Austria naturist beaches

The Donauinsel is the 21 km artificial island between the Danube and the Neue Donau flood channel in Vienna, and the city's biggest free bathing area. Naturists have used these floodplains since before the island was built. Today about eight kilometres of its banks are set aside for nude bathing, in two separate zones. The larger and better-equipped zone is in the south, on the Neue Donau side between river kilometres 2.1 and 5.1, plus the left-bank flood dam opposite. It has wide lawns, trees for shade, small gravel beaches, steps into the water, snack stands and toilets. The northern zone, between kilometres 17.7 and 19.5, is wilder and has no facilities. Markings on the path show where each zone begins and ends. Nudity is allowed inside them but not required. The Neue Donau is a calm channel, and swimmers enter from steps or small beaches. The southern zone draws a wide mix of Viennese, including many older regulars. In 2024 a district councillor complained that the slippery water steps and reduced mown lawns showed the FKK area was being neglected compared with the rest of the island.

The northern nude-bathing zone of the Donauinsel, the 21 km artificial island between the Danube and the Neue Donau, lies in Vienna's Floridsdorf district between river kilometres 17.7 and 19.5, toward the island's quieter northern end beyond the Jedleseer Brücke. Together with the larger southern zone (km 2.1 to 5.1), it makes the Donauinsel Vienna's biggest area for nude bathing, and markings on the ground show where each zone begins and ends. The northern section is a long strip of meadows, trees and gently shelving banks along the calm Neue Donau, with small bays where you can step into the water. Compared with the south, it has far less infrastructure: there are few or no food stands or toilets nearby, so it suits people looking for space and quiet rather than services. Nude and clothed visitors share the wider island, so stay within the marked section. Cycling is the easiest way to get there, as the zone is a long way from the nearest stations along the island's paved paths.

The Millstätter See is a long, deep alpine lake in Upper Carinthia, and its one long-standing naturist bathing area is at Pesenthein, on the north shore east of Millstatt town. Here a combined naturist and textile campsite runs a lakeside Strandbad that is split into a clothed part and a separate FKK part; the naturist section was added around 2000. The site covers about 15,000 square metres along the shore. The beach itself is narrow but well kept, with a sandy mound for children in the nude section, and the water is clear (the operator describes it as drinking-water quality) and reaches roughly 20-25 °C in high summer. Visitors are a mix of local families and campers. The main drawback reported by visitors is the lakeside main road that runs directly behind the bathing area, which makes it noisy. A snack bar serves the textile side. Beyond Pesenthein, naturists report informal nude bathing in quieter coves on the wooded, less built-up south shore of the lake, and from boats, but these spots are unofficial.

The Dechantlacke is a small, Danube-fed backwater lake hidden in the floodplain forest of the Obere Lobau, in Vienna's 22nd district (Donaustadt), inside the Vienna section of the Donau-Auen National Park. To protect the park's plants and wildlife, swimming in the Obere Lobau is allowed only at a few designated spots, and the Dechantlacke is one of them, alongside the Panozzalacke. The lake has a small island that is especially popular with nude bathers, and Vienna media have long listed it among the city's natural nude-bathing spots. It is not a formally designated FKK zone: sources differ on the mix, with some saying most visitors are nude and others stressing that nobody minds swimwear. There is no entry fee, no lifeguard and almost no infrastructure, just trees, small clearings and the water. The lake bottom is silty, with submerged branches, so water shoes help. The city tests the water quality of its natural bathing spots several times each summer. It is quiet out of season and busiest on hot summer weekends.

The FKK-Strandbad in Hard is a dedicated nudist lido on the Austrian shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee), set in the Rhine delta nature reserve on the edge of Hard, near Bregenz in Vorarlberg. It is run by the municipal sports and leisure company and covers more than 40,000 m², about half of it lawns for sunbathing beside the lake. Unlike the free nude beaches common in Germany, this is a fenced, staffed bathing area with paid admission and set opening hours, and it closes in winter. Facilities include a restaurant, barbecue areas, a playground, beach volleyball, table tennis and boccia, which makes it popular with families as well as couples. The lake water is fresh and warms up best in July and August. Hard has had this official FKK bathing area for many years, while neighbouring Bregenz has debated formalising its own informal nude-bathing spot at Mehrerau.

