Fiona Laughton spends a day at Berlin’s newest spa…

As a native Australian, my exposure to public nudity has been limited to the occasional backyard sunbake—which probably lasted about 15 minutes before I turned a rather un-Australian shade of red (shout out to my Irish heritage).

Despite the casual, easygoing nature of the Aussies, our attitude to public nudity is often quasi-British in its prudishness, bolstered by the harshness of those Down Under UV rays. In fact, there’s only a handful of beaches out of ten thousand where nudism is even permitted.

My first experience of Freikörperkultur (known as FKK and translated as Free Body Culture) came in 2013 when I migrated to Germany and attended a music festival where – as with the gym and public pools – showering naked in groups was apparently de rigeur. Luckily the facilities at this particular music festival ranked high in the cleanliness stakes, but unexpectedly having to shower alongside around 30 other naked people was quite the shocker.

Freikörperkultur (FKK) has its origins in the Wandervogel movement, a youth movement that since 1901 has advocated quite a ‘slow travel’ philosophy, dedicated to “shaking off the restrictions of society and getting back to nature and freedom”. The movement was an immediate hit with spirited young Germans intent on exploring nature “like wandering birds”, completely at ease with their nudity.

As I witnessed at the music festival, the nudist culture remains fairly pervasive even in big cities, hence the latest day spa to be constructed in Berlin, Vabali, is decidedly textile-frei, which means swimming costumes are strictly verboten in all wet areas such as the swimming pools and saunas.  

Upon arrival, I check my clothes into my locker, wrap myself in a robe, grab my darkest pair of sunglasses and a book and make a beeline for the bar. It’s not even 11:00am and my friends and I kick things off with a Hugo, a delicious spritz hailing from Austria featuring Elderflower cordial, prosecco, sparkling water, mint and lime. It’s Vabali’s signature cocktail and a spa that isn’t pretentious about serving alcohol before noon is exactly the kind of place I need in my life.

The entire resort – a sprawling 20,000 square metres – is the biggest therme in the whole of Berlin and Brandenbu…