started, and what I learned from the people that I met there.

[00:03:25.47] - Oliver (Host)

I should say, I'm not a naturist. I'm still not a naturist. I wasn't converted by the end of the week, but I did find the whole thing quite fascinating. And it took me the whole week, seven full days, to really relax, if I ever really did. When I first arrived, I'll be honest, it felt really awkward. You step off the boat, you carry your bag up the hill, and suddenly you realise this is a place where almost everyone is naked. But importantly, not everywhere and not all the time. The island has its rules. In its little streets, you can wear a sarong or a pareo, as the French call it. So you'll see people walking around half-covered, doing completely normal things: buying fruit, reading the newspaper, heading to a café. Many people choose to do these things wearing nothing at all, but on the island, it is a personal choice. On the beaches, and especially on the hiking trails that circle the edge of the island, though, nudity isn't optional. It's required. That created some strange contrasts. Swimming felt easy enough The water was crystal clear, full of colourful fish, even octopuses or octopodes. In the sea, it felt somehow natural to be naked.

[00:04:55.08] - Oliver (Host)

But hiking? Climbing up steep, rocky paths in the burning sun with nothing on my body at all. It was less glamorous and more uncomfortable, even than you might expect. Then there were the surreal everyday moments. I remember going to buy bread one morning, standing in line in my sarong and being served by a topless waitress at the boulangerie. For her, it was completely normal. For me, it was still quite surreal. Ordering some bread rolls never felt so unusual. Those moments make me laugh in hindsight, looking back, but they also remind me how much of life feels automatic until you take clothes away. Suddenly, even carrying a bag of shopping or walking up a hill feels like a brand new experience. After those first awkward moments, I started to think, how did places like this even begin? Because naturism isn't just a holiday choice. It has a history and almost a philosophy behind it. It really took shape in the early 20th century, particularly in Germany. There was a movement called Freikörperkultur, which literally means free body culture. The idea was simple. Life in the modern city was unhealthy, it was industrial, and above all, it was stressful.

[00:06:25.36] - Oliver (Host)

People wanted to escape to the countryside to breathe clean air and to return to a more natural way of living: sunlight, exercise, fresh air. And yes, the body without clothes were all part of that return to nature. At the same time, in France, similar ideas were spreading. Doctors, philosophers, and even politicians promoted the benefits of sunlight for health. Some early naturist clubs were created in the 1920s and '30s, often connected to sport. Families would spend weekends swimming, hiking, or doing gymnastics without clothes, believing it was good for both body and spirit. By the 1930s, some of these communities started creating dedicated spaces. That included islands in the Mediterranean, where naturism wasn't just tolerated but required. The rule was clear. If you come here, you follow the code. It wasn't about exhibitionism, the desire to show off parts of your body that are normally covered. In fact, the philosophy was almost the opposite. The idea was that once everyone is the same, once clothes are gone, social differences disappear. Rituals old or poor, old or young, the body is just the body. Of course, not every country embraced this philosophy. In Britain, naturism never became mainstream.

[00:07:57.26] - Oliver (Host)

I don't think we have a huge cultural taboo about nudity. We can laugh about it. And if you've gone to the UK, you might know all about those seaside postcards with cartoon characters frequently losing their swimsuits. But we also never really created a movement around it. And I think a lot of British people would feel uncomfortable about naturism. We have a few official nudist beaches, I think, but they are rare, and most British people never go near them. I certainly have never to a nudist beach in the UK. For me, as a British visitor, being on this island felt very continental, very European. One of the most interesting parts of the week was talking to other people on the island. I spoke to a man who admitted he had dreaded coming. He told me he had always struggled with his body image. In everyday life, he would avoid even taking his shirt off at the beach. The idea of spending a whole week without clothes was terrifying. But surprisingly, once he arrived, he found the opposite of what he expected. He said it felt liberating, like he could finally stop worrying about how he looked. We could say, in English, that he had taken to naturism like a duck to water.

[00:09:20.31] - Oliver (Host)

I thought that was quite fascinating. For him, naturism turned out not to be about shock value or showing off. It was about self-acceptance. Once everyone around you is in the same situation, the pressure to look perfect for him had disappeared. The thing that really surprised me was that in general, nobody was really paying attention to other people's nakedness, their nudity. For them, the novelty faded very quickly, and it became kind of normal. I do respect that perspective, but my own experience was quite different. I never really stopped noticing my nakedness or semi-nakedness. For me, it remained unusual, a little awkward, a little uncomfortable. I could appreciate the philosophy, but didn't share the feeling of liberation that this man described. And maybe that's kind of the point. Naturism means very different things to different people. For some people, it's health. For others, it's freedom. For many, it's tradition, something that their families have always done. Especially in countries like France, Germany, or even Spain. But for visitors like me from Britain, it feels like stepping into another culture entirely. If I'm honest, the moments I enjoyed most were the really simple ones, swimming for hours in the sea by myself, spotting fish and octopuses, relaxing alone on the rocks afterwards.

[00:10:54.31] - Oliver (Host)

And, strangely, the island really forced me to disconnect. You're not on your phone very much, I guess, partially because there's nowhere to carry it. There isn't a long list of things to do on this island. Life becomes extremely slow: swim, eat, walk, talk. But every evening, when it was time for dinner, you had to put your clothes back on because of the lowering temperatures. And frankly, I was always a little relieved. Sitting in a restaurant, wearing normal clothes, gave me back a sense of comfort. I felt more like myself again. That contrast between the daytime rules and the evening routine showed me just how deeply I connect clothes with my identity. For me, eating in a café or buying bread from the boulangerie still felt odd if I was only half-dressed, even though for others, it was clearly the most natural thing in the world. By the end of the week, I had relaxed more, but it took all seven days. It wasn't until the very last swims, the very last walks, that I stopped feeling quite so self-conscious. Then, of course, it was time to leave. What did I take away from this week? First, at least on the island, that naturism is not what many people imagine.

[00:12:18.50] - Oliver (Host)

It isn't about exhibitionism or anything scandalous. It's a cultural practice with a history in Europe that goes back over a century. For many people, it's about health, freedom and acceptance. Second, I realised that my own perspective is really shaped by where I'm from. As a Brit, naturism has always felt like something quite distant, a curiosity, a continental habit. Spending a week inside this culture showed me how normal it can feel for others and how unusual it still feels for me. And finally, I learned something about myself. I could appreciate it. I could even enjoy parts of it, but I'm not a convert. It took me the whole week to relax, and the truth is, I was still relieved every evening when it was time to put my clothes back on. If you were thinking that there might be a dramatic ending, where I declare myself a lifelong naturist and whip off my clothes, I'm sorry to disappoint. I'm still happier with clothes and swimming trunks. But I am glad I went because it reminded me that travel isn't only about seeing new places; sometimes it's about exploring a different culture and seeing what it shows you about yourself.

[00:13:35.43] - Oliver (Host)

Thank you for listening to English and Beyond: Intermediate English Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing the episode or giving me a review. I'd love to know what you think. Would you ever spend a week on a naturist island? Or would you, like me, find yourself relieved to get dressed again in the evening? See you next time. Bye-bye.