GERMANY, WEST

	Bremen
	Hessen				Darmstadt Giessen Kassel
	Niedersachsen				North Sea (Nordsee) Braunschweig Hannover Lüneburg Weser-Ems
	Nordrhein-Westfalen				Arnsberg Düsseldorf Köln Münster
	Rheinland-Pfalz
	Saarland

The area that we have designated as Western Germany includes parts of the country that contribute most significantly to Germany's reputation as an economic and industrial giant. The five states and one city-state in this area contain about 46% of Germany's population.

BREMEN      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Bremen is a city-state with several distinguishing characteristics. It is the smallest state in Germany, both in land area and population. Furthermore, it is split into two parts. There is the city of Bremen, which is completely surrounded by Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), then there is Bremerhaven, a small city on the North Sea that is Bremen's seaport. The one site listed below is located in the city of Bremen. Unisee is a small lake with an FKK area that is located next to the University of Bremen.
		NUDE BEACHES       Unisee (Stadtwaldsee)   53.1114N, 8.8348E

HESSEN (Hesse)     [ ↑ ]       Hessen, often spelled without the "n" in English, is in the heart of Germany, immediately west of the geographic center of the county. Not counting city-states, Hessen is one of just three states that does not border another country.
	Darmstadt      MAP     [ ↑ ]       The region of Darmstadt is the location of Frankfurt am Main, the fifth largest city in Germany. The am Main, meaning "on the river Main," is frequently dropped, but this addendum distinguishes the city from a smaller Frankfurt in far eastern Germany. Frankfurt am Main is notable for its sleek modern skyline and for its airport, which is the busiest in Germany and among the top ten busiest airports in the world. The most urban of the sites listed below is an FKK meadow in Grüneburgpark, a public park that is just a few kilometers north of the city center of Frankfurt, but is it relatively minor site. The most popular FKK location in the vicinity of Frankfurt is Langener Waldsee, a recreation lake that is about 12 kilometers south of the city. Königsee, Strandbad Kinzigsee, Strandbad Rodgau-See and Waldsee Raunheim are scattered around the periphery of Frankfurt, all of them 33 kilometers or less from the city center. Of these four, Strandbad Kinzigsee and Strandbad Rodgau-See are notable for having manicured, sandy FKK beach areas. A little farther afield from Frankfurt, Freizeitgelände Unter den Eichen is a park in Wiesbaden that has three FKK meadows (one for men, one for women and one for families) but no nude swimming possibilities, and Erlensee is a small, rural lake that is easily accessed from the autobahn.
		NUDE BEACHES       Erlensee   49.7695N, 8.5940E        Freizeitgelände Unter den Eichen   50.1018N, 8.2155E        Grüneburgpark   50.1300N, 8.6606E        Königsee   50.0228N, 8.9983E        Langener Waldsee   50.0189N, 8.6176E        Strandbad Kinzigsee   50.1647N, 9.0355E        Strandbad Rodgau-See   50.0092N, 8.8678E        Waldsee Raunheim   50.0140N, 8.4818E
		FKK LAWNS / TERRACES       FKK Lawn at Freibad Kallebad   50.0548N, 8.2162E        FKK Lawn at Freibad Ortenberg   50.3523N, 9.0450E
	Giessen      MAP     [ ↑ ]       About halfway between Frankfurt am Main and Kassel, Seepark Niederweimar is a developed recreation lake with a designated FKK area.
		NUDE BEACHES       Seepark Niederweimar   50.7589N, 8.7398E
	Kassel      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Bugasee is a lake in a manicured park setting, about 5 kilometers south of the center of Kassel and very convenient to the autobahn. The designated lakeshore FKK meadow is quite hidden, tucked away from the main hub of activity. The small FKK area at Twistensee is in a more rural location, about 40 kilometers west of Kassel.
		NUDE BEACHES       Bugasee   51.2931N, 9.4928E        Twistesee   51.3646N, 9.0629E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Werra Meissner Camping    51.2046N, 10.0393E     G           Meinhard

