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Hit Or Miss, Or A Bit Of Both? Dune Du Pilat, France

November 10, 2019 by libertatemamo 20 Comments

Sunset walk on Dune du Pilat (can you see Polly?)
Our shortest drive yet…just 15 km!

When we first looked at visiting Les Landes I asked around some Facebook motorhome groups for recommendations, and one place that came up over and again was Dune du Pilat.

It’s an iconic part of the area, the tallest sand dune in Western Europe and pretty much a “must see” in the region. But the fact that it’s a big tourist attraction also made me a bit leery. For the most part we tend to avoid anywhere with big crowds in favor of less-traveled routes. Plus the campgrounds in the area all had very mixed reviews.

So we put it on our list and then, like all such things, we hemmed and hawed over actually going. Should we just do a drive-by visit (park and walk the sand for a few hours) and then move on? Or stay within biking distance? Or chance one of the campgrounds and stay the night right there?

The morning we left the Aire in Biscarosse we finally decided on the latter. We’d spend one night right by the dune, and if it wasn’t our thing we’d move on. That would give us a sunset too, which would up the chances of a positive encounter. Golden hour has a way of making everything look magical, even big piles of sand.

Sunset dip for Polly & Paul
Dune waves
Dune footsteps

Camping Is A Mixed Bag

For our base-camp we chose the spot with the best overall reviews and location in the area, Panorama du Pyla, a 4-star Yelloh! campground located right on the south side of the dune. It’s pricey in summer (upwards of €50/night), but has the advantage of very reasonable rates (€18/night with 10% ASCI discount) in the off-season . Plus a few of the sites do have views over the water, if you can snag them.

Our site was small and uneven, with a slice of view out the front
Lots of tight & unlevel sites, but you can get really nice views
There is a nice (but very pricey) restaurant on-site

It’s a wooded campground, located high above the beach (a steep trail goes down to the shoreline), and IMO it’s a total mixed bag of a place. The pitches are set on a slope and are oddly-shaped and very varied in size. A few of of them quite large and lovely, but many are either soft/sandy, overly cramped or ridiculously unlevel.

Plus it’s a mixed bag on the amenity side too. There’s some really upscale stuff; a super nice pool (great for kids), a nice (but incredibly pricey) restaurant-with-a-view, and a rather fancy on-site grocery store. And then there’s some really downscale stuff; paid WiFi that’s only guaranteed to work by the pool (at the entrance) and not at your site (what???), old & dirty bathrooms with no toilet seats (!) or paper (really? At a 4-star place??), and rubbish bins that are nowhere near the campsites.

No wonder this place gets such mixed reviews!!

We arrived early morning and the place was already packed with a queue of people & motorhomes waiting to check-in. Once inside camp all of the best pitches were already occupied, so we settled on a spot with a slice of a view near the top of the hill. It was OK, but very cramped and we barely managed to level with all our blocks.

We quickly decided we would only spend the one night. We’d get our laundry and showers done (both very-much needed items), visit the dune, and then we’d move on.

Other Options -> There are 3-4 other campgrounds along the stretch of the dune (Plya Camping, Camping Les Flots Bleus, Camping La Forêt), although they all get rather mixed reviews. Another option is to park in the north parking lot (€8 for 2 hours) and just walk around for a bit (but then you miss the sunset!!!).

Sunset by the beach
Just me and my shadow
Dune forest

Dune Du Pilat Is An Active Sand Dune

For a bit of background Dune du Pilat (also called Grande Dune du Pilat) is the tallest sand dune in Europe.

Aerial view of the dune (not my pic). Our camp is at bottom left

It’s made up of mostly 0.3mm quartz sand, the result of thousands of years of erosion from the nearest mountain ranges, (Pyrenees, Massif Central) combined with the effects of rivers, the ocean and wind that have transported the grains inland.

Size-wise it’s ~2.6 km long, ~620 m wide, contains ~55 million cubic meters of sand and is ~100-115 meters high, depending on the year. Plus it’s constantly moving at a range of about 1 to 5 m per year, one of the few sand dunes in Europe that is still in motion.

Late afternoon on the dune

It’s not the biggest sand dune we’ve ever seen, but it’s an impressive contender, and we couldn’t have picked a better location to visit it.

