We have been to Haulover many times, but finally made it to Blacks! 🤩 From what I know these are the two best clothing optional beaches in the US. Thought I might tell anyone who is interested the main differences we noticed. If you’ve been thinking about one or the other, this may help👌🏽

Access: Haulover is much easier to access as there is no hill to climb down or up. Parking works equally great at both places, however the parking at Haulover is around 8 dollars a day, whereas it is free at Blacks. The biggest difference is the hike down and then back up from Blacks is a pretty substantial hike. Bring water! Also, traffic in San Diego was never bad, at least from where we stayed, whereas traffic in Miami is almost always terrible

Water: Blacks beach water was definitely colder than at Haulover. (We went to Blacks at the end of July) The stingray thing was also always in the back of our minds. For those reasons Haulover seems better for swimming.

People: Absolutely amazing people at both beaches. I’ll start with the creeps. Of course you’ll have some at both beaches. But in our experience, Haulover has it far worse. Perhaps because of the ease of access, or just that the beach is much smaller, but there are a lot more creeps at Haulover. I will say it’s been about a year since we’ve been to Haulover. We went a lot during the pandemic and in that few year period the creep situation improved drastically. Outside of that, love the people at both. The vast majority of people just enjoying themselves like any other beach. My wife and I enjoy meeting others at both and always have a great time.

The beach: Blacks is humongous compared to Haulover. For that reason it’s very easy to spread out. Even on the weekends when it was very busy, there was plenty of room. We set up near the volleyball courts every day, but if you wanted more privacy you can just walk a little further north and there’s so much room. Haulover can feel a bit tight on busy days. That’s not even necessarily a bad thing. It just depends on what you like. Perhaps because of this Haulover feels more like a party. People playing more games, big groups of people hanging out, and even playing instruments together. That may also be due to the ease of access. People are able to bring huge wagons loaded with anything they want to Haulover, whereas the hike at Blacks really makes you reevaluate what you’re willing to carry.

Weather: Of course this has everything to do with the time of year. But for the week we were at Blacks (end of July) the weather was as close to perfect as you can get. Mid 70s, sunny, with a slight breeze. Every single day. From our experience it’s hard to get that every day in Florida. Sometimes it’s very windy, or the afternoons have thunderstorms, or it’s insanely hot. But that too all depends on the time of year. But we’ve never had a full week of perfect weather like we did at Blacks.

All in all, these are two of our absolute favorite beaches. We will always go back to both. I can’t say with certainty I’d choose one over the other. Much of it has to do with what each person enjoys. Maybe this post will help if you’ve been trying to decide which beach to go to. If you have questions feel free to ask! We’ve also been to other clothing optional beaches outside of the US so feel free to ask any questions regarding those too!