The 15 best beaches in France to visit this summer
With a staggering variety of coastlines – from sheltered nooks of the iridescent sea on the Mediterranean to romantic cliffs towering above slate-coloured churning ocean in Normandy – beaches in France are some of the best in Europe. You can dine on fresh grilled fish on one of the most beautiful beaches in the South of France or hike rugged stone bluffs for privileged access to remote corners. Add to that the active pursuit of getting there by boat, kayak, bike or on foot, which is part of the fun. Still, plonking down a towel on the sand doesn’t mean you have to rough it. Whether floating in the salty sea or slicing through the waves, the ultimate luxury is to take in the authentic spirit of the best beaches in France.
Which part of France has the best beaches?
It depends. Brittany and Normandy have some of France's most beautiful beaches with backdrops few locations can match; we're talking dramatic cliffs and rich greenery. But if you're looking for a place to plop on those sweltering, sunny days, then the beaches in the South of France are for you. The beaches can be pebbly and quite busy but no less stunning.
Getty Images1. Plage de Tamaricciu, Porto-Vecchio, Corsica
The gorgeous nine-mile stretch of white-sand coves from Plage de Palombaggia to Santa Giulia is for those who would gladly forgo a plump mattress on a glamorous private beach for a wade through these dreamy pale-turquoise shallows. Find a shady spot under a parasol pine and stay until sundown, when the stacked rounded rocks take on a surreal pink glow. You can grab a snack at beach hut La Paillote or assemble your own picnic with a hunk of cheese and figatellu (wild-boar liver sausage) and chestnut-flour cookies from the roadside stands.
Get here: By air or by ferry from Marseille, Toulon and Nice to Porto-Vecchio. When driving, don’t miss the sudden bend in the road, southwest of Plage Palombaggia, that takes you to Tamaricciu. Roadside parking is sometimes scarce.
Getty Images2. Plage Notre-Dame, Ile De Porquerolles
It’s no secret that the small government-protected island of Porquerolles is a treasure trove of natural beauty, with forests of pine and eucalyptus, vineyards and wild stretches of beaches – which explains why everyone from day-trippers to serious scuba divers flocks here year-round. Pick up a sandwich (and plenty of water) in the village square before you set off to the crystalline shallows of Notre-Dame, a long curve of white sand where you can relax in the shade of a windswept pine to the tune of thrumming cicadas.
Get here: Ferries to Porquerolles run from La Tour Fondue in Hyères, Le Lavandou, Cavalaire-sur-Mer and La Croix Valmer. Bike rentals (including carrier trailers for children in tow) are de rigueur in this car-free paradise.
Getty Images3. Plage Paloma, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Set back on the lush finger of land where the likes of Cocteau, Matisse and Chagall once painted, this beautiful beach in the south of France is popular with snorkellers, local families and a smart set who come by yacht. There’s something for everyone, whether you dine on fresh grilled fish at Paloma’s elegant restaurant or grab a pan bagnat at Le Cabanon down the road. The highlight is the sweeping coastal view, even better from a paddle board or jet-ski, which can both be found for hire.
Get here: Street parking near the village is the best bet; there are also buses from Nice that stop at the harbour, a short walk away.
Getty Images4. Plage de la Mala, Cap D'Ail
From above, this turquoise pebbly cove flanked by tall granite cliffs still has a timeless Riviera feel and is well worth the trek. Don’t bother lugging a picnic – the two beach restaurants serve fresh fish and plenty of chilled local rosé. It’s a favourite with the Monégasque beau monde in high season, so book ahead for a sunbed or unfurl your futon on the public beach and dive in.
Get here: Most arrive by boat, but early birds can usually nab a parking space. The fig tree-shaded stone steps lead straight to the beach – from the train station, they’re a short hike around the coastal path.
