Domaine naturiste du Jas du Sarraire

Small association-run naturist site in the hinterland of Aix-en-Provence, on the road between Saint-Paul-lez-Durance and the Mirabeau bridge: about 30 private hectares in a wooded valley between limestone cliffs and Mediterranean scrub, opened in 1967 and now run by the volunteers of the association Les Amis du Domaine du Jas du Sarraire, affiliated to the French Naturist Federation. The campsite is pared down to the essentials: a handful of pitches with electricity for tents, caravans or motorhomes, a caravan for two people to rent and a simple washroom block with hot showers. A five-to-ten-minute walk takes you down to the pool, open from mid-June to mid-September, and around it start some ten kilometres of waymarked trails to walk naked, including a botanical trail; in summer the association also organises introductory naked hiking outings. You can also come just for the day, for the pool and the trails. To get in you need an FFN licence or the daily federation ticket, which you pay on site together with the entrance fee. Pets are accepted and children pay reduced rates, but there are no facilities designed for them. Those who have stayed describe a silent place where all you hear are the birds, with a welcoming caretaker and volunteers and an atmosphere of simple naturism; some, though, found it too basic. The access road is not easy, and because of the fire risk smoking is forbidden outside the designated area near reception.