Today's finishing town: Village Naturiste Cap d'Agde has a large family-style naturist resort with about 40,000 visitors on a daily basis during high season (=around 250-350,000 during the whole season) The Village Naturiste is a large fenced-off part at the north-eastern edge of Cap d'Agde, although it is accessible along the public beach from the east. It is a self-contained town (although sometimes referred to as the "Naked City"), where nudity is legal and common in the whole resort, including its restaurants and shops, day or night. In the evening, when it gets colder, more people are dressed, sometimes in revealing clothes. A local tourist tax is charged per person, per day. The Naturist Village is a town by itself, with a 2 km (1 mi) beach, a large marina, 2,500 pitches campsite, apartment complexes, hotel, shops, restaurants, night clubs, bars, post office, bank and ATMs, laundrettes, hairdressers & other facilities. It all sums up to about 180 businesses related to it. One can potentially spend an entire vacation without leaving the area. A history of naturism at Cap d'Agde The land adjoining the long sandy beach at Cap d'Agde was owned for many years by the Oltra family who farmed the olive groves behind the sand dunes adjoining the beach. After the Second World War the brothers Oltra noticed that people were coming in increasing numbers to camp on their land, and that many of these people liked to bathe and to sunbathe nude. The Oltra brothers began to formalise arrangements for campers on their land, and this subsequently led to the creation of the Oltra Club which is a caravanning and camping resort. The camp grew increasingly popular, especially with young families. German and Dutch tourists were particularly numerous. In the early 1970s the government of Georges Pompidou drew up plans for the development of the Languedoc-Roussillon coastline to include plans for a naturist resort at Cap d'Agde. In 1973 the beach was officially designated as a naturist beach. Regulations for the new resort were also promulgated. The Naturist Village would be a place where voyeurs and exhibitionists would not be welcome. Early developments The Naturist Village became a controlled zone during the season with regulated access. Everyone entering was informed of the regulations and required to comply with them. The present position The Naturist Village has rules requiring nudity as the norm, which ban photography, the wearing of provocative clothing and the display of indecent items. There are clubs and smaller venues including shops and bars. The nightlife centres on clubs and venues. On 23 November 2008 the British newspaper The Sunday Times suggested fires at swingers' clubs were the work of 'nudist mullahs' or fundamentalist nudists with a grudge against the echangistes or libertines. In 2009, Rene Oltra, the company which bears the name of the original promoter of the resort, required visitors to its campsite and villas and flats which it lets to belong to a naturist organisation.
