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While I was planning a recent trip to the Netherlands, I noticed a distinct lack of English-language information on the local naturist facilities. Even the Dutch language information wasn't very informative. One trip and a couple of postings to the nl.naturisme news group later, I know a lot more and it would be a shame for it to stay in my head, so here are my impressions of the places I visited.
The Amsterdamse Bos is a huge, early 20th century job-creation scheme located close to Schiphol, by Amstelveen to the south west of the city. It includes facilities built for the Olympic Games and lots of woodland trails. It's divided into two parts, north and south, by a large road!
The bit which interests us, Zonneweide, is located in the south east corner of the northern part. It's shown on maps as a large, thumbnail-shaped clearing, but it's rarely named, nor is any indication given as to what it is. The area is easily accessed by public transport - either a tram to the Olympic Stadium followed by a bus, or the Metro to Amstelveensweg followed by a bus. Note that if you're using an Amsterdam Daagkaart, you can only go as far as the main entrance to the woods because that's where the city turns into Amstelveen (but the walks are good). Strippenkaarts can be used nationwide.
You enter from the south - there is a sign indicating that it is an area for "naaktrecreatie" (lit. "nude recreation") and that dogs aren't allowed. It is a large clearing, sloping towards the south, and there were a few people sunbathing there when I visited on a weekday lunchtime.
I was a little unnerved at first by the number of offers to help get my sun cream onto my back! They did turn out to be utterly genuine without any ulterior motives though. The people there were predominantly male, and middle aged and older, but that could have been a factor of when I went. I did wonder how many of them were KLM employees on their lunch break, as the headquarters are very close by. Despite the proximity to a large airport, it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful and I got through most of a novel.
Zandvoort is about half an hour by train from Amsterdam. The return fare was extremely cheap and the trains clean and frequent. Apparently they were privatised a while ago, and the service has declined so badly that the Dutch want to see it re-nationalised, but those of us used to British trains will wonder what they're moaning about! There are direct services in summer, otherwise you have to change at Haarlem.
The public naturist beach is well to the south of the town. The best way to get there from the station is to turn left out of the front and go to the far south of the town. A cycle path leads further south, behind the sea defences and the path over the sea wall to the naturist beach is by a cycle park and signposted. It's hard work getting over as you're going up a steep hill in deep sand, but it's easier than walking down the beach.
There are a number of bars along the beach where you can not only buy refreshments but hire sun loungers and windbreaks (rather useful, these). For those interested in such things, at least two of the bars on the naturist section were flying rainbow flags, and one of those was full of "bears". For those of you worried by such things, I saw no evidence of cruising activity in the area I was in, but I wouldn't be surprised if it went on even further south where it's rather remote and full of dunes.
It was windy and the sea quite rough on the day I was there. They were displaying a yellow flag, but in those conditions, the waters were really only for strong swimmers. I enjoyed playing in the seven foot waves, but my partner was content to lie on a sun lounger with several good books. The beach users were a mixed bunch with both sexes represented evenly and people of all ages were there.
Recreatiegebeid Het Twiske is a few kilometres north of Amsterdam centre (easily cyclable) just outside Landsmeer. It is a large lake with boating, canoeing , fishing , picnic areas. On the east side, accessed from Etensroer or car park 15, is a naturist area with a small beach and WCs. It is sign posted as "naturisteterraine" in the park and is marked as Wezenland Strand on the park's map. At mid week there were about 200 people of all ages but no dogs (thankfully). An ice-cream seller turned up mid afternoon.
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