I agree, it's not ideal. And perhaps is something of a trend... 🙁

Until a couple of years ago Camping Politin, on the outskirts of Krk town, was a lovely naturist site. Unfortunately, since then it has been renamed Camping Krk and gone completely textile. There is a small token naturist beach that's been refurbished a short walk from the main site.

http://www.camping-adriatic.com/camping-krk-politin

http://www.camping-adriatic.com/camping-krk-politin/beach

Sorry to hear about Valalta though - over the years it has won many awards for the quality of its facilities (in competition with mostly other textile sites). It has been something of a naturist beacon in Croatia.

Thanks, in any case for sharing the news, as unwelcome as it is.

Mike

I really wanted to visit Politin. Still have the details in an oldish naturist brochure issued by the Croatian tourist office. It went textile before we had the chance.

Valalta is special and it is galling to say the very least. If Koversada goes part textile, then you will know something is really rotten in the state of Denmark!

When we passed Amarin which was Monsena on the boat trip a couple of years after it turned textile, it seemed very quiet. There is no shortage of textile sites around Rovinj and Istria, which makes this decision all the more annoying. And the atmosphere is never the same....

I agree, and on the face of it, somewhat surprising.

Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about Monsena - another big loss to naturism.

We stayed on the island of Krk in July a few years ago and all three naturist resorts - Politin, Konobe and Bunculuka - were rammed when we visited each of them for the day. Bunculuka and Politin especially.

So difficult to know what is behind these changes?

Mike

I really have no idea sunchaser. I could understand if there was a loss of business. All I can say is, from observations over ten years, and despite of course many more naturist resorts opened up elsewhere, Croatia's share of the business and especially during the euro's peccadillos, seemed to be thriving. Our northern European friends have always liked it of course, and have stayed very faithful to the Istrian region.

🙁

This would be a shame. y first naturist experience was at Monsena which ithought was great. Be sad to see Valalta go the same way.

This brings back bad memories to me.
A couple of years ago we lost the naturist camping site with a very similar name, Villata, in Corsica; it has since then been turned, as its website explains into a "camping textile avec plage naturiste".
I am not sure about the concept of a textile site next to a naturist beach: it this the current trend?
I also notice that, in the case of Villata in Corsica, they still use the word "textile" to describe the site: surely, this is a word that only makes sense to naturists? Do the general public understand it?

This brings back bad memories to me.
A couple of years ago we lost the naturist camping site with a very similar name, Villata, in Corsica; it has since then been turned, as its website explains into a "camping textile avec plage naturiste".
I am not sure about the concept of a textile site next to a naturist beach: it this the current trend?
I also notice that, in the case of Villata in Corsica, they still use the word "textile" to describe the site: surely, this is a word that only makes sense to naturists? Do the general public understand it?

At risk of going slightly off topic- 

Like you Jacques, we feel the loss of naturism at Villata campsite was very sad.

Sue and I are fortunate to have been on many wonderful naturist holidays. But camping at Villata in 1980 was definitely one of our most memorable and enjoyable. We took our tent and camping gear on the plane from the UK. We thought the site was like a rare jewel. It was June and we lay on the beach, or sat outside our tent, taking in the mountain vista topped with lots of snow. And at the same time the warm Mediterranean sea sparkled invitingly just in front of us. The flora and fauna, the huge colourful butterflies - I could go on and on...

There was a delightful natural seawater pool, carved out of the rocks - at dawn and at dusk, it was a special place to contemplate and soak up the ambiance.

We made some good friends there and to our astonishment, one half of a couple we met worked for the same corporation as me (but in a different division)! We also met a British family who flew themselves there every year from the UK, taking their camping gear on board their own aircraft!

A fifteen minute drive inland and we found ourselves skinny-dipping in the clearest and freshest river water ever. Gurgling down the rocks smoothed by the water's action over thousands of years - splashing, jumping and lazing in the sun like lizards, and in great company - it felt like paradise.

