Bassin d’Arcachon – Part 2

This post is the second of two parts covering our stay in the Bassin d’Arcachon area and the things we got up whilst we were there. If you want to catch up, you can find Bassin d’Arcachon part 1 here, and you can find the other posts from our trip to France here, here, here, here, here & here.

As the name of the area may suggest, the Bassin d’Arcachon’s main town is Arcachon which sits at the south-west corner of the bay, on the eastern side of the inlet where the bay meets the Atlantic. We were staying about a 20-minute drive from Arcachon and visited the town on a few occasions during our holiday.

The first occasion was an evening visit for Beth and I to enjoy a meal and have a walk around the town. Deciding on Brasserie des Marquises in the Place des Marquises (or Market Square) we were able to enjoy our meal whilst people watching with the hustle and bustle of the evening textiles market.

Deciding to enjoy a three-course meal, I went for the fixed price menu and started with a delicious herring & potato salad, followed by an excellently sized portion of mussels. Finishing with a dessert that I’m sure was excellent but forgot to write down, we were pleasantly full as we left the restaurant and hoped to return later on in the holiday.

As with many European towns and cities, Arcachon was still very much alive as we wandered around the market and then through the streets down to the seafront. Arcachon is one of the top destinations for the French during the summer and it was clear to see with a huge number of restaurants overflowing with holiday makers.

We returned to Arcachon later in the first week with the full family and, having made use of the seasonal park and ride (make sure to use this its much cheaper than parking in the town), we headed back to Place des Marquises for a wander around the market hall. The market hall is at its busiest in the morning as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish are all sold ready to make meals later that day. We purchased a load of fresh vegetables ready to make Ratatouille that evening.

A walk to the sea front and a play on the beach for the kids then brought us to lunch, where we decided to try Le Thiers, right on the sea front. Here they have mussels in seven different sauces as well as delicious steak, oysters and burgers. There’s also a great ice cream selection if you still have space after your meal.

One of the reasons we’d picked Le Thiers was it was a stones throw from the Jetée Thiers where we thought we were starting our boat trip, however a realisation less than 10 minutes before departure led to a speed walk along the promenade to Jetée Pierre Lataillade. Managing to just about make the boat before departure, we settled down for our two-and-a-half-hour tour of the Bassin d’Arcachon, inlet and the coast adjacent to the Dune du Pilat.

The boat tour was a great way of seeing around the Bassin d‘Arcachon and seeing the dune from the sea showed the true scale of it. We enjoyed it so much that we returned to Arcachon on our final day in the area to take another which took us from the harbour around the île aux Oiseaux. At the end of this second boat trip our captain went slightly rouge and we joined the end of a nautical parade past the Jetée Thiers as part of the festival for Assumption day, with the boat being blessed by the local Bishop before we headed back to the harbour.

Along with our trips into Arcachon, we also headed around to other places around the bay, including a visit to the beach at Andernos-les-Bains where we were able to see just how flat the shores of the Bassin were as the tide came in from a great distance quickly, but with the water remaining very shallow. We also paid a visit to the local children’s theme park, Parc de La Coccinelle which is great for families and the kids (and adults) had a great time on the rides.

Close to our accommodation in Le Teich was the Réserve Ornithologique Du Teich, or Le Teich Ornithological Reserve. We had hoped to visit the reserve and take a wander around at dusk, however it unfortunately closes at 2000, preventing a sunset stroll in the summer. However, there is an adjacent foot/cycle path that encircles the edge of the reserve, from which you can watch the wildlife and also find a spot to watch the sunset. If you do get chance to visit the reserve, tickets are €9.80 for adults and €7.60 for children.

Our penultimate day in France meant the start of the journey back to the UK, with the first leg being a drive from Le Teich to La Rochelle. We’d decided to set of early and get an afternoon train, allowing us a few hours to explore the port city. Whilst we had both visited La Rochelle before (you can read about my visit here), we decided to start with a wander around the harbour to see the famous towers, before heading to tick off something new, the Maritime Museum.

Musée Maritime La Rochelle is housed in a former warehouse alongside one of La Rochelle’s deep water docks. Along with the main exhibits within the warehouse, the museum also owns three historic ships which are moored within the dock and are available to explore with the aid of a laminated guide. One of these ships is ‘France 1’ a former meteorological ship which undertook long voyages to undertake duties in the North Sea and North Atlantic.

The historic ships were great and we explored them in such detail that we actually ran out of time to visit the main part of the museum and the additional temporary exhibit in a building across the road. What we did have time for before heading back to the station was a quick drink the in the restaurant onboard France 1, which you can dine at without having to pay for museum entry.

For the second year in a row we had had an excellent holiday in France, this time exploring part of the country we hadn’t previously visited. The Bassin d’Arcachon is a beautiful area and there’s plenty to do for both adults and children, meaning it’s a great place to visit as either a group of adults or a family. This is the final ‘destination’ post from our holiday with just the journey home left to come, so keep an eye out for those posts over the next couple of weeks.