THE FACTS ABOUT BEACHES WITH NUDIST ENCLAVES

Topless sunbathing is now so commonplace throughout the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Australia that it is no longer a useful term to describe the style of a beach. Nude sunbathing is also widespread, though mostly in informally agreed enclaves. In Europe, Greece usually sets the pace and has done so for the past 30 years and more. The beach of Elia on the island of Mykonos is my first choice, but few Greek islands are without their 'nudey beach' enclave. Over on the Teutonic side of Europe, holidaymakers go in for nudist holidays in a much more formal and institutionalised way. As you drive the main German tourist routes along the Dalmatian coast, around the Istrian Peninsula or down the Adriatic, it is impossible not to notice the frequent clusters of banners and traffic signs bearing the mysterious legend 'FKK'. FKK, it emerges, stands for Freikörperkultur or 'Free Body Culture' - nudism, in other words. The roots of the FKK movement go back well over 50 years. In the 1930s it was looked on favourably by the Nazis who regarded it as a demonstration of the health and fitness of the Aryan people. The most spectacular FKK location in Germany is Sylt (pronounced 'zult'), a 25-mile-long sand spit off the chilly northernmost tip of the country. Sylt has long been a getaway for the German rich and famous, sometimes confusingly referred to as the 'German St-Tropez', or as the 'German Hamptons'. One thing, however, that the Hamptons definitely don't have is a huge FKK beach picturesquely backed by low, red cliffs. It was here that the German photographer Leni Riefenstahl shot the opening montage of her film on the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and here where the beach is divided into an enclave for nudists and another official enclave for walking the dog. Don't worry: the beach is large enough for everyone.