Dune du Pilat

Pyla-sur-Mer, Arcachon · 🇫🇷 France

The beach at the foot of Europe's tallest sand dune, a hundred-metre mountain of sand sliding into the Atlantic.

Sea temperature

~20°C in the warm season

Water

Cool Atlantic at the mouth of Arcachon Bay

Sand

Vast pale sand at the foot of Europe's tallest dune

Swimming

Strong currents near the Banc d'Arguin channel, caution advised

Best time to visit

June-September

Setting

A 100-metre wall of sand and pine forest above, the Banc d'Arguin sandbank offshore

Beach type

Exotic sands

Region

Europe

More beaches in France

• 
  La Graviere

  Soorts-Hossegor, Landes, France
• 
  Plage de la Cote des Basques

  Biarritz, France
• 
  Plage de Palombaggia

  Corsica, France
• 
  Plage de Pampelonne

  Saint-Tropez, France
• 
  Calanque d'En-Vau

  Cassis, France
• 
  Étretat Beach

  Normandy, France

More exotic sands beaches

• 
  Playa de Maspalomas

  Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain
• 
  Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach

  Vík, Iceland
• 
  Cala Mariolu

  Baunei, Gulf of Orosei, Italy
• 
  Diamond Beach

  Jökulsárlón, Iceland

Photo: Larrousiney at French Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · source