Nudists find freedom in Kyiv

It has been roughly 15 years since a friend of Oleksii Andreiev invited him to a nudist beach for the first time.

At first, Andreiev was hesitant. But soon he agreed — after all, he was curious to see who these people were.

At that time, he perceived nudity the way most Ukrainians still view it today: as something inappropriate in public and only acceptable in the privacy of the home.

Now, 15 years later, 33-year-old soldier Andreiev is a nudist who spends almost all his weekends at one of Kyiv’s nudist beaches.

“It unites me with nature and I feel more relaxed there,” he says.

There are three nudist beaches in the capital, two of which are located on the banks of the Dnipro River. One is on the Obolon embankment, while the other is on Trukhaniv Island. The third nudist beach is located at Redkino Lake near Heroiv Dnipra metro station.

Andreiev says he prefers the one on Trukhaniv Island, called Dovbychka, which he first visited as a teenager. Every weekend, the beach attracts over 200 people who enjoy swimming and sunbathing in the buff.

“Being nude is just such a free feeling,” Andreiev says

Newbie nudist

Andreiev says he will never forget his first visit to Dovbychka. As soon as he arrived there with two of his friends, he was slightly shocked and felt extremely shy. He could not understand why people did not pay any attention to the naked bodies surrounding them and simply behaved casually.
“I saw ordinary people who were just talking and tanning, but they were naked,” Andreiev says.

After 15 minutes of hesitation, Andreiev finally took his clothes off and realized why so many people enjoy visiting nudist beaches: he suddenly felt relaxed and free.

Since then, Andreiev goes to the nudist beach in Kyiv at least twice a week during the summer. Once, he even visited one in Odesa, the Black Sea port city of nearly 1 million people located some 470 kilometers to the south of Kyiv.

He says people go to nudist beaches for various reasons: to feel a unity with nature, to get a full-body tan, and simply to experience the freedom of nudity.

“I personally go there just to rest,” Andreiev says.

Some people also support nudism as a culture. Most often, the people at nudist beaches have no “spiritual goals” for their time in the nude. They just want to enjoy nature and relax. Moreover, nudist beaches are usually less crowded and, therefore, much cleaner than regular ones.

Being naked also helps fight your sense of insecurity and build self-confidence, because it teaches you to pay less attention to how you look, Andreiev says.

“Nobody there looks at your body’s flaws,” he says.

Andreiev says he no longer feels comfortable wearing a swimsuit to beaches and rarely visits the ones where he cannot take his clothes off.

“For me, it is the same as coming to the beach wearing winter boots,” he told the Kyiv Post.

Andreiev does not hide his love for nudist beaches. He has even shared this information with his colleagues. And although no one has ever judged him for being a nudist, he still hears many stereotypes about nudists and their beaches.

Breaking stereotypes

To break stereotypes and show people that nudists are “not crazy perverts,” Kyiv-based retiree Anzhela Lupakova usually invites people to Dovbychka, her favorite Kyiv nudist beach, and offers them “to experience it, instead of hearing about it.”

Lupakova, 47, started to explore nudism in the late 1990s when her boss asked her to join him and his family at one of the nudist beaches. She thought he was out of his mind.

“But when I went swimming naked for the first time in my life, I just felt so happy and free like I had never felt before,” Lupakova says.

Now, she has been a nudist for nearly 30 years and regularly visits nudist beaches in Kyiv and worldwide. She has also traveled to nudist beaches in Bulgaria. But her favorite one was in Crimea, where she used to go before Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.

Unlike nudist beaches in Europe, where everything is convenient and guarded, the ones in Ukraine do not have any strict rules and, therefore, people who are not nudists can visit the beaches freely.

There are also more young people at Ukrainian nudist beaches than at European ones, where the visitors more often tend to be retirees.

Lupakova says it is not completely forbidden to take pictures at nudist beaches. However, she also says that none of the nudists appreciate being photographed while naked, especially by strangers.

There are also people who come to nudist beaches to see naked people. According to Lupakova, they do not come very often, but, when it happens, people just ask them to leave the beach.

“Nudist beaches have the same rules as the regular ones. Visitors just have to be respectful to others,” Lupakova says.

Both Andreiev and Lupakova say they see all kinds of people at nudist beaches, including families with grandparents and children, as well as large groups and people who come alone.

Andreiev says he sees no need to break stereotypes about nudism because, “as soon as you try to sunbathe naked at least once in your lifetime, you will hardly have a desire to do it with closes on (afterward).”

For those who want to experience nudism or to get a full-body tan, here is the Kyiv Post`s guide to the Ukrainian capital’s nudist beaches.

Dovbychka beach

Dovbychka is Kyiv`s largest and the most popular nudist beach. It is located on Trukhaniv Island in the middle of the Dnipro River. There are two ways of getting to Dovbychka: taking a rowboat or walking.

In order to take a rowboat, head to the Hydropark metro station and walk one kilometer to the west, passing a restaurant and a hotel. The first ferry is located close to the restaurant and the second is at the Molodizhnyi Beach (Youth Beach), where you can hire a rowboat to take you across the strait directly to Dovbychka.

The ride will take less than 5 minutes and will cost Hr 20 (less than $1) one-way.

The rowboats follow no schedule and are usually available from 8 a. m. until the last visitor leaves the beach.

Another way is to cross the pedestrian bridge to Trukhaniv Island and walk to the south end of the island (45 minutes) or ride there by bicycle (20 minutes).

The beach itself is clean but has no infrastructure like public toilets and cafes. There is, however, a small kiosk where one can purchase some snacks and drinking water.

Obolon beach

This nearly wild nudist beach is located on the left bank of Dnipro River, on the Obolon embankment. Heroiv Dnipra and Minska are the closest metro stations.

To reach the beach, one must start at Obolon embankment and walk north, then turn right and keep walking along the water. The nudist beach is behind the yacht club. It takes over 30 minutes of walking.

The beach is hidden behind the trees and bushes. Like Dovbychka, the Obolon beach has no toilets, shops or cafes nearby. Experienced visitors recommend purchasing everything you need in advance.

This beach is also clean. However, due to the dense vegetation, it might be difficult to find a place to lie down.

Redkino Lake

Kyiv’s least crowded nudist beach is located on Redkino Lake, near the Heroiv Dnipra Metro station.

It is better to travel there by taxi from Heroiv Dnipra metro, as public transport does not go directly to the beach and walking will take up to an hour.