Sue and I returned to Villata for the day in 2006, and it brought all the fond memories flooding back. Happy days... Sad it is no longer naturist apart from the beach (and I think it's only half, the remainder being textile).

Oh, and on the subject of the word 'textile' - we have seen the word quite widely used in Spain (Textil) and in Germany to indicate swimsuits are required on the beach.

Mike

Many thanks for sharing your memories sunchaser and Jacques. It sounded like paradise.

I can sound annoyed because the fact is that there are many more places and resorts for textiles to go than there are for naturists. Now, maybe, Villata had to chase a wider market, I don't know, not having been there. You can judge as to whether it needed to. However, there was certainly no need in my view for Valalta to do so, when one factors in the turning over of Monsena up the road to a textile market. And the unique ambience of like minded people is lost with textile attached, and never mind as to whether they are over a fence. It still applies in my view.

Actually, on our last visit in 2013, we saw them digging out extra plots and I papped some diggers. It never occurred to me that they could be for anything other than extending the existing resort.

Please excuse me, Brigitte, for "hijacking" your thread about Valalta.
I just let myself be carried away by the closeness of the two names (Valalta and Villata), as your thread brought back to me all the bitterness at seeing the place in Corsica go.
And, after all, there are some (unfortunately) similarities about the two stories.

There is never any need for you to apologise Jacques! It did sound a wonderful place. Very sad.

I have just been in touch with a friend who spends the whole of Summer in naturists places in Central and Eastern Europe - mostly on the the shores of Lake Balaton in Hunbary (sorry, I have not checked if this is how you name it in English; the Germans call it Plattensee), but also in Croatia.
He says that he is not surprised about Valalta. Although he has no figures to back his opinion, I tend to trust him as he knows Eastern Europe fairly well. His opinion is that naturism is dwindling fast in Eastern Europe (he has ideas about the reason way, which I will not develop here), and that consequently the naturist sites in Istria now have to rely almost exclusively on Western guests, whereas (he says) there used to be also important contingents from Hungary etc. in the past.
I do not know how far this is also what you have observed, Brigitte.

Yes, it's Balaton to us.

That might explain the turning over of Monsena and a couple of other locations mentioned here to the textile market. However, in the case of Valalta, it is not an existing part of the campsite that is being turned textile to my knowledge, but I assume (and hope) it is an adjoining area which they were developing in 2013. So, Valalta is not being made smaller to accommodate less naturists because there are fewer naturists coming there as far as I know, though reading badly translated posts on adria is not ideal, and it may become clearer when Valalta publishes details in June. Commercial reasons may have played a part with Monsena (although, sadly, I did read the antics of the usual suspects who give naturism a bad name MAY have also played a small part) but there isn't the evidence yet to say that that is the case for Valalta. Also, it may become clearer exactly what facilities there will be in this new site, after all they can hardly use Valalta's pool, so I assume they must be building their own there.

Although I can barely remember, it did not seem that big an area. We just assumed it was being added to Valalta as it was. I am sure your friend is not wrong at all and it is an important factor, but of course Croatia has become quite a bit more expensive in recent years (not for us compared to the pound and the euro) but it probably would seem that way to other areas in the Eastern half of Europe, so that may be another reason that there are fewer visiting there now maybe. On the car number plates at Valalta, Germany predominated, followed by the Netherlands, Italians, and Czechs, and that has been the case for a good while. There used to be a goodly lot of us as well when Peng did packages. For most people in Western Europe, Croatia, in terms of accommodation and food especially, is still cheaper than most other destinations, especially France and Italy.

On the car number plates at Valalta, Germany predominated, followed by the Netherlands, Italians, and Czechs, and that has been the case for a good while. There used to be a goodly lot of us as well when Peng did packages. For most people in Western Europe, Croatia, in terms of accommodation and food especially, is still cheaper than most other destinations, especially France and Italy.

In addition to the countries you mention Brigitte, when we were last on Krk we also saw lots of Austrian and Hungarian registered vehicles at the naturist resorts.

Mike