Nude Beaches

Lake Tahoe

South Whale Beach

Rating: C

South Whale is a naturist's sanctuary -- the place where you may be able to be naked and alone. To find the beach, continue on the trail from North Whale Beach until you reach the end of the path. The quick and easy walk terminates at the top of South Whale Beach, which can be reached by stepping down some small rocks from there onto the sand.

 

Legal status:

Part of Toiyabe National Forest.

 

How to find it:Read more »

North Whale Beach

Rating: C

If you look offshore you may see the rocks that resemble the head of a whale that give this spot its name. North Whale Beach and South Whale Beach are Tahoe's most remote -- and private -- nude enclaves. Not many people visit North Whale because of the long hike that getting here entails. To reach it, you'll need to take a trail from the lake's other clothing-optional beaches. Bring a towel, a book, and sunscreen to enjoy the serenity of this secluded section of shore.

 

Legal status:Read more »

Secret Harbor Creek Beach

Rating: A

Whether you want to take part in the beach's 30th annual "only wear a hat day" August 21, a naked potluck next July, or a beach cleanup in June, or you just want to kick back and relax by yourself, beautiful Secret Harbor Creek Beach is the one nude beach in Tahoe you should visit if you don't have time to try any others.

There are also nude volleyball games, Paddle Ball without pants, and up to three nude barbecues a year at the site, which is called Creek Beach by some visitors.Read more »

Boaters Beach

Rating: B

Watercraft users like to haul their boats up on the sand of Boater's Beach, but after they leave, nudists frequently show up on its picturesque shore.

"Even if there are families there, you'll often see nudists walking on the trails above the beach," says visitor Steve Williams. When the lake is choppy, boaters usually depart, leaving the site free for naturists to appear. "There will instantly be a half dozen naked people," says TAN's North Swanson.

 

Legal status:

Part of Toiyabe National Forest.Read more »

Secret Cove

Rating: A

One of the "nudest" of the Tahoe nude beaches is also the one with the least sand this year.

Except for a ledge that visitors have built by scooping up buckets of wet sand from the lake's edge and dumping them onto the shore, Secret Cove "doesn't have any sand," reports North Swanson, of the Tahoe Area Naturists (TAN).Read more »

Chimney Cove

Rating: C

More often than not, Chimney is frequented by suited families. But it's occasionally visited by skinny-dippers too. "When other people are not around, it's sometimes used by teens and twenty-somethings who go nude during the week," tells a regular visitor.Read more »

Hidden Beach

Rating: B

Hidden Beach, near Sand Harbor, is the first in a string of clothing-optional shorelines on Lake Tahoe in an area just south of Incline Village. The little cove is located around a half mile south of Incline.

Drenched by huge amounts of rain and snow in the winter and spring, and even two snowfalls in June, the lake's water level was still rising in early summer, resulting in smaller beaches than usual.Read more »