Freely open from 14/4 to 14/10/18. Nude free zone. If you look at a map that shows the administrative boundaries of Paris, you will notice a distinctive notch on the eastern side of the city that is barely connected to the rest of the city. This notch is almost encircled by Val-de-Marne, one of the three inner suburban departments that surround the city. The eastern notch of Paris is occupied entirely by the Bois de Vincennes (or the Vincennes Forest), which is the larger of the two grand forest parks of Paris. (The other park is Bois de Boulogne on the western side of the city.) The Bois de Vincennes covers nearly 10 square kilometers and accounts for nearly 10% of the total land area of Paris. It is nearly three times the size of Central Park in New York City. While much of the Bois de Vincennes is thickly forested, the park is also dotted with several small lakes and meadows as well as gardens, sporting facilities and a zoo. The Château de Vincennes, dating to the 14th century, is a massive walled castle abutting the northern side of the park. The castle actually lies over the administrative line in Vincennes, a town that is part of Val-de-Marne. Near the geographic center of the Bois de Vincennes, there is a meadow hidden in the forest that has historically been a gay haunt, where naturism was practiced surreptitiously. In August of 2017, that meadow was officially decreed as a space for naturist use, with the mayor of Paris on hand for the inauguration ceremony. The meadow, generally just called the Espace Naturiste du Bois de Vincennes, is the only public outdoor space in Paris where nudity is allowed, and it is reminiscent of the FKK meadows found in parks in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. The naturist meadow has been a hit and now draws a more diverse crowd even though patronage remains mostly male and mostly gay. The naturist meadow covers a bit less than two acres, and its boundaries are signed, but it is not fenced off. There is no kind of water feature for swimming. Anyone can wander into or through the meadow. Nudity is not obligatory, but most visitors opt to be naked. The practice of naturism is restricted to half the year, beginning in mid-April and extending until mid-October. Furthermore, naturism is allowed only during daytime hours, beginning at 8:00 am and ending sometime between 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm, depending on when the sun sets at the particular time of year.