Miami’s Haulover Beach tops the list of best nude beaches in America

Amber Randall, South Florida Sun Sentinel
·2 min read

Haulover Beach in Miami may be one of the most pristine beaches in South Florida, but it’s perhaps better known for its more revealing feature: a clothing-optional section.

The combination has landed Haulover the designation of best nude beach in the U.S. by the American Association of Nude Recreation.

Located on Collins Avenue just south of Sunny Isles, Haulover Beach is one of Florida’s oldest and best-known nude beaches and part of the larger Haulover Park. Spanning almost half a mile in the northern portion of the park, Haulover often lands in the top 10 lists for best nude beaches in the country.

Other Florida beaches almost made the ranking from the AANR, including Playalinda Beach and Blind Creek Beach in Hutchinson Island.

Here is the complete list:

Haulover Beach - North Miami Beach, FL

Playalinda Beach and Apollo Beach - Canaveral National Seashore, FL

Black’s Beach - LaJolla, CA

Gunnison Beach – Sandy Hook, NJ

Blind Creek Beach – Hutchinson Island/Ft. Pierce, FL

Collins Beach - Sauvie Island, OR

Wreck Beach - Vancouver, BC, CANADA

Well, those are the ones on the list of sanctioned nude beaches. But there are unsanctioned beaches too — go nude at your own risk. The ones in Florida included Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin and Bahia Honda State Park in Big Pine Key.

According to the American Association of Nude Recreation, clothing-optional beaches are gaining in popularity among Americans. A survey done before the pandemic revealed that 48 percent of people wanted to try a nude vacation, compared to 31 percent of people expressing a similar desire a year before.

“Public officials are slowly realizing the benefits to tourism from nude beaches and are now creating official nude beaches such as Gunnison Beach in New Jersey (National Park Service), Haulover Beach in Florida (Miami-Dade County), and Rooster Rock in Oregon,” the association said.

In fact, Florida has many beaches that naturists want to have turned into designated clothing optional areas. According to the American Association of Nude Recreation, they are eager to see Key West’s Marathon Beach and beaches in Panama City have clothing optional areas, along with beaches in Coney Island, NY, Chesapeake Bay, DE, and Outer Banks, NC, among others.