Switzerland's highest court has ruled that local authorities can impose fines on people hiking naked in the Alps.
The federal court threw out an appeal by a man who was fined after hiking past a family picnic area with no clothes on.
Judges said the eastern canton of Appenzell had been entitled to uphold a law on public decency.
They said the ban on naked hiking was only a marginal infringement on personal freedom.
Although Switzerland does not have a law against public nudity it does have one against public indecency.
The man had been fined 100 Swiss francs ($NZ142) after he walked naked past a family with small children at a picnic area and a Christian rehabilitation centre for drug users in Appenzell.
"It is not overly high-handed to qualify naked hiking as a breach of decency customs," the court said in a statement.
The BBC says naked hiking is an increasingly popular pastime in Switzerland.
However, Appenzell is a deeply devout and conservative canton - it only granted women the right to vote in 1990 - and the influx of naked hikers has offended many local people, she adds.