Getty Images5. Calanque D'Antheor, Le Trayas, Saint Raphael
Expect to be astonished by the nine-mile stretch of rugged Estérel coastline, with its series of secluded creeks and red-rock calanques – among them, Maubois, Cap Roux, Saint-Barthélémy and Petit Caneiret – often hidden from view below pine-shaded bluffs. The combo of limpid jade water, craggy rust-coloured rocks and russet pebbly beaches is unlike anywhere on the Riviera, but you’re on your own – no lifeguards, no food. If you crave a proper lunch, there’s a friendly snack shack, La Cabane, on a curve in the road near the towering viaduct five minutes by car up the coast.
Get here: Take the winding coastal route D6098 between Saint Raphaël and Théoule-sur-mer and park on the roadside.
Getty Images6. Plages Des Dunes, Plages Des Dunes Cap Ferret
Cap Ferret, a bling-free finger-shaped slip of land west of Bordeaux, is where everyone from the boho-chic to hardcore surfers goes to unwind in an unspoiled setting, with soft-sand beaches lining both sides of the peninsula. For the full back-to-nature trip, walk south past the pretty ocean beach, Plage de l’Horizon, where families splash in the waves, to the less frequented wild refuge of Plage des Dunes, where there is no lifeguard. If you’re feeling peckish, there are oyster shacks and driftwood beach bars only a short bike ride away.
Get here: By car, take the D106 in the direction of Sémaphore du Cap Ferret to the car park at the end of the road that leads to the beach. Alternatively you can hire a bike, or hop on the petit train from the village of Lège-Cap-Ferret. Don’t be put off by the slightly arduous path, a 15-minute trek through the dunes.
Getty Images7. Plage D’Erretegia, Bidart
Just north of Bidart on the road to Biarritz, this green creek surrounded by bluffs has been painstakingly preserved to protect the endangered local vegetation and is, unsurprisingly, a treasured spot for locals. The scenic five-minute path down to the beach is an easy walk or you can rent an electric bike and whip down the newly paved paths. There are no water sports or sunbeds for hire, but you can take a break from the heat at the snack shack Kala Txiki, where they dish up chipirons – Basque-style calamari with garlic and saffron.
Get here: Once you’re in the fisherman’s village of Bidart, take rue Erretegia and bear left to the car park.
Getty Images8. Plage De L'Escalet, Ramatuelle
Beyond the celebrated Pampelonne beaches where the bronzed and the beautiful move to a throbbing base, this eye-catching sandy cove, hidden away between Cap Camarat and Cap Taillat, is a different kind of wild. Explore the many little inlets nearby with your snorkel and fins, or glide through the clear water in a kayak. Work up an appetite with a stroll down the rocky coastal footpath (a six-mile stretch that leads all the way from Croix-Valmer), then treat yourself to a healthy Michelin-star lunch at La Voile at La Réserve, Ramatuelle, only a five-minute drive from the beach.
Get here: Take the Route de l’Escalet, which leads to a small car park, or try for a space on the Promenade de la Baie de Bon.
Getty Images9. Plage Des Dames, Ile De Noirmoutier, La Vendee
About an hour and a half from Nantes, this little-known postcard-perfect isle in the Bay of Biscay is a long-established haven for generations of French families with holiday homes, who come for its low-key, unpretentious atmosphere. Located in the north-east corner near Bois de la Chaise, the Plage des Dames oozes nostalgic charm, with its row of chic on-the-beach changing cabins leftover from the 19th century. You’ll see kids scrambling on the rocks crab-hunting and grandfathers fishing off the long wooden jetty, plus there are plenty of water sports, including a sailing school.
Get here: Drive or cycle across the bridge at Fromentine or wait for low tide and take the Passage du Gois, a two-and-a-half mile beach route with spectacular ocean vistas. Parking is available near the beach but most come by bike.
Getty Images10. Plage Yport, Normandy
With a backdrop of dramatic cliffs, an indigo sea and pretty red-brick houses – a landscape that has inspired everyone from Corot and Monet to de Maupassant and Gide – this small fishing village nestled in a valley between Fécamp and Etretat offers an alluring stretch of soft sand that is blissfully off the mainstream tourist track. Neighbouring restaurants serve fresh grilled prawns, seafood crêpes and Norman apple cider.
