Just back (well - 10 days ago) from our third visit to the excellent beaches of this french atlantic coast island. There were very few GB stickers around so I thought I'd give them some free promotion. Oleron is about halfway down the french atlantic coast, south of La Rochelle and north of the Gironde river that leads down to Bordeaux. It's about 250 miles from the ferry port of St Malo and a lot further from Calais. It's part of the Pays Marennes Oleron, which is prime oyster country, and is within the Charente-Maritime area. The island is the second largest in France (after Corsica) and is reached by a 3k toll free bridge (Le viaduc). The island is mostly flat with lots of oyster beds and beaches everywhere. It's very popular with the french so the central road through the island gets pretty slow due to sheer weight of traffic. Pick up a decent tourist map and you'll see the plages naturiste marked - always a good sign INMO. There are two we used, Plage des Saumonards in the north east and La Grand Plage in the south west. Plage des Saumonards is a short walk from the car park at the end of the road through the Foret des Saumonards. The beach is sandy and clean with relaxed co-existence and the CO area spreads for quite a way. It is also possible to walk nude through the forest. There is a small cruising area where men, mostly texile, tended to follow each other around. This didn't bother me and I saw no flagrant sexual activity but if you have strong views about this sort of thing you may prefer to stay on the beach. There are a confusing number of tracks through the forest and it is possible to walk or cycle from various points. Cycling can be hard work as there are many sandy patches, but there is the compensation of being able to cycle nude as you close to the beach area (and I'd never done that before - it was more comfortable than I'd expected). La Grand Plage in the south west is reached from the car park at the end of another long road north of Saint Trojan. Just before the main car park there's a dirt track to the left which leads to a smaller car park right by the nude beach. If your car is your pride and joy I would avoid this road, mine isn't any more so I wasn't too concerned by the occasional scraping of undercarrige on bare rock, although we did get stuck in sand on the first day. Still the benefit of parking that close is you don't have to get dressed to go back to your car. At least, I didn't and no one shouted or complained. Calling it the "big beach" does not due it justice, the nude area stretches south way beyond the nude beach sign and when the tide is fully out it's a long walk to the sea. It's popular with families nude, part nude (just dad and/or mum) and non-nudist (yes, I even saw people getting changed beneath a towel). There were a number of people flying or being pulled along by kites and both surf boards and sand carts. The waves were good so there were quite a few surf and belly boards. The sea wasn't too cold so my kids played for hours, I think I've been spoilt after three years swimming in the Med. and the Agean. If you dress and walk for 10 minutes north to the main car park there is a catering wagon and some toilets which always gets a thumbs up from my wife. According to the map there is another CO area further north on this beach. We walked up through it one cloudy, cool morning and saw no evidence so maybe it's seasonal. No photographs I'm sorry to say but my new digital camera is a bit too delicate to risk close to the sand. I deliberately left it at home this year. Anyway, if you like to try popular family beaches that are easy to reach then consider giving Ile d'Oleron a shot. - Great Report! from Kev0, September 2004

Listed here, here and here by the Organisation Naturiste Europeene.

Another Detailed Report on Ile D'Oleron - due to this EXCELLENT website being offline at the time of writing I have transcribed it from Google's cache: The Ile D'Oleron naturist beach is part of the Grand Plage on the SE side of the Island. Once across the impressive bridge linking the island with the mainland, take the road for Grand Village. This passes through the Foret de St Trojan which offers some shaded sites to picnic if you wish to eat before reaching the beach. Keep traveling down this road until you reach the beach at la Giraudiere. There is parking immediately behind the beach but at busy times you may have to park further back up the road. Don't be tempted to park on the chalk road going off left just before the beach unless you have a 4 wheel drive or want to trash your undercarriage. It may get you closer to the beach but at a price on the life of your vehicle! There is a mobile ice cream/drinks bar before you access the beach which if you don't need before you start, will provide a refreshing stop at the end of the day. There are no facilities on the beach itself so if you haven't bought supplies with you, stock up here. Access to the beach is straight over the dunes and turn left. After 200 metres or so the naturist area starts. Those who fancy a naturist walk are in for a real treat here. It is possible to walk for what seems like miles down the beach and, with care, in the scrubland immediately behind it. Although I have never tried it, I suspect it is possible to walk right to the end of the island (Cul Nu) entirely without clothes. I certainly gave up long before reaching the last of the nudists. The further you walk the less crowded the beach becomes. Similarly the further you walk the lower the sand escarpment at the back of the beach becomes until it virtually disappears. Swimming here, as on the whole Atlantic coast of France, should be undertaken with great care. There are no beach patrols so do not go in if conditions are in any way rough or the tide is on the way out. In fact best to swim only where others are doing so. But this beach, especially further down towards Cul Nu provides escapism at its best. Although I did not see any signs, the sheer lack of people, even at busy periods, should provide plenty of scope for amour naturelle if that is what you are seeking.

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