Paris is the capital of the world’s leading naturist country, and it turns out you can practice naturism there without leaving the périphérique: three naturist evenings a week at a city swimming pool, an official naturist meadow in a royal park, a naturist spa in the Marais, nude yoga, and a community association that has been organizing all of it since 1953. Here is exactly how it works for a visitor.
Piscine Roger Le Gall: Nude Swimming in the 12th
Three evenings a week, the Piscine Roger Le Gall at 34 Boulevard Carnot in the 12th arrondissement turns naturist. Sessions run Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 21:00 to 23:00 (entry 20:45-21:30), organized by the Association des Naturistes de Paris in the city’s 50-meter Olympic pool, which opens its retractable roof on warm evenings. Alongside free swimming there’s aquagym on Mondays and Wednesdays, aqua-palming on Fridays, and instruction for swimmers of all levels.
Bookings go through the ANP website (naturistes-paris.fr) with a visitor pass – no membership needed for a first visit (annual membership is offered after three sessions). A session costs about €10-12, with 20 percent off for FFN/INF cardholders. One very French requirement: a swim cap (bonnet de bain) is compulsory, even when nothing else is. And to kill a persistent rumor: Roger Le Gall is the only municipal pool in Paris with naturist hours – the talked-about “three-pool program” was never implemented.
Bois de Vincennes: The Official Naturist Meadow
Since August 31, 2017, the City of Paris has run an official naturist zone in the Bois de Vincennes: a 7,300 m² meadow near the ornithological reserve, between Lac Daumesnil and the Route Dauphiné. Launched as a pilot and made permanent after strong adoption, it is open daily from about 08:00 to dusk, from mid-April through October 15 – and it’s free, no booking, no membership. The rules are posted and enforced: strictly non-sexual use, zero tolerance for voyeurism, and clothing required the moment you step outside the marked perimeter.
A Naturist Spa in the Marais
Club Saint-Paul at 6 Rue Saint-Paul in the Marais is Paris’s non-sexual naturist spa: sauna, hammam, plunge pool and massage or body-scrub services, open daily from 11:00 to 21:00, entry roughly €20-30. One honest note for first-timers: the clientele skews heavily male, which is common in urban naturist saunas. The distinction that matters: Club Saint-Paul is a wellness naturist venue – unlike Paris’s libertine saunas (Sun City and the like), which are adult venues and a different subject entirely.
Nude Yoga, Bowls and After-Hours Museums
The ANP – about 350 active members, founded in 1953 – fills out the calendar with nude yoga every Tuesday evening (21:15, in the Roger Le Gall sports hall), fitness and Pilates classes, bowling, indoor beach volleyball, and its cult events: after-hours naturist visits to museums and galleries, with past sessions at the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée Maillol. For a taste of history: O’Naturel, France’s first naturist restaurant, opened in the 12th arrondissement in November 2017 and closed on February 16, 2019 – naturist dining remains a gap in the Paris scene, and today no naturist restaurant exists.
The Day Trip: Héliomonde
When Parisians want full outdoor naturism, they head 45 kilometers south to Héliomonde in Saint-Chéron (Essonne): a 47-hectare wooded naturist estate with heated outdoor pools, sauna, sports courts, chalets and camping pitches, reachable by RER C to Saint-Chéron plus a short taxi, or a 50-minute drive. Day passes run about €15-25. For the record, two other names that float around Paris naturism: Le Vésinet, where naturist pioneer Kienné de Mongeot based his 1930s clubs, is history only – nothing active – and the banks of the Étang de Méricourt are an informal wild-swimming spot, not an authorized zone.
Visitor’s Etiquette
- Towel always – in the sauna, gym, on every lounger and bench.
- Swim cap at the pool – yes, really.
- No photos anywhere – phones stay in lockers at pool sessions.
- Non-sexual conduct – the French naturist code applies with full force in the city; any breach means removal and a ban.
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Where to Stay
Obviously you won’t sleep naturist in central Paris – but if a Paris stay bookends a naturist trip elsewhere in France, the map below is centered on the Bois de Vincennes so you can compare stays on the city’s east side:
Disclosure: this map contains affiliate booking links. If you book through it, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
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