When to go to the Landes?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: June and September
At a glance
Why go to the Landes?
The Landes is the destination for those who want the sea without the crowds of the coastal corniches. There are no marinas or concreted seafronts here: just one continuous dune, beaches as wide as airfields and, behind them, the largest planted forest in Europe, sown under Napoleon III on what had been nothing but marshland and grazing flocks.
Surfing has been a religion here since the 1960s, but people come just as much for the freshwater lakes where children swim without waves, for the cycle paths that run beneath the pines, and for a cuisine of duck, Chalosse beef and Capbreton fish that has nothing to envy the neighbouring Basque Country. It is a destination for families and groups of friends, very much geared to camping and rentals, where life is lived outdoors from June to September.
Couples will find what they are looking for in Hossegor, the most elegant of the resorts, or in the villages of the hinterland, between Dax, the Chalosse and the Landes Armagnac country. Those looking for museums and monuments every day will be frustrated: the Landes is experienced on a board, on a bike or in a boat, not behind a display case.
Map of the Landes: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Hossegor
- Courant d'Huchet
- Marquèze Ecomuseum
- Capbreton
- Dax
- Lac de Biscarrosse
How much does a trip to the Landes cost?
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €55-80 per day per person | campsite or hostel, market picnics, a hired bike and free beaches, with a boat trip or a museum now and then. |
| Comfort | €110-170 | a 3-star hotel in Hossegor or Dax, a harbourside restaurant in the evening, surf lessons, the ecomuseum and the Courant d'Huchet. |
| Premium | €250 and up | a 4- or 5-star hotel on the shores of the Hossegor lake or the Eugénie-les-Bains spa estate, gourmet restaurants and private surf coaching. Bank cards are accepted everywhere, but keep cash for the markets and the boatmen. |
Is the Landes safe?
The number one danger is the ocean: the baïnes, hollows that empty in violent currents on the ebbing tide, cause drownings every summer. Swim only between the flags of supervised zones, and get out of the water if the flag turns red. The lakes have no currents but are deep near the channels. In the forest, ticks and mosquitoes are common from May to September, and the fire risk leads to some areas being closed on dry, windy days. Sun reflected off the sand burns faster than elsewhere, and summer storms are violent but short.
What to see and do in the Landes
- Hossegor and its saltwater lake
- The Courant d'Huchet by boat
- Marquèze Ecomuseum
- Capbreton and its Estacade
- Contis lighthouse
- Dax and its Fontaine Chaude
- Lac de Biscarrosse and the seaplane museum
- The Vélodyssée through the Landes forest
Hossegor
The smartest resort on the Landes coast owes its reputation to its waves: La Gravière, a beach break that produces powerful barrels on the rising tide, hosted a leg of the world surfing championship until 2019 and welcomes the French Championships in October 2026. But Hossegor also has a saltwater lake, a former lagoon linked to the ocean by the Capbreton canal, where the tide raises and lowers calm, warm water much loved by families. All around, villas from the 1930s mix Basque half-timbering with Landes roofs, beneath pines that let a soft light filter through. The town centre is packed with the shops of surf brands born here, and Rip Curl and Billabong have their European headquarters a few hundred metres away. In summer, the seafront stays lively until late; in autumn, the low-angled light and the morning sessions make it the season for those in the know.
Courant d'Huchet
This nine-kilometre stream links the Étang de Léon to the ocean through a national nature reserve of more than 600 hectares, protected since 1981. Its canopy of alders, bald cypresses and creepers has earned it the nickname of the little Amazon of the Landes, and herons, European pond turtles, otters and sometimes the European mink, one of the continent's most endangered mammals, can be spotted here. The descent is made in a galupe, the flat-bottomed boat of the Léon boatmen, or on foot along the path that follows the left bank to the river mouth. This is the only river mouth on the Bay of Biscay never to have been fixed by a breakwater: it shifts by several hundred metres with the storms. At the end, the wild Moliets beach completes the loop.
