Although Spain is still a staunchly catholic country, the Spanish have a remarkably relaxed attitude towards nudity on their beaches. Since the late 1970s hundreds of beaches, both official and unofficial, have been attracting naturists from all over Europe and beyond. Naturists are well catered for in all areas of coastal Spain. One of the most famous naturist resorts is Vera Natura in Almeria in the north east corner of Andalucia where there is a huge gated tourist complex with access to a three-kilometre stretch of nudist beach.
As many foreigners have found, Spain can be a paradoxical place. Whilst elderly widows dress permanently in black in honour of their dead husbands and good catholic women don their "mantilla" lace headscarves in church, naked flesh abounds all around the Spanish costas. Topless sunbathing and swimming is common all over Spain and there are many beaches which are not officially naturist but where nudes happily co-exist with their scantily clad counterparts.
American and Canadian tourists, generally more prudish than their European counterparts, are often shocked to find holidaymakers of all shapes, sizes and ages baring all on the beaches of the Iberian Peninsula and Spanish islands.
It's probably no coincidence that the country's first official nudist beach, Costa Natura near Estepona on the Costa del Sol, received formal approval from the authorities in 1979, just four years after Franco's death
