Post #7 - Platja (beach) de la Devesa -Nudist destination review

Venue - Platja de la Devesa

Location - Valencia, Spain.

Review period - A weekday during Oct 2015
Review type - First hand.

Visit the Instagram page for the 2nd page with more bullet points on this destination.

Brief background

• Wikipedia mentions this as a beach for nudist use.
• Buses available from city. Roughly 10 minutes walk from nearest bus stop.

When I visited

• I got the chance to visit on a weekday. 
• When I reached Valencia, I had hardly 2 or 3 days to spend there. It used to get a bit cold by evening (below 18 degrees Celsius). Having ventured unsuccessfully in search of remains of the Spanish nudist vibes, while in Barcelona, earlier, I had already realized that it was not the right season and it was only by chance that I could get a little bit of the feel. 
• So, I decided to go on the warmest sunny day, with the day time temperature showing a maximum of 22 degrees Celsius. This is how the beach entrance looked that day -

Total visitors 

• Roughly 10, which was quite less. The couples and females were along the entrance and a few naked males could be seen scattered along the Southern end.

Gender ratio

• Women : men was roughly 2:3, with most of women at the entrance of the beach and most of the men behind or along the dunes further along the Southern end.

Age bracket ratio

• Guesstimate - (18 - 40) : (40 +) was roughly 1 : 3 among men and 1 : 4 among women.
• I was greeted with the pleasant sight of a young topless couple at the entrance, probably in their 30s, which was relaxing on the dunes, a bit away from the beach. That was the only couple I remember seeing. There were a bunch of women, probably above 50s and some 40 plus men relaxing near the dunes. 
• I remember one young guy, who came back, as he said, looking for his cap or phone or something (which I don't remember now). He said he asked a few people and they asked him to check for a guy whose descriptions, as per him, matched mine (see my pic below). So, he asked me first and then, in order to confirm, asked me to show my bag, to which I agreed. He inspected and left when he did not find it. I don't know if I should put this as a bad experience or not, but I just moved on.

States of undress 

• Roughly 30% of the women were topless. No woman was naked though. 
• Roughly 50% of the men were naked. All the naked men, roughly less than 5, were located with large distances between each other.

Nudity rules 

• I could not see any sign boards demarcating nudity rules, despite this being a blue flag beach, which means the code of conduct for the beach area should ideally be displayed. 
• When I reached the beach, I saw this bunch of old women, of which a few were topless. I asked them if it was a nude beach, to which they replied no.

Racial & ethnic composition

• All the visitors seemed to be white.
• The bunch of old women at the entrance were probably locals from Spain, although I don't remember them speaking.

Body size ratios

• Roughly 1:1.
• The young couple at the entrance as well as few of the old women were quite fit.

Miscellaneous points

• Entry - Open and free. Singles allowed.
• Solo visitors present? Only males.
• Interaction level - Low.
• Sexual activities observed? No.
• No restaurants, stalls, toilets.
• No lifeguards.

Difficulty level

• Moderately difficult to get naked, due to various reasons.
• Because of no clear demarcation with sign boards, it was not clear whether nudity was allowed in the beach or beyond a certain point. Unlike in Australia, this is something which I have missed in all the so called nude beaches in Spain where I have been to. 
• Even though I had read that it was legal to be nude in any beach in Spain, the additional clothing of visitors due to the colder off season, had always left me unsure as a newbie, of the actual stand on nudity there - 
• whether it was okay to disrobe? 
• whether nudity was just tolerated or because it was so normal in Spanish culture that it need not need of a mention at all.
• Also, the presence of mostly males, after the entrance section, made it further difficult for me, honestly, as a solo newbie straight male, to get naked. As many of them could be lying behind the dunes (although not permitted, mostly due to dune restoration and wild life preservation) you never knew when one could suddenly appear from behind the dunes. It would also be awkward to check those sections before getting naked, as you could intrude into someone's privacy.
• There is something about these long, wide beaches, with sparse and mostly male population, that has made me feel uncomfortable. I was finally able to get over this feeling in my 2nd abroad trip to Australia, while in Tyagarah beach. 

Few more pics from my visit

Road towards beach

That's me covered up for the pic ;)

Waiting at the bus stop on the way back to city

Beach sign board from bus stop

What is "The Gender Ratio Project"?

• A bigger project, which is beyond just nudist destinations and travel places. There are a few events already covered, mostly from India.
• Visitor stats-wise, it mostly, just covers a few bullet points, in addition to the gender ration information, which is a USP.
• It has a facebook page, but no Instagram page at present.