This is a spot of many wonderful family vacations over the years in my belle France and missed it, We always went from our former home of Versailles, and it was sublime, Near my wine best area, with nice architecture and history sites, and beautiful beaches, Lacanau Océan is in the Médoc of Bordeaux, Gironde dept 33 in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, The town is composed of several zones: Lacanau-Ville, consisting of the village town and Lacanau-Océan,the beach resort we always stayed on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Let me update refresh this older post with new older pictures on wonderful memories of Lacanau Océan !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
We always come here by car unless a once in a while business trip to Bordeaux but not into the Médoc, there only by car. However, Lacanau is served by several bus lines of the regional bus network such as line 702, which departs from the
Bordeaux-Saint-Jean train station; line 611, which joins the Lége-Cap-Ferret; line 714 connecting Lacanau-Océan to Lacanau-Ville; line 715 which connects Lacanau-Océan to Cussac-Fort-Médoc; and the 716 line that connects Lacanau-Océan to Macau. Webpage: https://transports.nouvelle-aquitaine.fr/modalis
The town is composed of several zones: Lacanau-Ville, consisting of the village. Lacanau-Océan, (the one we always stayed here) area on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. A seaside resort, it appeared at the beginning of the 20C. Sketched during the period between the two wars, it developed in the years 1960-1970, as part of the development of the Aquitaine coast. Lacanau-Océan is separated from Lacanau-Ville by the road D6 and 13 km and the lake of Lacanau-Lac, composed of several hamlets such as Talaris, Le Moutchic, le Tedey, Longarisse, La Grande Escoure, and Carreye.
Lacanau is crossed by the 45th parallel north, is thus situated at an equal distance from the North Pole and the Earth’s equator (about 5 000 km). Lacanau is located on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, in the Médoc, 42 km from Bordeaux. The Ocean coast of the Médoc offers a line of more than 100 km of beaches made of fine sand !!! On one side along the Gironde , you have the best wines in the world, me think and on the other you have the best beaches such as the Plage Sud, Plage Centrale, and Plage Nord. All beautiful!!! Of course, we always stayed at the Yelloh Village ,Les Grands Pins camping !
Villas popped up from the sands and were completed for the most part in 1906-1907: The Primavera, the villa of the founder of the resort, Pierre Ortal, unfortunately destroyed at the end of the 1970’s. In its place, was elevated a modern construction, which is not the ugliest among those built in those years, but it is only a meagre consolation. The Chalet Bonnamy (the current hôtel de la Côte d’Argent), and the Villa les Mouettes of the Princeteau family, all three having been the first built on the Boulevard de la Plage. At the same time, Villa les Genêts and hôtel Marian (current Hotel Australien). On the current street allées Ortal,the beautiful site of Jean Émile Faugère the most beautiful residence of the station that the descendants of this man invest still in summer and Villa PH alias Plaisance . During WWI, American soldiers set up a seaplane base and a flight school at Moutchic, which will then become a sanatorium and then a medical-school center.
Going over the Médoc, now you are in heaven country, my country, we are base here always. We go here every year, sometimes twice a year during school vacations, the long one in the summer we spent 3 weeks each year. We skip 2018 due to the death of my dear wife Martine, will see when going again. Our favorite was to rent a camping at Les Grand Pins ,(see post) and great for the whole family only 300 meters from the beach!!! You have a nice mobile homes, with all amenities, great pricing, with grocery store ,bike rental, pool, exercise room, dancing at nights,and free parking so close to all in the region even trips to Bordeaux. The beach is glorious here, as good as any anywhere. It is in the town of Lacanau-Océan Let me tell you about a little camping call Les Grands Pins. We wanted an area of beaches but I insisted on near wine. The beach in Lacanau-Océan ,about 300 meters, but a nice ride amongt pine trees into the wine world along the D6 into Margaux !!
Camping is very popular in France and even with visitors from other European countries. So it wasn’t that hard to ask collegues in my Paris office for suggestions and Lacanau Océan at Les Grands Pins came up. It was the best decision we could had made and did came back in subsequents years here until 2011, when already the boys big and living in my beautiful Morbihan dept 56 of my lovely Bretagne.
This camping is tops you can walk to the Lacanau-Océan city center and the beaches and plenty of family activities inside! The beaches at Lacanau-Océan are 16 km long or about 10 miles and are three south, central, and north (sud, central, nord). As said, we always stayed at the Camping Yelloh! village Les Grands Pins 5 star rating ,and great for the whole family only 300 meters from the beach!!! The nice mobile homes, with all amenities, great pricing, with grocery store ,bike rental, pool, exercise room, dancing at nights,and free parking so close to all in the region even trips to Bordeaux. The beach is glorious here, as good as any anywhere, and been to some tops as well as lived near them or on them!
