Dune du Pilat in France

French dune "Dune du Pilat"
Dune du Pilat is around 2.7km in length from north to south, 500 m wide from east to west and 110 metres above sea level.
Dune du Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe.
Dune du Pilat is located 60 km from Bordeaux. 

 

There is stairs to go up the dune.

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Go up stairs

 360℃ panorama view on the top of the dune.

There is the large forest at stairs side.

We can see blue Arcachon Bay (French: Bassin d'Arcachon)
on the other side.

Episode of Dune du Pilat 

Tomo & Chouchou found Dune du Pilat from Japanese guidebook. Honestly, we didn't imagine that France has the desert. So we decided to go there to find out. We stayed  at camping site in Lacanau. Then we went to Dune du Pilat from Lacanau.
From the car parking, we couldn't see any desert. So we didn't expect a big desert. Anyway we were excited to see the desert in France! We had to walk up to the entrance of the desert. Then we suddenly found the tall desert in front of us! We were very surprised to see such a tall sand dune. Actually we learned Dune du Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe. 

First step was to go up the stairs. It was a little bit tiring. Anyway when we arrived at the top of the sand dune, we forgot our tiredness. We were so excited to see wonderful landscape. Moreover, we could see 360℃ panorama view. Green forest, Blue Arcachon bay, and Beige sand. Everything was beautiful!
It is the place where we can enjoy both sea and mountains.
It's a sand dune but people enjoy getting suntan with swimming suit like a beach. Tomo & Chouchou enjoyed the fresh wind on the top of the dune and view. But it's hot anyway. We couldn't stay so long there. We went down the dune. We took our lunch at the restaurant between Dune du Pilat and car parking. The restaurant was under the trees, so it was cool and we could also enjoy the nature. It was nice place to take a rest.

 

Tomo & Chouchou's advices for Dune du Pilat

1) It's difficult to walk in the sand dune because our feet go deep in the sand.
We advise you to wear something easy to walk in the sand. There is a place to wash your feet near the car parking. It's convenient.
2) There are some restaurants and shops on the way to go to Dune du Pilat in the forest. You can get some foods or things there. There is no places to get drinks or snaks afte going up the stairs of the dune. So you had better get before going up.
 

 
close cities from Dune du Pilat

* Bordeaux