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The naturist part of Arillas beach is to the north, found by turning right when you arrive on the beach. Keep walking until there is a rocky outcrop, where you must wade in about 3ft of water around the rock. Then you will find the lovely naturist end of Arillas beach. The large rock forms a good boundary and helps to stop casual textiles from wandering along. There is also a walkway over the dunes on top of the cliffs. Much easier than the wading route. From the end of the road behind the textile beach there's a little drive and a small car parking area. From here continue in the same direction (sea on your left) along a well-worn path up to about 60 feet above the beach. Look for the little signs saying "this way to the (sign of a sun) beach". At the second one, turn back on yourself to the left and descend carefully. When you get down to the beach you can hire sunbeds/umbrellas at €3 and €2 each. NO refreshments there, so take water.
2006: Beware of unstable cliffs, particularly just before the large rock. A Barefooter saw a large section crash down onto the beach one morning; fortunately the beach was in shadow and no-one was under it. In 2010 another Barefooter reported three large landslides that occurred overnight, falling where people had been sunbathing the previous day; people would have had been killed if the slides had happened during the day. Same in 2017 in some parts of the beach, but the naturist area was safe.
The last 200/300 yards of beach is naturist. You can get there in about 5 minutes from the end of the beach road, where you can also park your car. It might be easier to stay on the south side when the tides and winds are high. Or if the sea is a bit wild, get nude before you pass the outcrop (most visitors do this).
Early reports said the beach felt very safe and relaxing; there was a whole mixture of people around, families, singles and couples as this beach is quite long and overcrowding was not a problem. My correspondent had never heard of this beach in any other publication/web site as a naturist beach and was quite impressed with it. Unfortunately there were no beach facilities but with only a short walk back to the shops and tavernas at Arillas it was not too much of a problem. As this area is used by naturists only it was kept clean and tidy.
One early report described Arillas as probably the best beach on the island for both naturist and textiles, some facilities now becoming available.
Give yourself a mudbath! Take an empty water bottle. Cut off the top and take some seawater. Then dissolve some of the clay rocks for about 20 minutes and smear it all over your body. Let it dry and scrub it off. Then plunge into the sea. You will feel the difference on your skin.
There are now some sunbeds when you first get on the beach, but just walk past them to the north to get to the naturist part. The beach going away from you on the right-hand side, past the sun beds, is all naturist and even in the height of season there was plenty of room, with many naturist families and couples. This end of the beach seemed not to be pestered with gawping textiles.
The beach is larger than Mirtiotissa but lacking its character.
Some contributors thought that both the beach and the resort lacked real character but they chose it for its ease of access. The beach is long and quite narrow and the naturist part is about four or five minutes walk north from the jetty. The sand is quite firm and is OK to push a buggy along it - several other families also did this. The sea is shallow for quite a long way out and the sand is excellent sandcastle material. Lots of Germans and Greeks and a few British couples - all very friendly. The beach did get a little crowded at times but not too bad. Overall - quite a good beach, most suited to families with kids and probably a good first-timers' beach.
There is a similar but wider beach at the southern end. It's a very difficult path down cliffs. If approached by beach, it does cover around high tide. This part is quieter.
The last part of the village beach on the north has a small area between the rocks, not visible from the rest of the beach, where you can strip off.
Arillas village
There are good access roads to Arillas and ample tavernas/restaurants 1 km from the naturist section. Arillas itself is a very quiet village with some very good tavernas. There are ATM machines but they are private machines with not good exchange rates or they charge 3-4 Euros for their use, although several places will exchange currency at a rate that matches UK rates.
There is no public bus service other than one that leaves early morning and returns at night, primarily for the locals. You can book coach trips to various places on the island at booking offices in town. For example, Corfu town: leave 09.30 / return 16.30 / €10 return; Paleocastritsa: €15 return.
Car hire is available.
For those who do not enjoy lager there is a brewery just outside the village that produces acceptable real ale. You can have a tour of the facilities if you want. Lots of the local tavernas and supermarkets stock this beer and it is very popular with the 11,000 resident Brits.
2016 September: The north end of the beach was as last year, rather small and lots of large stones. The beds on the beach now seem to be a permanent feature. What sand there is is largely taken up by the 50-odd beds. Cost is €7 for 2 beds and a brolly.
The south beach has many signs saying “no nudists” and you have to go to the very far end. Apparently the locals have been upset by naturists who have been moving nearer and nearer to the main beach, and even in front of the tavernas. Hopefully naturists will begin to respect the locals and refrain from spreading out too far in full view of the passing public.
