Absolutely beautiful and relatively unspoilt, this is worth a visit! Either by car or by bus or by train, visit as far as Arcachon or the other side of the bay, the Cap Ferret area, breathtakingly beautiful! Also a bird sanctuary, so be prepared to see swans in flight (if you go at the right time of year – otherwise all sorts of geese and pied wagtails etc …). Dont forget to visit the Dune du Pilat, the largest dune in Europe.
If you are interested by discovering the Bay of Arcachon, you might like our 8-day custom tour from Paris to Bordeaux.
One hundred and nine meters high, 2,700 meters long, 500 meters wide, 60 million cubic meters of sand: the Pilat dune is a marvel of nature. It is absolutely necessary to climb to the top—at the summit, the 360° panorama over the Bassin d’Arcachon, the ocean, the Pointe de l’Arguin, the point of Cap Ferret, and the sprawling forest of pins is sublime at any moment of the day.
In Arcachon and Pyla-sur-Mer, the villas are omnipresent—these grand bourgeois houses are from the 19th century up through the 1930s. In Arcachon, in the picturesque district of the Winter City, Swiss chalets, Moorish inspiration, and colonial styles mix genres in an extravagant mélange of architectural tastes.
About 140 miles of cycle paths surround the bay. The land is mostly flat, meaning perfect pedaling under the pines, in the middle of the forest or along the ocean. Between the green perfume of the pines and the spray of the sea, a total return to nature is guaranteed.
Some simple pleasures of the Arcachon Basin include snacking on oysters opened directly by an oyster farmer, strolling along the colorful huts of the small harbors, and spotting the typical boats coming and going with their tasty cargo through the basin. The oyster capital of Gujan-Mestras has a Museum of Oysters dedicated to the little jewels of the sea.
With its bountiful surf and seafood, not to mention Europe’s highest sand dune, the Bay of Arcachon on France’s south-west coast provides the perfect escape!