Fuschlsee is a 4 km long, deep and very clear lake in the Salzkammergut, about 20 km east of Salzburg, between Hof bei Salzburg at its western end and Fuschl am See at its eastern end. Much of its shore is protected nature reserve with wooded, steep banks, so bathing is concentrated at a handful of places. The Salzburg state government's map of bathing sites lists five on this lake besides the two lidos at Hof and Fuschl: Badeplatz Stöllinger, Badestrand Schlick, Badestrand Wesenauer and a dedicated FKK Badestrand, numbered 58, on the north shore. Unlike the paid lidos, the FKK beach is free to use. It is a natural lakeside spot rather than a developed lido, with no ticket office or kiosk reported, and the lake water is very clear and reaches about 22 °C in a warm summer. Because the shore is steep and protected, finding a place can take some effort, and space is limited on hot weekends. The two EU-monitored lidos have rated the water good to excellent.

Keutschacher See is a warm, lowland lake in the wooded hills south-west of Klagenfurt in Carinthia, part of the Fünf-Seen-Land around Keutschach. Its south shore is unusual: three naturist campgrounds sit side by side directly on the water, together offering room for more than 3000 guests, which is why the area is often called one of the largest naturist complexes on any European lake. The Kärntner Lichtbund's Turkwiese is a members' club site, while Müllerhof and Sabotnik/Kaufitsch are commercial FKK campgrounds with mobile homes, apartments and a pension; Müllerhof advertises three bathing beaches backed by pine woods. The nude areas are the campgrounds' own lawns, small beaches and jetties, not a public beach, so access goes through the sites. The water warms well in summer and the lake is shallow at its edges. All three sites open roughly from May to September.

Lake Pressegger See is a nudist-friendly beach in Austria. Nudity is optional.

Lake with designated nudist area.

Pleschinger See is a bathing lake at the north-eastern edge of Linz, technically just inside the neighbouring town of Steyregg, which is why it is often mistaken for part of Linz. It is one of the city's Linz AG bathing lakes, set in a green recreation area of about 20 hectares with roughly 13 hectares of water up to 8 metres deep. A fenced-off FKK (nude bathing) area has existed at the lake since 29 May 1982 and today takes in the south shore, reached by a shoreline path. The rest of the lake is for clothed bathing, and the bus terminus sits conveniently between the two zones. Entry is free. The surroundings are lawns and trees, with snack stands, showers and children's play areas around the lake, and its location makes it one of the most popular nude bathing spots for people from Linz. Dogs are not allowed at the lake during the bathing season. Expect it to be busy on hot summer weekends.

Gänsehäufel is Vienna's largest open-air lido, occupying a wooded island of about 33 hectares in the Alte Donau in the Donaustadt district. Run by the city since it opened in 1907, it has about 1.2 km of natural sandy shoreline, big lawns with some 2,000 trees, three heated pools including a large wave pool, play areas, snack bars and rows of tiny rented beach cabins. The FKK area is a separate section in the southern part of the island, where only nude bathing is allowed and photography is prohibited. It has its own stretch of shore on the Alte Donau, lawns and tree shade, and it is known as the calmest part of the lido, with a loyal following of regulars. The water of the Alte Donau is calm and warm in summer, and lifeguards watch over the lido.

The Weikerlsee is a pair of groundwater lakes in Pichling in the south-east of Linz, formed around 1940 and next to the solarCity housing district. Only the Kleiner Weikerlsee is open for bathing; swimming in the larger lake is banned for nature conservation, and only walking is allowed there. On the small lake, Linz Tourismus places the textile beach in the southern part and the FKK area to the north. The Land Oberösterreich lists the FKK section as a monitored bathing site, with a flat gravel entry into the water marked off by a steel railing. The lake was enlarged in 2000 when solarCity was built, and a 69-metre foot and cycle bridge crosses its narrowest point. There are lawns for sunbathing, playgrounds and a beach bar on the textile side. Entry is free, and dogs are not allowed.