Access & Parking

Brighton may be reached with ease by all main means of transport. On reaching the seafront, go to the main pier, west of the marina, then walk east to Peter Pan's playground and cross the Volk's Railway on to the beach.

"As you face Brighton pier, turn left and walk along the beach or road, until you come to bushes/park on your left. Directly on the right is the beach and the nudist boundary. If you walk along the road, you will have to cross over the railway line at some point (the Volk's Railway)."

"I think the following might be of use to other first time visitors. Drive towards the sea front and look out for 'To the marina' signs. Follow signs for the Marina or drive East (Left as you face the sea) through the centre of Brighton along the sea front keeping in to the right hand traffic lane. You will see signs for the Marina Village. Take this lane and then keep to the left lane as you do. Drive into the marina area and you are faced with a 9 level multi storey car park. When coming out of the car park, head out towards Asda and climb the stairs by the car wash. The beach is then in front of you. With the marina at your back walk West to the beach. The nudist beach is a few hundred yards from there and at the first stop of the little railway."

Description

The beach is of shingle and pebbles, with consequent discomfort. If you choose to strip off, you are likely to find yourself playing to an unrestricted audience of binocular-wielding voyeurs - both on the beach and, often, in boats offshore. This might be heaven for some, but it sounds like hell to me.

Facilities

Every facility you could possibly want - and more -can be found in Brighton. None are accessible, of course, without dressing

Official Designation

Situated to the east of Palace Pier between Peter Pan's playground and the marina, this short stretch of Brighton's pebbly foreshore entered the history books in 1979, when it was designated an official clothing-optional beach.

A vociferous "No" campaign was unable to persuade Brighton councillors that bathing in the altogether was a disgrace and, following a trip to the site by a working party, the 59-strong Tory controlled-council passed the proposal.

The campaign for Brighton's nudist beach was led by Councillor Eileen Jakes and, as a result, she was accused of "pandering to weirdos and perverts".

"I was told I should be ashamed of myself and that I was a horrible lady," said Ms Jakes, who got into naturism during holidays to the south of France.

Fellow town councillor John Blackman said the beach was a "flagrant exhibition of mammary glands".

"I personally have no objection to people showing their breasts and bosoms and general genitalia to one another," said Blackman. "Jolly good luck to them, but for heaven's sake, they should go somewhere more private."

Brighton's deputy Mayor Alfred Feld said: "It is a bold move ... but we feel we are just moving with the times".

Water Quality
Typical English Channel

Selected Visitor Comments

2001 - "I was fortunate to go on a very warm day and the naturist beach was quite busy. I hadn't expected there to be so many clothed/covered people on the beach including quite a few obvious voyeurs... the only embarrassing part of the experience was the sight of my white bottom popping up and down from the sea... The experience was exhilarating..."

2001 - " I parked near the West Pier and ended up taking the Volks Railway to the Marina. It was then only a short walk back to the 'Free' part of the beach which is protected from the view of those on the railway or promenade by a large bank of shingle about 100 metres long. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny and there were about 100 'bods' mainly single men (some in groups of 6 or 8) and a few couples. Beach/swimming shoes are essential as it is a very stony beach. It shelves very quickly so is ideal for swimming as you only needed to go in a couple of metres to be in 6 feet of water! The people I sat near were friendly... an enjoyable experience and the access was the easiest of the 4 beaches I tried over the Bank Holiday weekend."

2002 - " On each occasion [I visited] the beach had no more than one female, and the other bathers were male..."

2002 - "... as a heterosexual male naturist [the homosexual population] has never been the slightest problem for me and of all the naturist beaches I have visited it is certainly the most accessible."

2002 - "I don't think there are many gawkers now, though a few people still get 'lost' walking their dogs etc. along the beach! Best ignore them, and they soon lose interest..."

August 2003 - "I have been a nudist for 10 years, but Brighton is the worst nude beach ever. How can it be official nude beach? It's a pervert beach not nudist."

January 2004 - "I have been using the Brighton beach since the very beggining... In the 1980's and, maybe, early 90's the whole atmosphere was very good, a fantastic example of what a naturist beach should be, with hundreds, sometimes not short of the odd one thousand people, both sexes, swimming and sunbathing in the nude... in the last two or three years the beach has been practically [taken over] by single males... I am sorry to say that I have to agree with the people who say that Brighton beach, as it is now, is the worst place for practising naturism, I would never recomend it to anybody to try for the first time never mind couples or females."

2005 - "...we have never felt so uncomfortable on a naturist beach. Having been on two separate occasions, once at the weekend and once on a weekday, it has the feeling of a meat market with everyone watching every one and plenty of fully clothed voyeurs... I would not recommend this beach... which is a great shame because it is clean and the water is great and fairly clear."

May 2005 - "Even though this beach is very local and convenient for me, I refuse to go onto it, as it is a complete meat market, and I wouldn't say that it is TRUE naturists that you find there. On the occasions that I have been there, I have been gawped at, and sometimes (when wanting a little privacy ) you find unwanted men moving themselves towards you. I tend to ignore people who generally only look, but here I feel watched, intimidated."

August 2005 - "...this weekend was the Brighton and Hove Gay and Lesbian Pride, so the nudist beach was fuller than I would expect, but there were straight couples. I am gay but saw no indiscretions, expect for the usual male watchers. The weather was lovely and everyone on the beach was friendly and quite happy to just get on with sunbathing. I would still encourage anyone to try this beach out before making an opinion on it."

August 2005 - "I visited Brighton this Summer with my wife. We had a brilliant time. The weather was lovely and beach clean and friendly as ever. There were lots of voyeuristic males. This does not really bother me. However my wife would like to say thanks to the guy who actually stripped off in front of her and stared at her naked body for 2 hours!"

September 2005 - "Brighton naturist beach was my very first experience of naturism. I think it was in 1980, just after it opened. I was only 10 years old and went there with my Dad. I remember it being quite busy, and at that age, I was completely relaxed about being naked in public as everyone else was. Sadly, how times have changed. The atmosphere on the beach now is awful. As soon as you set foot on the beach you feel a hundred pairs of eyes watching your every move. Men masturbate openly, while on the edge of the beach a group of males scan the beach with binoculars and video cameras. This may sound like a strong comment, but many men are using the guise of naturism as an excuse to commit sex offences. I now mainly confine naturism to France, where behaviour such as this would simply not be tolerated. I would also encourage people to challenge the perverts and threaten them with calling the police - it is usually enough to see them off, and hopefully they may stay away forever."

June 26, 2007 - "I really don't think it matters what someone's sexuality is, it's their behaviour - behaving in a predatory way just makes other beach users uneasy. It's just very old school British - people equating nakedness only with sex/availability... when I cycle past the nudist beach there's frequently naked blokes standing at the top of the beach, on the raised area that's meant to preserve some privacy for both the beach users and those tourists that don't really want to see naked people on their way to the pier!"

August 03, 2009 - "I was a little surprised to find the amount of males present. As a completely hetrosexual male I did not feel threatened but stripped and sunbathed near to a mother and daughter who appeared to be local as later she spoke with one of the older males with what seemed familiar conversation. I got up twice for a walk along the beach and on my return ... a young gay male seemed to target me and quite obviously pulled his pants down and started touching himself in front of me. Apart from this episode, it was a pretty good atmosphere although an awful lot of males to the female numbers."