Zlaté Piesky nudist beach in Bratislava: Milan Bez Mapy’s honest review

For me, the nudist beach at Zlaté Piesky is the easiest one to reach in Bratislava: it’s a quick trip from the city centre by public transport or by car. I like the clean water, the island and the pebble beach, and in summer the water is pleasantly warm. Just don’t leave anything valuable in your car.

Quick factsby Milan Bez Mapy

Getting there

Bus 53 from Trnavské mýto to the Dvojstudňové polia request stop (formerly KON-RAD); not the tram, which ends on the other side of the lake

Parking

Put Lost Weekend Bufet into your satnav; there’s a large car park next to it and the beach is 3 minutes’ walk away

Beach

Smooth, rounded pebbles and a gentle slope into the water; the sun shines here from 10am until sunset

Island

185 metres from the nudist beach; I swam there in about 5 minutes; the lake is up to 11 metres deep

Watch out for

Homeless people on the way from the bus or tram; keep an eye on your things and leave nothing in the car

Toilets and food

None on the nudist beach; the nearest option is the snack bar by the car park, with Kofola and sometimes langoš

Zlaté Piesky nudist beach. Who hasn’t heard of it? When I published my tips on the best nudist beaches in Slovakia, I was pleasantly surprised by how much interest they got. I had no idea my readers were quite so keen on swimming and sunbathing naked.

Swimming at Zlaté Piesky nudist beach: Milan Bez Mapy’s honest review

I decided to write a series of reviews of individual nudist beaches near where I live. Today I’m starting with the most popular one in Slovakia, best known simply as Zlaté Piesky nudist beach. The lake is one of Bratislava’s favourites and well worth a visit, whatever the weather. Really. I’ve been for a walk here in winter, too, and saw a few polar bears swimming. I mean winter swimmers, of course. Not even the water temperature in January put them off.

You can also rent a cabin here, or hire a boat or a pedalo. In summer there’s often a disco on the opposite side of the lake. This is my review of the nudist beach at Zlaté Piesky.

Zlaté Piesky nudist beach review

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The lake at Zlaté Piesky and a visit to the nudist beach

1. How to get to Zlaté Piesky nudist beach by city bus or by car, where to park and whether parking is free.
2. Whether there’s an entrance fee for the nudist beach.
3. What the beaches at Zlaté Piesky are like: sloping or flat, sandy, pebbly or dusty. What the way into the water and the places to lie down are like.
4. How clean and warm the water at Zlaté Piesky is, and whether you can swim to the island.
5. Where the sun shines from, and for how long.
6. How busy the nudist beach at Zlaté Piesky gets: how many people come, when, and what kind of people. When is the best time to go?
7. What facilities there are: music, a snack bar, food or camping.
8. Is it safe, and where will you come across homeless people?

Zlaté Piesky nudist beach and skinny-dipping

How to get to Zlaté Piesky nudist beach by car, bus or tram, and where to park for free

The worst way to get here is by tram. Tram 4 does terminate at Zlaté Piesky, but the nudist beach is on the opposite side of the lake. You’d have to walk all the way round, which means 20 minutes less skinny-dipping. Personally, I’d recommend bus 53, which starts at Trnavské mýto. Get off at Dvojstudňové polia (formerly KON-RAD), a request stop. From there it’s only a few minutes’ walk to the nudist beach. On the way back into town, bear in mind that the stop in the opposite direction is called Tuhovská. Definitely not the tram, though: you’ll wear your feet out, like I did.

Where to park for free at Zlaté Piesky, and is there an entrance fee?

The car park is a short way from the bus stop. Put Lost Weekend Bufet into your satnav: there’s a large car park right next to it, and parking there is still free. You have to pay to park at the main Zlaté Piesky complex: in 2024 it was €5 for the whole day. The car park isn’t tarmacked, so on hot summer days your car will get a proper coat of dust. Still, it’s free. You can also park right by the beach, but the track there is a proper rally course, and in a car with low ground clearance I wouldn’t risk it.

Park by the snack bar, walk three minutes along the water and you’re at the nudist beach. As with the parking, there’s no entrance fee for the nudist beach. There’s no fence and you can get to the lake at any time of day or night. In summer you could even try a night swim once you’ve had enough of the noisy disco on the other side.

Pebble and sandy beaches at Zlaté Piesky: where to lie down, skinny-dipping and getting into the water

As far as the nudist section goes, I like the beaches here because they’re pebbly. A sandy beach would be better, of course, and there is one on the other side, but swimwear is compulsory there. On the side of the lake where swimming naked is allowed, the beaches are made of smooth, rounded pebbles. That’s a real plus, because at Čunovo, for example, the beaches are mostly dust, and you’ll never get it out of your towel, however hard you wash it.

