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Guide,  Review

Review: Haulover Clothing Optional Beach

If you’ve been a naturist in America for a number of years, you’re probably aware of some of the most popular nude beaches. Notable ones include Gunnison Beach (NJ), Black’s Beach (CA), Blind Creek Beach (FL), Little Beach (HI), Collins Beach (OR), and Moshup Beach (MA). One of the most well known nude beach destinations is Haulover Clothing Optional Beach in Miami. This is the northern 0.4 mile section of Haulover where you can shed your clothing and enjoy this wonderful beach naturally. Parking is just across the street and rates are reasonable. This is also a family friendly beach unlike Gunnison and some other locations. In September 2022, I visited this famous seaside spot. Here are my thoughts on this landmark of American naturism.

Sign in parking lot indicating how to pay.

I was traveling around Florida and there was one must see attraction for me: Haulover Beach! Millions of people visit this Miami shoreline every year and I wanted to be one of them. The white sand paired with the beautiful view of the Atlantic make for a relaxing experience. The beach lies along Collins Ave (Florida State Rd A1A) which is where you’ll find luxury condo towers like The Ritz Carlton Residences, Turnberry, and Oceania. The parking lot that is directly across from the nude section of the beach is at 15548 Collins Ave in front of the Haulover Marine Center. There is plenty of parking. The beach opens at 8AM. You cannot pay for parking until then. I went on a weekday morning right after it opened. It cost $6.27 for the whole day! I think that’s a great deal. For comparison, it costs $15 per day during peak season at Gunnison Beach. As indicated in the picture above, you pay via the PayByPhone app on your smartphone. The app is available on both Android and Apple. You just enter in your information and add a credit or debit card to use for payment. You will need to turn on your location so the app can see you are at that parking lot. As long as you are within the posted hours of the beach, you will be able to pay. There is a parking lot patrol that checks each vehicle to make sure they have paid. When you enter in your information into the app, you must list your license plate number. This is how your payment is checked on the ground. The app will ask you for your location code. The code for Haulover Nude Beach parking is 46253.

Once you pay and get your beach items together, you’ll head through the #5 pedestrian tunnel which goes underneath Collins Ave. After you pass through, you’ll pass the restrooms which are in an oval shaped building. From there, walk across the paved walkway slightly to the right. Go down that path. The next thing you’ll see are the beach showers to your left. From there, just walk onto the beach. At this point, you are allowed to disrobe.

You’ll notice lifeguard stands, short wooden fences, and posted signs. There are different sections of Haulover Beach. The section past the wooden fence to your left is the part that goes in front of the luxury towers. That is a regular clothed beach. The area directly in front of the tunnel is the clothing optional part. After the fence to the right, you get to the main clothed section of the beach. The clothing optional section is open to all ages. This part of the beach lies between lifeguard stands #12 and #16. On most days, there is a snack stand. You can also rent a chair for $10 and an umbrella for $15.

Upon first setting foot on the beach, I was impressed by the length of the nude area. There is quite a bit of room. Since I was there just after open, there were only 15 or so other visitors there. I got there early so I could take pictures and record a short episode for my documentary series. The landscape and ocean views are great. As you can see in the photo of me on the left, the beach is next to the luxury tower buildings. The thought had crossed my mind of what the residents think of living within view of a nudist beach. I’m sure a lot of them have been living there for years and are used to seeing nude people from a short distance. Some of them probably go to the nude section. You’ll also notice the lifeguard stand. There are three groups who patrol the beach area: lifeguards, police, and Beach Ambassadors. The latter group are volunteers with South Florida Free Beaches. They can be identified as those wearing a teal colored safari hat with the S.F.F.B. logo and an ID. They talk to visitors and give them information about Haulover and acceptable behavior there.

Haulover is different from some other nude beaches in that it is right off of a busy road. There are all kinds of towers as well nearby stores and restaurants. As you can see in the photo on the right, there is dense foliage which blocks viewing the beach from the street. This beach has everything you need with close parking, chairs and umbrellas for rent, snacks close by, showers, bathrooms, and lifeguards. In my opinion, the best thing about Haulover is that it is family friendly. That’s so important for the future survival of the American naturist movement. Adults need to have a beach like this where they can bring their kids. The younger generation can go here and see how positive and comfortable the naturist lifestyle is. Over a million people visit this beach every year and that includes those from all kinds of backgrounds. Even folks from other countries make it a point to visit here. Haulover’s great reputation is well earned. I give this beach an A+ rating!

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