The beaches of the city of Lacanau have been awarded the Blue Flag label (pavillon bleu) are superbe. The intersection of the 45th parallel north and the 1st meridian west of Greenwich is located on the territory of the commune ! The beaches at Lacanau-Océan (see post) are 16 km long or about 10 miles and are three south, central, and north (sud, central, nord). From the city center you go down steps into the sand for the plage Centrale or central beach, and very close to all shops restos bars etc. So,therefore ,the most crowded part. The others are reach on foot from city center too but on neighborhood more residentials. So you still close to all amenities but less crowded. The plage Sud or south has a huge parking for 2000 cars/autos with pines shades, need to cross a dune of sand on wooden trails with a spectacular view over the beach; been the more open nature beach. The plage nord or north beach is the one we access from the camping and is so wide and wild and much less crowded as the part of the camping made it private beach. This is super tranquility and good ambiance with the camping folks.
The Lac de Lacanau for boating enthusiasts A seaside resort, it appeared at the beginning of the 20C. Sketched during the period between the two wars, it developed in the years 1960-1970, as part of the development of the Aquitaine coast. Lacanau-Océan is separated from Lacanau-Ville by the road D6 and 13 km and the lake of Lacanau-Lac, composed of several hamlets such as Talaris, Le Moutchic, le Tedey, Longarisse, La Grande Escoure, and Carreye. There are three natural areas: the beach and the dune call Côte d’Argent or Silver Coast; the Landes Forest (Landes du Médoc), which, unlike the rest of Gascony Landes, is not the result of the intensive afforestation of the 19C; and the lake of Lacanau, one of the great Landes Lakes.
You are along the ocean here, you can go south or north from here or over the pines central section of the Medoc to the wine châteaux. Lacanau-Océan is a world center of Surfing in Europe and the best come here to compete in the Lacanau Pro event. We eat at the camping on our own, but if we splash out of town our evening favorite is Kayoc, by the beach overlooking its sunsets glorious. For ice cream we go to Pinocchio in city center, for groceries and more selection we go old supermarché Shoppi, now a Carrefour at 4 rue Emile Baudoux, near the main street to the beach . And further by the huge lake of Lacanau with many water activities, we eat at Restaurant La Conche, 24 allée du club de voile, la Grande Escoure,
Lacanau has two churches, the Church of Saint Vincent located in Lacanau-Ville, of the 18C, and the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Flôts in Lacanau-Océan, of the 20C. Monument to the American Fallen in WWI at Moutchic, on which are registered the names of nine American seaplane pilots from the base of the Moutchic. Monument in homage to Pierre Ortal c 1906, founder of the resort. Villa Plaisance, today’s city town hall annex of Lacanau-Océan, and designed in 1906 and bequested to the local govt in 1994. Villa Beau Site c.1906, Villa Cerberé ,c. 1907, Villa Les Mouettes c.1906, Villa Yora c. 1909, Villa Les Dunes c. 1913, Villa Chante-Mer, Villa Stella, Villa La Vague, Villa les Iris, Villa M’Arena, neo-Basque style, Villa Clair Bois, Villa Fleur du Lac, Villa Thaïs, and several others.
The official Les Grands Pins camping :https://www.lesgrandspins.com/en/
The city of Lacanau on history and heritage: https://www.lacanau.fr/lacanau/histoire-et-patrimoine-de-lacanau/
The town of Lacanau-Océan on its heritage: https://lacanauocean.com/fr/lacanau-ocean.htm
The local Médoc Atlantique tourist office on Lacanau area : https://www.medoc-atlantique.com/lacanau/
The Gironde dept 33 tourist office on the Lacanau lake: https://www.gironde-tourisme.com/en/Natural-Heritage/lacanau-lake/
My fav beaches site Plages TV on Lacanau beaches: https://en.plages.tv/seaside-resorts/lacanau-33680
Surfing Lacanau on you know what! :https://www.lacanausurfinfo.com/
There you go folks, one of my fav areas in my belle France; hope you get the bugs to see something different and beautiful, the beaches of Lacanau Océan, the lake, and the wines , la vie est belle!!! or is it la vie en rose ? Salut !! Again, hope you enjoy this post on wonderful memories of Lacanau Océan !!! as I
And remember, remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 