NIEDERSACHSEN (Lower Saxony)     [ ↑ ]       Lower Saxony is geographically the second largest state in Germany, comprising about 13% of the country's land area. About half the country's North Sea coastline lies within this state, and sites along the coastline are listed first below. Historically, Lower Saxony has been divided into four regions: Braunschweig, Hannover, Lüneburg and Weser-Ems. Although these regions have technically been dissolved in recent years, we have preserved them for the sake or organizing the interior listing.
	North Sea (Nordsee) Coast     [ ↑ ]       Along the North Sea coast, there is a long chain of islands called the Frisian Islands. Starting in the west, these islands extend eastward about halfway across the Netherlands and continue eastward and then northward across the entirety of Germany's North Sea coastline, ending in the southern part of Denmark. The Frisian Islands are divided into three groups. The West Frisians are entirely within the Netherlands, the East Frisians are within the German state of Lower Saxony, and the North Frisians are mostly within the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a few islands in Denmark. The area between the mainland and the islands is a zone of tidal flats called the Wadden Sea, or Wattenmeer in German. (Click here for a map.) Altogether, the Wadden Sea is about 500 kilometers long, and most of it lies within Germany. When you go to the North Sea coastline of Germany, the scenery depends on whether you stay on the mainland or venture to one of the Frisian Islands. If you are on the mainland, you will be looking out over tidal flats, with vast areas of mud exposed at low tide. Most of the mainland coast has little or no dry sand. On most of the islands, the beaches are more idyllic, with broad expanses of thick sand and large dunes overlooking the open sea.       About half of Germany's North Sea coastline is in the state of Lower Saxony. The East Frisian Islands of Borkum and Norderney each have designated FKK beaches with immense expanses of sand. Each island is accessible by ferry. You can take a car, or you can just go as a passenger and get to the nude beach via local bus service. On the mainland, Strand Hooksiel (near Wilhelmshaven) and Strand Duhnen (in Cuxhaven) are beaches with designated FKK areas that are along parts of the coastline where there is sand.
		NUDE BEACHES (listed west to east)       Strand Borkum   53.6073N, 6.7051E        Strand Norderney   53.7219N, 7.2391E        Strand Hooksiel   53.6420N, 8.0588E        Strand Duhnen   53.8823N, 8.6279E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Campingplatz Wattenfreunde    53.7654N, 8.5356E     G           Cappel-Neufeld (Nordholz)      Nordsee-Camping Hooksiel    53.6471N, 8.0353E     G, E           Hooksiel
	Braunschweig      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Kennel-Bad is an urban recreation lake in Braunschweig (often called Brunswick in English) that has a large area set aside for nude sunbathers, while Wendebach-Stausee is a charming and pastoral lake south of Göttingen that has an informal FKK meadow.
		NUDE BEACHES       Kennel-Bad   52.2415N, 10.5190E        Wendebach-Stausee   51.4696N, 9.9453E
		FKK LAWNS / TERRACES       FKK Lawn at Freibad Fallersleben   52.4074N, 10.71594E
	Hannover      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Hannover is the capital and largest city of Lower Saxony. The Ricklinger Teiche are a cluster of large ponds that are about 5 kilometers southwest of the city center, and they are rather hidden despite their urban location. One of the ponds has a meadow and adjacent swimming area that are designated as FKK. The other three sites listed below are clustered fairly close together in the northeast part of the city and the neighboring suburb of Isernhagen. These sites, which range from 12 - 15 kilometers driving distance from the city center, are all easily accessible by autobahn.
		NUDE BEACHES       Altwarmbüchener See   52.4230N, 9.8601E        Kirchhorster See   52.4344N, 9.8827E        Parksee Lohne   52.4559N, 9.8568E        Ricklinger Teiche   52.3378N, 9.7434E
	Lüneburg      MAP     [ ↑ ]       The one rather minor nude beach listing below is located about halfway between the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven, which are the noncontiguous parts of the state of Bremen, which is surrounded by Lower Saxony.
		NUDE BEACHES       Ohlenstedter Quellseen   53.2870N, 8.7560E
		FKK LAWNS / TERRACES       FKK Lawn at Bad Buchholz   53.3347N, 9.8999E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Ferienpark Heidesee    52.8754N, 10.2254E     G, D           Fassberg-Oberohe
	Weser-Ems      MAP     [ ↑ ]       The spacious lakeshore FKK meadow at Kronensee is about half an hour's drive from Osnabrück, a large town that is about halfway between Bremen and the border with the Netherlands.
		NUDE BEACHES       Kronensee   52.3689N, 8.2339E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Ferienpark am Bernsteinsee    53.3231N, 8.0557E     G           Wiefelstede-Conneforde

NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN (North Rhine-Westphalia)     [ ↑ ]       The state of North Rhine-Westphalia comprises just under 10% of the land area of Germany, but its approximately 18 million residents constitute about 22% of the county's population. Just look at a road map of the complex tangle of autobahns in this state and it suddenly makes sense that the statewide population density is more than twice the national average. Many of the major cities of this state—Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Bonn and many others—are so close together that they constitute a single metropolitan region called the Rhine-Ruhr (in German, Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr), a megacity of about 11.3 million people located toward the western side of the state close to the Netherlands, bisected by the mighty Rhine. North Rhine-Westphalia is subdivided into five regions, four of which are listed below. (There are no listings for Detmold, the fifth region.)
	Arnsberg      MAP     [ ↑ ]       A bit east of the main population center of North Rhine-Westphalia, Sorpesee is located amid the hills of a large natural park, and this lake has a hidden and relatively minor FKK beach.
		NUDE BEACHES       Sorpesee   51.3159N, 7.9474E
		NATURIST RETREATS      SuN Witten    51.4241N, 7.3926E     G, D, E, S           Witten-Schnee
	Düsseldorf      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Unterbacher See is a popular recreation lake that is about 10 kilometers southeast of the center of Düsseldorf, and there is a developed, sandy beach along its southern shore (Südstrand) that is divided into textile and FKK areas. To avoid the entrance fee at Unterbacher See, a nearby alternative is the informal FKK area of Strand Himmelgeist, a riverbank beach along the east side of the Rhine that is about 8 kilometers south of the city center. In the far north of the city, a bit past the airport, Angermunder See in an undeveloped lake with a large informal FKK zone and a significant gay following. Of the four nude beach listings below, Strandbad Xantener Südsee is the farthest from Düsseldorf. It is a sandy, developed lakeshore beach with a separate FKK area that is about 70 kilometers north of the city, in the vicinity of the border with the Netherlands.
		NUDE BEACHES       Angermunder See   51.3161N, 6.7909E        Strand Himmelgeist   51.1575N, 6.7967E        Strandbad Xantener Südsee   51.6833N, 6.4442E        Unterbacher See Südstrand   51.1943N, 6.8867E
		FKK LAWNS / TERRACES       FKK Lawn at Strandbad Lörick   51.2520N, 6.7319E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Grenzland West    51.1710N, 6.2173E     G           Niederkrüchten
	Köln (Cologne)      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Rheinufer means "bank of the Rhine," and although there are no designated FKK areas of this river within Cologne, there are various pockets where nude sunbathers gather. The most identifiable is an area just north of a bridge called Mülheimer Brücke, on the west side of the Rhine, about 4.5 kilometers north of the city's main train station and famous cathedral. For a location that is set aside just for nudists, there is Zieselsmaar, a small recreation lake about 20 kilometers southwest of the city center. The lake, which is run by a naturist association, is open to the public (for a fee) and easily accessible by autobahn, and nudity is obligatory.
		NUDE BEACHES       Rheinufer, Mülheimer Brücke   50.9700N, 6.9959E        Zieselsmaar   50.8533N, 6.8012E
	Münster      MAP     [ ↑ ]       At the northern edge of the urban limits of Münster, about 11 kilometers north of the city center, nude bathers gather along a decommissioned portion of the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal. The very popular sandy FKK beach of Silbersee Dülmen is about 40 kilometers southwest of Münster, and it is also less than an hour's drive from Dortmund, Duisburg and Essen.
		NUDE BEACHES       Dortmund-Ems-Kanal   52.0389N, 7.6787E        Silbersee Dülmen   51.7997N, 7.2109E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Familiensportbund Haard    51.6661N, 7.2209E     G           Oer-Erkenschwick      Sonnenhof Marbeck    51.8276N, 6.8875E     G           Borken

RHEINLAND-PFALZ (Rhineland-Palatinate)      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Rhineland-Palatinate is located in the southwest of Germany, and it has borders with four other states as well as with France and Luxembourg. The Rhine flows through the eastern part of the state, forming much of its eastern border, and all three nude beach listing below lie in the general vicinity of the river. Blaue Adria is a small lake with a designated FKK area that is located across the Rhine from Mannheim, a city in the neighboring state of Baden-Württemberg. Less than 20 kilometers away, Niederwiesenweiher is a small lake just off the autobahn that has informal FKK areas away from the main textile area. Much farther north in Rhineland-Palatinate, Diezer Baggersee is a beautiful quarry lake near the border of Hessen that also has an informal FKK area away from the main textile area.
		NUDE BEACHES       Blaue Adria   49.4241N, 8.4630E        Diezer Baggersee   50.3709N, 7.9926E        Niederwiesenweiher   49.3736N, 8.3317E
		FKK LAWNS / TERRACES       FKK Lawn at Freibad Oberwerth   50.3437N, 7.5962E
		NATURIST RETREATS      Campingpark Waldwiesen    49.6561N, 7.1802E     G, D, E           Birkenfeld      Tannenhotel    50.6083N, 7.6049E     G           Richert (Puderbach)

SAARLAND      MAP     [ ↑ ]       Saarland is the smallest German state that is not a city-state, and it is about 80% the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Saarland is situated at the southwest corner of Rhineland-Palatinate, the only German state that it borders. Otherwise, it borders France and has just a sliver of border with Luxembourg as well. Saarland does not seem to have any designated or really well established FKK locations, but there are about half a dozen locations with FKK possibilities listed in the SUPPLEMENTAL FILE.