From our pitch it’s a quick 10 minute walk to the dune, accessed directly out the north side of the campsite. You end up near the top of the dune too (no uphill sand walking necessary!), with panoramic views down towards the beach and each side. It’s a long, steep downhill trail to the beach, but as far as ease of visiting the dune itself goes, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Textures and light
A wet and happy doggie
Last light through the trees

It’s A Bit “Meh” During the Daytime (Unless You Paraglide)

With that said, our first impressions of the dune were admittedly so-so.

There’s no doubt that Dune du Pilat is a big hunk of sand, and if you’ve never been on one it’s an impressive experience. It’s like being on a mountain but your feet sink in, and you can jump up in the air and slide down the side without ending up in the company of your long-deceased ancestors. Plus consistent winds & updrafts make for excellent paragliding, without the danger of a hard landing. It’s basically a massive sandbox playground for adults. Plus you do get nice open views of the water and Bay of Arachon.

It’s so hard to capture the size of a dune like this (pic taken from our campground)

But the dune is also fairly crowded (more than a million people visit each year!) and the sand heats up rapidly, especially during the middle of the day in the warmer seasons. You’ve got to be really careful with your kids & paws, if you bring them with you.

When we got to the sand, it was busy and hot, and the colors were flat and dull. Lots of folks around, a few paragliders, but otherwise not much to write home about. It was, dare I say it, a bit “meh”? We lingered a few minutes to people-watch, but rather quickly decided to retreat back into LMB for the rest of the afternoon.

I think these guys were having a birthday party

But Sunset is the JAM!!

A few hours later as the sun started to kiss the horizon, we decided to tempt another visit. And there, in that moment, is when we found the charm.

Only a few folks around in the evening

The crowds had thinned significantly and the dune had turned from a dull tan to a rich golden-yellow. The sand was cool and comfortable, perfect for paws and bare feet, and the sky was alight in swirls of pink, the water a reflective mirror of the colors above.

Polly bounded around in joy, heading straight down the sleep slope towards the beach, gliding with four-by-four-paw power like a natural sand dog. And by the time we reached the water we were totally alone. Nothing but waves, sunset colors and the mass of sand above us. We played around the beach, in and out of the water until the last colors of the sky were fading, when we finally, reluctantly took the long (and much harder) hike back up to camp. Sunset is most definitely the jam!

All alone on the beach at sunset

We Move On The Next Day

Our evening was magical, but the next morning the campground was awake and noisy again, and we were longing for some peace . We’d done the “must see” and we’d found its secret (come at sunset folks!), but it was time to move on. We had a day to kill (maybe another Aire?), and then we had an important DATE, a place that I’ve wanted to see ever since we came to Europe. We’d booked it many weeks ago just to be sure we were able to get in, and it was going to be EPIC. This was not just another sightseeing spot, but our own proper jam, the kind of thing we live for. Any guesses? Well, you’ve have to wait to read the next blog to find out….

If you come for a visit here, you’ve GOT to stay for sunset!

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« Aire Love & Bike-Riding – Biscarosse Plage, France
The Most Beautiful Lady In France – Cordouan Lighthouse »

We LOooVE Comments, So Please Do

  1. Margaret says

    November 10, 2019 at 10:52 am

    Nina & Paul, love, love your blogs! Your photos as always are wonderful,” almost”
    Feel like I’am there too!!
    Thanks again!
    Hugs to you both,
    Margaret

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 10, 2019 at 11:31 am

      Lovely to have you along for the ride, Margaret! I love that folks are still following and reading us over here.

      Nina

      Reply
  2. John Whitney says

    November 10, 2019 at 11:15 am

    I always love your pictures (maybe a little jealous too), but your picture of Polly is fantastic.
    I commented on your blog where you talked about traveling with your cats. We recently completed a 6 week trip in our motor home. We tried several of your suggestions, and one of the best was the table leg scratching post. This was also the first time that we left our 2 cats together all the time, even when gone. Worked well. Only thing that didn’t work was leaving them together at bedtime. Young cat likes to play at bedtime, and he tried chasing older cat around and over the bed. So we had to take turns with who slept with us. Thanks again for sharing not just the animals, but all the good and bad you’ve experienced over the years.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 10, 2019 at 11:30 am

      Yeah!! Congrats on your first trip out with the cats. I know how stressful that can be. I’m SO glad it all went well, despite the nighttime shenanigans:) Here’s to many more fun travels for you and your fur babies!

