France

Where to surf in France

France sits at the heart of the European surf scene, occupying a geographically central position, which attracts all the tribes from the corners of the continent. Every conceivable wave type is represented along an extensive, swell-drenched coastline, from the cool Brittany pointbreaks, through the peerless beachbreak barrels of Biscay to the behemoth waves that unload on Basque bombies. Atlantic swells pour into the Bay of Biscay from a SW to NW direction, often without the accompanying strong winds. Hot summers see morning offshores and afternoon sea breezes that slowly relent through the best surfing months of autumn. While winter produces more NW winds and a maxed-out picture on Biscay’s beaches, the flanking reefs of Brittany and Cote Basque rumble into life, offering either protection or swell focusing power, under a range of wind directions. The macro-tides are a big issue hitting 9m in The Channel and diminishing to about 4.6m on a spring tide down south.

The English Channel

Northern France's Channel coastline requires the biggest W swells or locally produced NW windswell to create any worthwhile rides. It lacks both power and consistency, but it’s the closest surf to Paris and the chalk cliff scenery is a stunningly unique backdrop at spots like Etretat. The most consistent area is the northern part of the Cotentin Peninsula, which faces due W, while the coast of Normandy works mostly in winter SW storms.

Brittany

Brittany boasts a wide swell window and a rugged coastline, but large tides, swirling currents and offshore islands have a negative effect on the waves. The high cliffs and indented estuaries of the North Brittany coast hide many a fickle reef where local knowledge is indispensable. This jagged coast gives way to larger bays, low-lying land and longer stretches of beach in South Brittany.

Pays de la Loire

The Pays de la Loire region receives the highest sunshine hours on the French Atlantic coast. It’s an intriguing mix of Brittany’s broken up coastline and Aquitaine’s long straight sand dunes, with a good selection of underrated waves.

Consistency quickly drops as the coast swings to face south along the coast of Loire Atlantique. Such a contorted coastline means if there is swell, there will be waves somewhere, whatever the wind is doing, but allow plenty of time for navigating the slow roads and fast tides. Hotspots include Les Kaolins and La Côte Sauvage for hard-breathing beachbreak barrels. Vendee highlights include La Sauzaie, Sauveterre and the beachies of Les Conches/Bud Bud.

Aquitaine

Some interesting rocks and flat slab reefs can be found, particularly on the Charente Maritime islands of Île de Ré and Île de Oléron. Spring to autumn for the beachbreaks until the winter swells and winds divert the focus to the island reefbreaks.

The wide River Gironde that divides the rocky coastline of northern France from the endless sands of Europe’s longest beach to the south. These 230 sandy kilometres represent the best beachbreak barrels in Europe, making Landes the place to be. On the downside, currents and longshore drift can be brutal, sandbars are constantly shifting, paddling-out channels are scarce at size, tidal ranges are large and wind protection is almost non-existent.

The Côte Basque shares many characteristics with the north-facing Spanish coast and is blessed with some decent submarine geology, as slabs of reef dot the coast. From the summer beachies in Biarritz and Anglet to the winter reefs around Guéthary, there is always something to ride and there is always someone to ride it, regardless of the season.

Mediterranean

The coast of Mediterranean France relies on windswell – as soon as the wind drops, so does the swell and an offshore will flatten it very quickly. The extremely inconsistent Golfe du Lion stretches from Perpignan to Marseille, where the wind is usually offshore and swells from lows passing between Spain and Corsica are rare. Marseille starts to benefit from the westerly airflow and has a few quality reefs that work in SE to W winds and swells (La Couronne, Cassis and Cap Saint-Louis) however onshore conditions are the norm. The Six-Fours peninsula offers a wider swell and wind window. The Côte d’Azur resorts of St Tropez, Cannes and Nice all have rare SE-SW swell spots. Winter only and even then, it can be flat for weeks.

Far better are the rocky shores of Corsica, facing directly into the Mistral and offering some good set-ups like Algajola in the north and Route des Sanguinaires in the west, where a number of long right points reside.