Marquèze Ecomuseum
Founded in 1969 in the heart of the Landes de Gascogne regional nature park, the Marquèze ecomuseum recreates a quartier, that is to say a Landes hamlet, as it lived in 1890, just before the forest replaced the sheep-grazed heathland. It can only be reached by a steam or diesel train that leaves from Sabres station and crosses four kilometres of pine forest. On site, the master's house, sheepfold, mill, bread oven and fields are brought to life by guides who bake bread, shear the ewes or tell of the lives of the shepherds on stilts. The exhibition pavilion at the station, in a contemporary building, explains how a land of marshes was transformed into a resin and then a timber factory. It is one of the most accurate visits for understanding why the Landes looks the way it does.
Capbreton
The only port in the Landes, Capbreton owes its uniqueness to the gouf, an underwater canyon that begins three hundred metres from the beach and plunges for three hundred kilometres to a depth of 4,500 metres, out towards Santander. These deep waters bring up nutrients and explain the abundance of the fishing: hake, sole, chipirones and bluefin tuna are sold in the morning on the Quai de la Pêcherie. The Estacade, a 189-metre wooden jetty built in 1858 to protect the harbour entrance, is the ritual evening stroll, with the surfers of Le Prévent beach below. The marina, dug in the 1970s, and the bustling quays give the town a more down-to-earth and livelier feel than Hossegor, its immediate neighbour. The two towns touch: you can walk from one to the other by crossing the Boucarot canal.
Dax
France's leading spa town by number of patients, Dax has been treating rheumatism since Antiquity with water at 64°C and a mud, the peloid, prepared with silt from the Adour. The Fontaine Chaude, in the town centre, is its symbol: an arcaded 19th-century basin from which steam constantly rises, a surprise in the height of summer. Around it, the town has kept a pleasant shopping centre, covered market halls, a cathedral rebuilt in the 17th century with a Gothic portal reassembled inside, and the Splendid, an Art Deco palace hotel from 1929 restored as a hotel and spa. Every mid-August, the Feria de Dax turns the town into a six-day festival, with courses landaises in the bullring, bodegas and hundreds of thousands of visitors dressed in white and red. The rest of the year, it is a quiet base twenty minutes from the coast.
Lac de Biscarrosse
On the northern edge of the département, the Lac de Biscarrosse et de Parentis is the second largest body of fresh water among the Great Lakes of the Landes at 3,500 hectares, extended to the north by the Lac de Cazaux-Sanguinet. Its fine sandy beaches, lifeguarded in summer at Navarrosse and Maguide, offer swimming with no waves or currents, much appreciated by families wary of the baïnes of the nearby ocean. It was from here, in the 1930s, that the great Latécoère flying boats took off to cross the Atlantic, a story told by the seaplane museum on the shore. Around the lake, cycle paths lead to Biscarrosse-Plage, a family resort at the foot of the dune, and to the state forest. The lake is also a playground for sailing boats, paddleboards and water-skiers, with rental centres at every beach.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Four to five days let you sample both sides of the Landes, the surf coast between Hossegor and Contis and the inland country of Dax and Marquèze, without spending all your time in the car. A week sets the right pace: two days of beach and surfing, a day of boating and forest, a day at a lake, a day for Dax and the Chalosse, and the rest by bike.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Landes guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of France
weekend in Hossegor and Capbreton
Saturday morning a surf session or a lesson at La Centrale, lunch at the port of Capbreton, a walk around the saltwater lake and sunset on the Estacade; Sunday the Hossegor market, a bike ride to the Seignosse beach and back along the forest track.
five days between coast and forest
Day 1 arrival in Dax by TGV, the Fontaine Chaude and the market halls; day 2 the Marquèze ecomuseum in Sabres; day 3 down the Courant d'Huchet by boat from Léon, then Moliets beach; day 4 Hossegor, the saltwater lake and surfing; day 5 Capbreton, the fish market, the Estacade and home.
a week with the family
A family week from a campsite in Messanges or Vieux-Boucau: days 1 and 2 lifeguarded beaches and surf lessons; day 3 the Courant d'Huchet; day 4 cycling the Vélodyssée to Léon and a swim in the lake; day 5 the Contis lighthouse and Contis beach; day 6 the Lac de Biscarrosse and the seaplane museum; day 7 Dax, the Saturday market halls and the spa for the parents.
