Top Destinations for the Clothing-Impaired

Nude Beach. The very mention of these two words often arouses feelings of titillation, embarrassment, outrage or even a combination of the three. For the thousands of people involved in the naturist movement worldwide, however, the idea of a nude beach seems, well, natural. After all, we all come into this world wearing only our birthday suits.

Nude and topless beaches first became popular along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of France in the 1950s. Since then, several beaches from Crete to the Caribbean have become "clothing optional." Click below for a list of some of the best stretches of sand where beach lovers can shed their skivvies and perfect that all-over tan. [Melanie Mize names best nude beaches - see below]

[FROM REUTERS] -- While much of the travel industry is fighting through a bad economy, naked recreation and travel is a $400 million industry worldwide, up from $120 million in 1992, according to the American Association for Nude Recreation.

The AANR, North America's oldest and largest nudist association, has seen its membership rise by 75 percent in the last decade, to about 50,000. Thirty new nudist or clothing-optional clubs have opened in the United States and Canada in the last two years, the association said. [AANR]