France
 

We're going to France next year and I wondered if anyone has recent experience of pools/beaches there. I believe at pools speedos must be worn as opposed to shorts but how brief can one wear? At beaches; are they generally clothing optional and again with men's swimwear, are skimpy suits in order? As I recall HOM used to lead the way in skimpy bikinis for men back in the 80s but they have become more conservative with their 'micro' bikinis now. For me a kiniki 'André ' bikini or Joe Snyder basic bikini is my usual attire at my local pool. Thanks

Hi ! I'm French so I can answer to you.
In all the swimming pools shorts are not allowed. You can wear a boxer brief, a jammer or a brief.
You can wear your briefs without any problem here, you will see a lot of ones.
So you can take your kiniki Andre or a Joe snyder brief.
At the beach there are lots of boardshorts, like everywhere in the world I think, but if you wear a brief or microbrief no-one care.
As far as I am concerned at the beach I wear a kiniki tan through micro brief, or sometimes a Joe snyder thong on non-nudist beaches.

Thanks very much.

France is a lot bigger than England, between the towns there are miles of beach, to get to these beaches you have to cycle or walk as often there is no road access. This means there are beaches with very few people about. If there's no one about there's no reason not to wear bikini briefs, swim thongs or even go naked. If you see someone coming they appear as dots in the distance and slowly grow larger as they come towards you. You'll have plenty of time to judge how to present yourself when they finally arrive.
The beach in front of a ville is usually packed with families if you want a peaceful and skimpy day just walk a couple of miles out of town. As you go you'll see more speedos and fewer shorts.
In Northern France there are good sandy beaches between Le Touquet (Paris Plage) and Berck sur Mere. I usually camp at Camping Ami Ami at Berck sur Mere, it's right behind the dunes. Naturist beach to the North and town beach to the South and other English never go there.
There's good sandy beaches on the West side of the Cherbourg Peninsula, in the North there are miles of dunes behind the beach with abandoned WW2 tanks and a half track lost there.
The area West of St Malo has beautiful sandy coves, it's a great cycle ride back to the ferry port in the early morning.
To go any further South needs a lot of driving (cycling or trains), Erdeven in the South of Brittany has great beaches and a cheap Camping Municipal at Kerhilio.
If you're camping and want good basic facilities look out for camping municipals.
In this area take a trip into Lorient, they have a WW2 German submarine base under a concrete dome, the Americans bombed it repeatedly and scratched the paint.
An even longer drive will take you to Bordeaux, There's more than 100 miles of beach here with villes 10 miles apart. My favourite is at Le Gurp which has a huge camping municipal. While Brittany was green the Bordeaux coast is beige, it gets really hot here, if camping take a tarp for your tent to get shade. This is classic get away from town and have a whole beach to yourself country. Get naked, wear a thong or something white that goes see through when wet and no one will mind.
It got so hot that my sat nav overheated on the motorway near Bordeaux and I had to buy a new one in a hypermarket. Take a good first aid kit, it may take an ambulance a hour to arrive, the distances are so great.

Many bigger French campsites have swimming pools, the no shorts rule still stands and you'll see men and boys in speedos, square cuts and jammers, a bikini brief would be accepted. If they have water slides the boys will tuck their speedos into thongs and slide down faster, no one cares though you may look twice first time you see it. Since it's easier to get changed in your own tent and just take a towel to the pool you'll find loads of people walking around the campsite in speedos with a towel over their shoulders, then if its warm they'll hang out on their pitches in their swimwear.

Where are you planning to go ?

This sounds great, are there any areas of france that speedos are particularly more common?

I think you will find the south coast the area where briefer swimwear is more common . I’ve never been to Cap D’agde , it sounds a little too much for me . But that resort is very free and easy for example

I've only been to Cap d'Agde once. It is a small naturist resort city.
On the beach and in the pools everyone is naked, you can go anywhere within the area naked if you choose, this includes the shops.
In the evening people dress for partying in the bars and restaurants, they dress for effect rather than conventional decency and bits are often on display.
It is an experience but not really a place for speedos.

Since shorts are generally banned in French swimming pools wearing speedos on a beach or around a campsite with a pool is not unusual.

In French towns you sometimes find road signs banning speedos on roads inland off the sea front, without the ban people would wear speedos in the town center.

I have hike, cycle and car camped around the French coast, mostly in Northern France, Brittany and the Bordeaux coast. You'll be comfotable in speedos in all these areas. With the Channel Tunnel and high speed trains you can get to the Bordeaux coast in a day from Kent.

You can explore Northern France and Brittany by taking a ferry with a bike or car.