In early September we will be in France. Any suggestions for a quiet, small town where we can go so that my husband can fulfill his desire to swim in the ocean off of southern France, before we head up to the Alsace region for a hiking tour? My husband grew up swimming in the ocean in So. California and wishes to try the same in France. We don't like big cities, hence the need for a suggested small town.
Thanks for any suggestions you folks can provide!
Deb
If the word ocean is important, Corsica sounds like a bad idea since the Mediterranean is usually not considered an ocean. But Biarritz maybe?
Deb,
When my husband was a boy living in Marseille, the family would go to Cap Courrone, at Martigue, for swimming and fishing. It is about 30-45 minutes from Marseille. There are houses and cabonons to rent. This was in the early fifties. The men would fish and the women would make bouillabaisse. (If even one of the required fish was unavailable, e.g. rascasse, it was a fish stew, not a true bouillabaisse!) My husband learned to swim there. In 1988 we took our then 8 and 10 year olds there to swim, and it was an eye-opener for them to see the topless women bathers (of all ages). Cap Couronne would give your husband a real French experience. If he is a surfer, he would be out of luck there. Martigue would fill the small, quiet town requirement.
As Badger says however, it wouldn't be an ocean swim, although the Mediterranean Sea is pretty impressive. It does border 22 countries, after all.
My son, as an adult, went surfing in the Atlantic at Biarritz and Lacanau . If the Atlantic Ocean is your husband's wish, then the French Basque area or Bordeaux area would serve. Just fyi, the Mediterranean is warmer than the Atlantic. It is also saltier, and easier to float in. I would count the Mediterranean as fulfilling his wish!
You can swim in Arcachon, known for it’s bay. It’s not exactly the ocean, but you can take a little ferry to Cap Ferret at the other side of the bays inlet. We stayed there (also in September) close to Dune du Pilat, already some 30 years ago but looking around with google streetview much look still the same. I can remember as a vibrant but not overrun place.
The ocean in southern France is better known as the Bay of Biscay and known too for the high waves. So you can surf there too if that should be of interest, however far from spectacular like in California. I should not worry about the water temperature, it’s pleasant around that time of the year. And I prefer the climate of the ocean above that of the Mediterranean, maybe it has to do I live close to the North Sea.
However several years earlier I stayed in La Baule-Escoublac, west of Nantes, it has a kind of micro climate and very pleasant for swimming. And offers more variety for other activities than Arcachon to my opinion, so can be an option too.
Collioure is beautiful and warm and as far south as you can get in continental France (about equiv to Corsica, mentioned earlier). The beaches tend to pebbly, but the town is just so beautiful.
More famous for swimming on sandy beaches are the beaches around Sète and Cap d'Agde.
Thanks, everyone! I think we have enough suggestions now to figure out where to go. I am so pleased to have this 'problem' so easily resolved with the support of the RS travelers. My husband won't care if it is the 'sea' or 'ocean'--it won't be a swimming pool or lake and it will definitely be warmer than the ocean off the Oregon coast.
Deb
