When I was invited to go to Château Perché, I accepted almost out of curiosity.
It wasn’t a trip I had planned myself, nor was it a festival I would have chosen because of the music. In fact, I thought it would be mostly trance, a genre that has never particularly appealed to me.
There was another challenge as well: spending several days with someone I barely knew. That is always an adventure. No matter where you travel, sharing so many days with another person allows you to discover not only the place, but also how each of you experiences the journey.
So I arrived with very few expectations.
And that is exactly why it surprised me so much. I had no idea what I was about to experience.
The first surprise was the music. Yes, there was trance, but house music was much more prominent, and I connected with it far more than I expected. That first impression I had disappeared within just a few hours.
But as the days went by, I realized that music was only one part of Château Perché.
What truly made it special happened during the daytime.
There were dozens of workshops spread throughout the festival grounds: sexuality, erotic writing, painting, dance, yoga, massage, creativity, human relationships…
You could easily spend an entire day without going anywhere near a stage and still feel that the trip had been completely worthwhile.
That was probably what surprised me the most.
I didn’t feel like I was at a music festival.
I felt like I was part of a small community where, for a few days, thousands of people shared something much deeper than music.
The Small Details Say a Lot
Another thing that caught my attention was the festival’s ethical values.
They didn’t feel like imposed rules.
They were simply a way of living together.
You could genuinely feel the respect everywhere.
Curiously, the place where I noticed it the most was… the toilets. Yes, the toilets. It may sound silly, but I think they reveal a lot about a place. In the middle of a forest, surrounded by thousands of people, I expected the typical festival bathrooms.
Dirty. Smelly. Paper scattered across the floor.
Instead, I found exactly the opposite.
There were ecological urinals for both men and women, along with private compost toilets where everyone covered their waste with sawdust after use. The result was remarkable.
I never saw dirt.
I never noticed unpleasant smells.
I never experienced that uncomfortable feeling we usually associate with large festivals.
It made me think that when people truly feel part of a community, they also feel responsible for taking care of it.
Age Only Exists If You Think About It
Another thing that struck me was the average age of the attendees.
If there were people from my generation, we could probably count them on our fingers.
Most people were between twenty and thirty years old.
And yet, I never felt old.
I suppose that inside, we all continue feeling much younger than our reflection suggests.
They probably saw me as a mature woman.
I simply felt like one more person among them.
And I loved that feeling.
My Experience as a Naturist
On the first day, while exploring the festival, we reached the area where many of the workshops were held. It was a quieter and more secluded space, and there I noticed several people completely naked. I asked one of the women whether nudity was allowed throughout the entire festival or only in that area. She smiled and told me that yes, I could be naked anywhere on the grounds if I wanted.
I thought, “Perfect.”
I spent almost the entire festival walking around naked.
Not to attract attention.
Not to provoke anyone.
Simply because, for me, with that heat, that sense of freedom, and explicit permission, what kind of naturist would I be if I didn’t embrace it?
For me, being naked feels completely natural. I do it every day.
I assumed other people might gradually feel encouraged as well, because that often happens.
But it didn’t.
I saw plenty of bare chests. Plenty of transparent clothing. Occasional nudity during yoga sessions, dance workshops, and certain dedicated spaces.
But walking around the festival completely naked was something different.
There were moments when I felt I attracted more attention than I had expected.
Maybe it was only my impression.
Maybe it wasn’t.
Either way, it made me reflect on something I’ve been saying for years.
Nudity may be accepted in certain contexts while still making people uncomfortable in others, even inside such a free and open environment.
And I found that fascinating.
It wasn’t a disappointment.
It was simply an observation.
Travel Is Also About Discovering the Person Beside You
Spending several days with another person is always interesting.
When we only spend a few hours together, we all tend to show our best version. But travelling is different. It reveals our habits, our little quirks, our patience… and also the way we see the world.
During those days, I noticed certain attitudes that, rather than bothering me, made me smile and think:
“A few years ago, that would have been me.”
The need for everything to happen exactly as we imagined. The impatience when reality doesn’t meet our expectations. The urge to change plans immediately when something isn’t what we hoped for.
It made me smile because I realized how much I’ve changed over the years.
If I had come here ten or fifteen years ago, I probably would have judged the festival far too quickly.
This time, however, I chose to do the opposite.
I gave the experience time.
I allowed myself to discover it until the very end.
Would I Go Back?
Without a doubt.
Not because of the music.
Not because of the stages.
Not even because of the costumes.
I would return for the conversations. For the workshops. For the creativity. For the sense of community.
For that feeling of respect that I have rarely experienced at such a large event.
And because this journey reminded me of something we sometimes forget.
We often believe we travel to discover a place.
But the best journeys are the ones where, in the end, you discover a part of yourself that you didn’t even realize had changed.
And that is exactly what Château Perché gave me.