      Nina

      Reply
  3. Ingrid says

    November 10, 2019 at 11:17 am

    Looks beautiful and kind of reminds me of northern Michigan … a landscape that I wouldn’t envision when thinking of France. Those sunsets are stunning!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 10, 2019 at 11:26 am

      Absolutely! I never knew about the dune until I started looking at Les Landes in detail. So many interesting parts of France to discover on wheels.

      Nina

      Reply
  4. Jmohr says

    November 10, 2019 at 11:18 am

    Looks incredible… love the photos

    Reply
  5. ExploRVistas - Jim and Diana says

    November 10, 2019 at 11:19 am

    I see so many similarities to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan, Nina. We will have to take a look when we head over in the future.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 10, 2019 at 11:24 am

      You are right on point! I actually thought a lot about Sleeping Bear Dunes while we were here. My blog post on that if anyone else is curious: https://www.wheelingit.us/2016/09/24/exploring-the-sands-of-time-sleeping-bear-dunes-national-lakeshore-mi/

      Nina

      Reply
  6. The Happy Wanderers - Larry ad Connie says

    November 10, 2019 at 11:44 am

    We always look forward to and enjoy your posts. Your photos are fantastic. We’ve been full-timing it in the USA for 15+ years, but are now planning on motor-homing it full-time in Europe starting in 2021. Your info and blogs have been wonderful and very helpful for us. We’ll have to worry about the Schengan time limits, but will make do.

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 10, 2019 at 11:45 am

      How exciting! DO let us know when you get here (I know it’s a few years out). Would love to meet-up.

      Nina

      Reply
  7. Sue says

    November 10, 2019 at 12:26 pm

    Still with you Nina! I love to look at those magnificent dunes but DO NOT find them fun to climb on! Polly sounds like she had a wonderful time though. How long do you stay on the road generally?

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 11, 2019 at 2:18 am

      So glad you’re still with us Sue 🙂 And yes I totally agree with your comment about walking on the dunes. It’s exhausting!!! We were spent by the time we managed to get up to camp again.

      With regards to staying out, we’ve been going out ~3 weeks at a time. So short(ish) outings. We may try a bigger outing next year, depending on how the cats are doing.

      Nina

      Reply
  8. Carolyn says

    November 11, 2019 at 12:51 pm

    I love the “cliff hanger” and your gorgeous photos. Who knew France had sand dunes? Can’t wait until the next post.

    Reply
  9. Pamela Wright says

    November 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm

    You are so right about the dune in the daylight…meh! But WOW, at sunset it is beautiful! Your photos are just spectacular. Glad you saw it in all its glory.

    Reply
  10. Margaret says

    November 12, 2019 at 8:37 pm

    Okay, I think I guessed.
    Does it have something to do with Veterans
    Day???
    ❣️
    Margaret

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 13, 2019 at 4:05 am

      That’s a very good (and valid) guess, but it does not 🙂

      Nina

      Reply
  11. Alvin Chin says

    November 13, 2019 at 7:38 am

    Bonjour!

    Its always an education reading your blog.

    But, I was wondering if you can answer this question. When looking at Google Maps of SW France, I noticed there is a green triangular area that stretches from Bayonne in the south, to Bordeaux in the north (spelled Burgeos on some maps-what’s that?) and inland about 50 miles to Agen; is this national park area or forest?

    You might be interested that someone in your area of France is picking up bottles with messages (interesting story: See https://www.foxnews.com/world/college-student-message-in-bottle-france) .

    Safe travels!

    Reply
    • libertatemamo says

      November 13, 2019 at 7:58 am

      The green area is “Les Landes” where we’ve been exploring for 2 weeks. I wrote about it here if you want to read more:
      https://www.wheelingit.us/2019/09/15/off-to-les-landes-and-traveling-with-crd-cats/

      Basically it’s a massive forest area. A big portion of it is a protected park (Parc naturel régional des Landes de Gascogne), but some of it does lie outside the park limits.

      Nina

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Most Beautiful Lady In France – Cordouan Lighthouse – Wheeling It says:
    November 17, 2019 at 3:16 pm

    […] left our busy campground at Dune du Pilat early Monday morning, following the road ~100km inland towards the northernmost lake in Les Landes, […]

    Reply

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