2017: More landslides in some parts of the beach, but the naturist area was safe. September Beach back to its full size after several years of being greatly reduced. Lots more sunbeds available, up to 60 sets of brolly and beds in use. Told in July and August even more were available. Still some area for those not wishing to use beds.
2018 Sept: Many happy days spent on the North Beach. Up to 50 sets of beds and brollies and a few more were put out on busy days. Ample space for those not wishing to use beds. Beach very clean and tidy. For those who have been here before there is no food/ drink available (although Christana, the bed lady, has been known to supply her customers with plums and home made apple pie). It's not far, less than a 10 minute walk, to wander back to the village and its supermarkets and tavernas, etc, if you need anything. Whilst it was nice to spend time in nudist company on the North Beach, the far south beach is quiet and chilled. Head past the textile beach and round the rocky headland to the far beach.
2019: Wonderful beach, easy access, sandy bottom (mid June). Park your vehicle at the end of the beach parking (to the right facing the sea) and walk the first division of the beach, pass the first group of umbrellas until the rock which divides the beach. After this rock the beach becomes nudist. You will see there about 20-25 umbrellas with naked bathers (2 women wore full bikinis) and after to the north the beach is free.
There were more than 40 nudists at the umbrellas and other 40 after that point, plus 1-2 topless women and a fully dressed couple. Women outnumbered men - more than 5-6 lonely women and 2 groups of naked women, seem to be local Greeks. Almost all naked bathers having promenades until the end of the beach. Dressed bathers also from the textile division having promenades. Sometimes a promenade like this is a great opportunity to join in nudism, as for a young couple who left their swimsuits in front of us. The distance between bathers at the beach was short and the atmosphere very nice and very safe for women.
May: A lot of women using the beach. Two Asian ladies offering massage on the beach. The swimming was fantastic.
2020 August: We visited this beach on Friday morning and then Saturday whole day, Sunday morning. The beach is in the shade till about 10 a.m. … and till noon it's possible to find some places that are still shaded. There were usually 20 - 30 naturists spread on a really long beach, mainly older couples, the average age being definitely over 50. Mainly locals, we and on Friday some German families were the exception. On Saturday afternoon a big group of textile youths came through the whole beach and occupied its northern end. Overall very quiet. The sea is shallow, but not that much as at Ag. Stefanos. There was a guy preparing the mud bath in his buckets and applying it to other people.
The booth offering the sunbeds was not operating this year and it seems that maybe even last year. Corfu beer is very nice…
Although this beach is much better than Ag. Stefanos, should I ever go to Corfu again I would try a different beach. Or skip Corfu completely and go to Pefkoulia on Lefkada.
October Went in the last week of October. Place very empty because of Covid and being the end of the season. Weather was good 23 most days, sea warm (23 too). Bodysurfing in the waves was fantastic. Other beach users appeared to be locals: 4 men and 2 women. The odd holiday maker turned up. The local convention is to spread out along the beach and give each other privacy.
2022 September: Arillas north beach is still alive and well. 100% naturist. Beach varied in size during our two weeks due to winds etc. Lots of stones this year. Some went to the far south beach end where naturists ae welcome, but no beds. With up to 100+ beds at times and as few as 20, and some on the stones there were beds for all, no matter what. A limited space for those who prefer not to use a bed, so up to about 20 naturists a day used the bay prior to the far end. The area prone to mud/rock slides. Not something I would do, after one afternoon when we were on the far north end beach and there was an almighty bang and a huge cloud of dust as some 10 unauthorised sunbeds were buried under tons of rubble. Fortunately nobody was on them at the time.
2023 September: The North Beach was inaccessible due to high tides, unless you went via the footpath and approached it from the rear. This has been the situation all of this all season.
If you were hardy enough (some say foolhardy enough) to go via the footpath, when you get there is no sand only large stones. No sand in the sea, only stones. We used the South beach and even though there was less sand than normal, there was plenty of room for everybody. No stones in the sea. No beds on this beach.
There was a little discontent as some naturists were spreading out as far the Gratsella area of the beach. Please respect those are offended by naturism
2024 Sept: Due to storms the North beach was inaccessible safely by sea for 4 days. You can use the foot path over the top, which at our ages is a hard going, but possible with care.
The beach was rather small if you did manage to get there due to high tides. Sun beds were still available. The South beach was accessible, but again the beach was reduced in size. Due to disregard by the few, there are a number of ‘’No Nudism’’ signs on display.
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