Get here: Take the coastal road D211 and park in the village at the Casino. The beach is also easily accessible for trekkers on the clifftop GR21 trail, with mesmerising views.
Getty Images11. Plage Fe Saleccia, Near Saint-Florence, Corsica
This deserted sand (where Sixties D-day drama The Longest Day was shot) is where Corsicans steer their sailboats for the best scuba diving and snorkelling, even in high season. Call it natural splendour in high technicolour: shimmering sea, the curve of the maquis hugging the shore and the mauve silhouette of Cap Corse in the distance.
Get here: Accessible by boat from Saint-Florent, on foot on the splendiferous coastal trail, or by car via the starkly lunar Désert des Agriates between Calvi and Saint-Florent. A four-wheel-drive is advisable for the unpaved and deeply rutted eight-mile route from the main road, D81, down to the beach.
Alamy12. Plage D'Herlin, Belle-Ile-En-Mer, Brittany
Fringed by around 60 sensational beaches, Belle-île-en-Mer (‘beautiful island in the sea’) is the largest of Brittany’s islands, and is renowned for its sharp cliffs, stunning greenery and more recently an eco-friendly ethos. Hire an electric car and head to Plage d’Herlin, on the south coast between Bangor and Locmaria, an estuary with two golden-sand beaches. Barnacles and mussels still cling to the rocks of the fiercely protected coastline but don’t pry them off – for superb platters of shellfish, try the restaurant of the newly renovated Wilmotte-designed Hotel du Phare in Sauzon, only a 15-minute drive north.
Get here: It’s a 45-minute ride to Le Palais by ferry from Quiberon on the mainland; additional boats run from the ports of Vannes, Port Navalo, Le Croisic and La Turballe from April to September. From the D25, turn off at Kervarijon, where there’s a car park, then take the footpath down to the ocean.
Alamy13. Plage De Trousse-Chemise, Ile De Re
The curious name of this fine-sand beach (‘rolled-up sleeves’) sitting between the lapping waves and a pine forest was immortalised in the 1960s with Charles Aznavour’s melancholic hit song ‘Trousse Chemise’ and is still one of the prettiest spots on this bucolic 19-mile-long island. Expect dunes galore, wild marshes and whitewashed villages filled with Bermuda-clad Parisians whizzing past on their rickety bicycles. Head to nearby beachside restaurant Cabane de la Patache for a lunch of fresh oysters or mussels and fries.
Get here: Take the toll bridge from La Rochelle and drive to the village of Les Portes-en-Ré, where the wealthy long-established summer residents have homes. Follow the signs to La Patache and take the path through the woods.
Alamy14. Plage De L'Ouille, Collioure
Tucked away between Argelès-sur-Mer and Collioure, this peaceful gravelly beach is a snorkeller’s dream surrounded by flowering Mediterranean plants. You’re deep in Fauvist country, where Matisse made preliminary sketches for Le Bonheur de Vivre and the sea is a striking shade of aqua. The on-the-beach snack bar, l’Imprévue, serves Catalan-style tapas, grilled sardines and local wines.
Get here: From the car park at the campsite Les Criques de Porteils, take the path down to the sea. Die-hard trekkers can also opt for the clifftop coastal trail from Collioure, with splendid views of the rocky Pyrénées coast and a 17th-century fortress.
Getty Images15. Calanque De Port-Pin, CALANQUE DE PORT-PIN, CALANQUES NATIONAL PARK, CASSIS
This small sand and pebble cove is one of the loveliest hidden spots along a hiking trail of white limestone cliffs, where bonsai pines spring from rocky crevasses and the plunging sea views are nothing short of sublime. You’ll need proper walking boots, or, at a pinch, trainers, for the slippery stone and a supply of water and snacks, since you’ll probably want to linger until sunset.
Get here: From the car park at the peninsula of Port Miou, it’s a 25-minute walk; another option is hiring a Zodiac or a canoe from Cassis harbour to tour the calanques at your leisure.