Getting there and getting around
The TGV from Paris to Dax takes about 4h, with some trains continuing to Bayonne; Dax is the département's main station, and regional coaches serve Hossegor, Capbreton and Mimizan, though with few departures outside summer.
From Bordeaux, the A63 motorway reaches Capbreton in 1h30 and Mimizan in 1h15 via the A660 then the D626.
Once there, a car is still useful for Marquèze, Dax and Biscarrosse, but along the coast the bike does better: the Vélodyssée links all the resorts on separate cycle paths, and every town hires out standard bikes and e-bikes.
In August, beach car parks fill up before 11am.
Where to stay in the Landes?
Budget: campsites are the accommodation of choice, from small municipal sites in the forest to 5-star holiday villages in Messanges or Vielle-Saint-Girons with water parks. Allow €25-45 a pitch in summer, €60-120 for a mobile home. Out of season, the small hotels of Mimizan-Plage or Dax drop below €80.
Comfort: Hossegor and Capbreton line up 3- and 4-star hotels at €120-200 in summer, often with a pool and bikes, and Dax offers the Art Deco experience of its former spa palace hotels at gentler prices. Weekly villa rentals beneath the pines remain the best deal for a family.
Our favourite: a 1930s Basque-Landes villa around the Hossegor lake, or one of the few historic hotels that have kept the spirit of the pre-war seaside resort. Inland, Eugénie-les-Bains and its spa estate remain the gastronomic address of south-west France, to be booked months in advance.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in the Landes?
The Landes eats duck in every form, foie gras, magret, confit and grilled hearts, and Chalosse beef, a breed with marbled meat found at the markets of Dax, Saint-Sever and Montfort-en-Chalosse. On the coast, chipirones a la plancha, Capbreton hake and oysters from the neighbouring Arcachon Bay dominate the menus, with set lunches at €18-25 at the ports.
Garbure, a thick soup of cabbage and confit, warms winter evenings, and pastis landais, a brioche scented with orange blossom, goes with coffee. As for wine, Tursan and Côtes de Gascogne are affordable, and Armagnac can be tasted at the producers in Labastide-d'Armagnac.
Markets not to miss: Dax on Saturday, Mont-de-Marsan on Tuesday and Saturday, Soustons on Monday.
Entry requirements
Schengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about the Landes
When is the best time to go to the Landes?
June and September are the best months: the water is above 20°C, the beaches are lifeguarded, the campsites are open and prices are lower than in August. July-August is still very pleasant but the coast gets saturated. October still offers good surf sessions and mild days, with many shops closed on weekdays.
Can you swim in the ocean with children?
Yes, provided you stay between the flags of the supervised zones and keep an eye out for baïnes. For the youngest, the lakes of Biscarrosse, Léon or Hossegor offer calm water with no waves, and lifeguarded beaches in summer.
Do you need a car to visit the Landes?
For the inland sights, Marquèze, Dax or Biscarrosse, yes. On the coast, between Mimizan and Capbreton, a bike is more than enough thanks to the Vélodyssée, and the resorts are linked by seasonal coaches. The TGV drops you in Dax in 4h from Paris.
How much does a trip down the Courant d'Huchet cost?
Allow €20 per adult for the 1h45 trip and €25 for the 2h45 version down to the ocean, offered in July-August. The boatmen set off from Pichelèbe (Moliets), from April to October, with booking online or by phone.
Where can you learn to surf in the Landes?
Hossegor, Capbreton, Seignosse, Moliets and Mimizan have dozens of accredited schools; a two-hour group lesson costs €40-50 including board and wetsuit. The best conditions for beginners are on a rising tide with a small swell, between June and September.
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