France Beaches Pictures
Travel Photos

Nice 2006, with the curve of the Quai des Etats-Unis street becoming the Promenade des Anglais, with various pebbly beaches below them - all the beaches on the same shore but sporting different names.
Click on the image to see mini-guides and pictures of some of France's best beaches: Nice, Menton, Cannes, Biarritz, St. Jean de Luz, Arcachon. Also Corsica.

Information: France Travel Guide | Paris Travel Guide | France Tours | France Map | Europe Map

Other France Photos: Cannes Pictures | Verdon Gorge | Paris Pictures

The French mainland has water on more or less three sides - the Atlantic, the English Channel - or La Manche as the French prefer to call it - and the Mediterranean so France has beaches to suit just about everyone everyone, from families to super stars, world class surfers to naturists.
The Côte d'Azur [the blue coast] stretches the whole length of south-facing Meditarranean coast from Marseilles in the west to Menton in the east, while the French Riviera is the posh eastern section from about Cannes to Menton.

Basic advice is travel to France's Riviera [east Mediterranean coast] to get a tan in a busy social hot-spot, around Brittany [north Atlantic coast] for family oriented holidays with lots of kid's attractions, to the south Atlantic coast [e.g. bay of Biscay] for space or surfing and to Corsica island [in the Mediterranean] for the France's best beaches and wilderness. See French Map.

Most of France's beaches are well-developed with plenty of amenities and few hazards, though northwest beaches [Atlantic] tend to have colder, rougher, less clear water while the Mediterranean [southeast] strands of sand - except Corsica - tend to be small, crowded and expensive with the best stretches taken by pay-parasol operators.

Below is a guide to some of the better of France's beaches:

**The French Riviera is the place for a terrific climate, a lively social life, good shopping, excellent eating and drinking facilities - and not necessarily costly - though beaches are often cramped, stony or pay-as-you-tan, while traffic and parking is a nightmare. Nice or Cannes are particularly good examples of the up/downsides.
The cute little town of Menton, far east and next to Italy, is about as quiet as the Riviera gets, though some would describe it as dull if not dead. See Menton Beaches Pictures. Click on the image above to see various Riviera beach pictures on following pages.

***Corsica has some stunning beaches. See Corsica Beaches Guide.

***Arcachon, on the Côte d'Argent [near Bordeaux] is a small and delightful resort surrounded by France's biggest pine forest, offering small and delightful beaches though if you need serious sand a couple of kilometres south sits the Dune du Pyla, the largest sand dune in Europe - more than 100m [350ft] high and long with it.
South of Arcachon and more or less all the way to Biarritz is 200kms of beach but with few facilities. See Arcachon Beaches Pictures.

**Biarritz, SE France, is a large town with some fine buildings, excellent sea food, big sandy beaches and good surf, but of course chilly Atlantic water, a fairly constant breeze and frequent sea mist. See Biarritz Beach Photos.

***St Jean de Luz, an incredibly lovely old Basque town just 20 minutes drive south of Biarritz, tranquil and pedestrian friendly, sports an absolutely stunning sea front of ancient basque houses and fine sand. Downsides, however, as Biarritz. See St Jean de Luz Beaches.

*Cap d'Agde near Montpellier is naturist-friendly, in other words get your kit off. Not just in terms of nudist beaches but the entire city - from restaurants to banks - goes for the natural look.

**La Rochelle, a charming port town on the Atlantic coast is one of the most handsome seaside resorts in France. The area has miles of safe sandy beaches especially on nearby islands, and with shallow water they are great for young families.

*La Baules, an 8 mile crescent beach on the Atlantic coast at Brittany is the longest sand stretch in Europe. Nowhere near as elegant as the French Riviera, but its good value facilities are ideal for families.

*La Sauzair, at Bretignolles-sur-Mer on the Vendée coast is the best for surf, while the resort of Bretignolles has wide sandy beaches and rocky coves.

* Belle-île-en, an island off the Atlantic coast near Brittany, has fine sandy bays and charming coves.

Jellyfish plague: In late summer 2006 much of the Mediterranean - from Spain's Costa del Sol thru France's south coast and down Italy as far as Sicily - suffered from jellyfish invasion, specifically the mauve stinger or Pelagia noctiluca [so called because they glow at night]. The stings are painful and unpleasant but not generally life-threatening, unless a swimmer has a weak heart, a sever allergic reaction or panics on encountering a shoal of blobbies and drowns...
The cause of the stinger explosion is the usual suspect - global warming boosting water temperatures by a couple of degrees as well as increased pollution-derived nutrients and reduced cool freshwater entering from rivers. However, overfishing of anchovies [which compete with jellies for plankton salad], turtles and tuna fish [which eat jellies for dessert] has also aided the mauve climate avenger's expansionist tendencies.
What's being done?
Spain is organising fleets of volunteer blob-spotters and scooper boats to take the flabby boogers far out to sea [environmentalists don't want them eradicated] while France is setting up 2 metre deep stinger nets off major resorts. Cannes is leading the defensive movement.

Note: If you want really warm water then the Mediterranean from June- September is pleasant but not comparable to the Caribbean, Pacific or Indian Oceans. See also Bugbog's Travel Guides to the Mediterranean or the World's Best Beaches.

France Beaches Guide © Julian Loader

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