Lying on these pebbles is quite comfortable, but they have one drawback: on cooler days they lose their warmth fast and feel cold. If someone shipped in some sand, this would probably be the best nudist beach in Bratislava. The water gets deeper very gently and gradually here, which non-swimmers will appreciate too. If you plan to get to the island, though, you’ll have no choice but to swim.

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Water quality and temperature at Zlaté Piesky, and when the beach gets the sun

Almost all of Bratislava’s swimming lakes are clean. We have one of the largest reserves of clean drinking water in Europe here. There’s no swimming ban at Zlaté Piesky, and the lake isn’t in a protection zone. You’ll also often see lots of anglers here, who come to enjoy fishing and camping out in tents on the beach.

Sometimes there are so many of them that they end up among the nudists, which makes for a comical sight: an angler in camouflage gear fishing, and right next to him, sunbathing, a woman he was at primary school with. The water temperature in the lake at Zlaté Piesky depends on the season. On summer days the water is pleasantly warm. The beach faces south-west, so the sun shines along its whole length from 10am until it sets. Further from the shore the water can be colder, because it’s deeper.

The island at Zlaté Piesky and the plane that crashed into the lake

Roughly in the middle of the lake at Zlaté Piesky there’s a fairly large island, and the only way to reach it is to swim. I gave it a go. When the weather is good and there’s no wind, it takes about five minutes each way from the nudist beach. The distance is exactly 185 metres: I measured it myself.

How deep is the lake at Zlaté Piesky?

At its deepest point, the lake at Zlaté Piesky is about 11 metres deep. That’s quite deep, so I certainly wouldn’t overestimate my swimming. I’d only swim further out with someone else, or take something to hold on to in case I got cramp. Even 11 metres is no joke.

There are certainly engine parts lying on the bottom of the lake, too. On 28 July 1976 a plane from Prague crashed into the lake after failing to land at Bratislava airport, which is just round the corner. You can read more about ČSA Flight 001 on Wikipedia.

Swimming in the lake at Zlaté Piesky

To track my swim I used a waterproof smartwatch, the Xiaomi Amazfit GTS, and synced the data to the Strava app. There’s nothing on the island except a small wood, but if lying around naked starts to bore you, swim over. It’s a good spot for watching the boats and whatever else is happening on the lake. If you have a waterproof dry bag, you can even set up a little camp among the trees on the island. I quite like the Vango Dry bag, which costs only €15. Dry bags came in really handy when I went kayaking in Thailand: food stays dry inside, and so does your phone.

When to go to Zlaté Piesky nudist beach, who goes there, where to eat and where the toilets are

Zlaté Piesky is also known for its campsite and cabins, but they’re further away from the nudist beach. There are no snack bars on the nudist beach itself, but if you’re hungry, just walk over to the snack bar by the car park I mentioned. It isn’t far. They have Kofola (the Czechoslovak cola) and, if you’re lucky, langoš, a deep-fried flatbread. I haven’t been to Zlaté Piesky many times, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people come to the nudist beach. Even so, you can still find some privacy unless it’s packed. Reeds separate the individual stretches of beach.

All ages, women and men. You really can’t generalise. One drawback of the nudist beach is that there are no toilets. If you need the loo, you have to walk to the snack bars, which can feel a long way off when the ladies need to pee.

Is Zlaté Piesky nudist beach safe? Litter and homeless people

During the day I felt safe here, but I’ve never been at night. What shocked me was the amount of litter along the road to the nudist beach. On the other hand, Zlaté Piesky is the only nudist beach where I’ve seen bins that are emptied regularly. I think the nudists use them properly, too, so I can’t work out who’s scattering all that rubbish on the other side of the road.

The second problem is the homeless people at Zlaté Piesky. I didn’t see any on the beach itself, but there are plenty of them on the way from the bus or tram. And they’re mostly the kind you’d rather not meet: not the polite sort of homeless people, but drunk, antisocial types. I don’t know why so many of them gather here, but definitely keep an eye on your belongings and don’t leave anything in your car. Maybe that’s exactly why they come here.

What’s great about the nudist beach at Zlaté Piesky is that it’s very quick to reach from the city centre, you can park for free and the water temperature is pleasant in summer. Clean water, an island and a pebble beach: that combination means I’ll definitely be back.

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