Holiday In Beach

On the very edge of Cap Ferret, is the beach called ‘La Pointe’, the sandy expanse of which gets so buffeted by the winds and waves that tree trunk pillars have been hammered into it to help hold the beach together – the science of how this works in unclear, but apparently over the last 30 years around 400 metres worth of sandy beach has been lost from this coastline. Behind the flat beach at La Pointe are the dunes, which is where some of the sand ends up. Beyond that is more wild coastline and on the other side of the beach is the Atlantic. There’s no main road along this stretch of coast, just long thin stretches of pines and small villages living off oysters.

Cap Ferret is close enough for Bordelais to drive down for the day – so as you sit in your oyster hut right on the beach eating oysters shucked straight out of the waters it’s accompanied by a superb selection of local wines.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has been a top shelf destination for years, one of the prettiest spots on the Cote d’Azure if you read the brochures, it’s all picturesque coves and beaches and turquoise waters, but apparently you don’t have to be friends with the Sarkozys to pull up a towel on the Plage de la Paloma for the view of the super yachts in the marina. Shingles not sand, but this beach is still on the list of top ten in the French Riviera. Behind you are the posh cafés and the grand mansions, with their perfect gardens and billionaires walls, but you can still walk around the town and get a good view of all from the lighthouse. Only six miles from Nice you can come up in the morning, pitch your spot on the beach, right in front of where Tom Cruise will sit in the restaurant, and you can be richer (in views) than he is.