La Grande Motte

1. 

   Grand Travers

   mixed water · cross-onshore

   Grand Travers is the wild western end of La Grande-Motte's beachfront, and the kite end of it: riders use Zone 60, around beach accesses 59-60, with a summer channel out through the swimmer band.

   beginnerintermediateadvancedRoom to rig: huge

   Everything on Grand Travers →

2. 

   Le Petit Travers

   sea

   Le Petit Travers is Montpellier's kite beach: the official zone at beach entrances 73 and 74 on the Mauguio-Carnon lido, which is why locals just call it Zone 74 or Le 74.

   You get 200 m of sand to rig and launch, 50 m buffers either side and a marked channel out; in summer the channel is for getting in and out only and you ride beyond the 300 m bathing band.

   intermediateadvanced

   Everything on Le Petit Travers →

3. 

   Palavas-les-Flots

   Palavas-les-Flots is the beach Montpellier drives to, and it kites like a town beach: sand open to the Golfe du Lion, no lagoon, and whatever the wind is doing that day.

   beginnerintermediate

   Everything on Palavas-les-Flots →

• Montpellier Méditerranée (MPL), ~15-20 min
• Nîmes-Alès-Camargue (smaller, budget carriers)

Kite bag rules for your airline

Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.

Checked so far for France:easyJetRyanairAir FranceTransavia

Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →

The tag says how far the riders who mention it agree; the figure is how many mention it.

1. The idea that this place shuts to kites for the summer does not match how the zones are actually described locally. There are two official zones — the port and Terre-plein Ouest at beach accesses 14-15, and Grand Travers at access 60 — and both are open all year. What changes in summer is that a buoyed channel is laid along the dike, used only to get out past the 300-metre band and back; riding happens beyond it. The rules board at the beach entrance is the thing to read, not a calendar.

   consensus4 riders

2. When the marin comes in from the south-east everyone in the Montpellier area converges on the port spot and the crowd is the actual hazard. Dozens on the water on a good day, and it is not just kites — windsurfers, surfers, wingers and bodyboarders in the same waves, with the low ones invisible until you come over the back of a wave onto them.

   consensus3 riders

3. The everyday spot for people who live here is not La Grande Motte at all — it is Petit Travers, universally called 'le 74'. The trade is spelled out: worse waves than La Grande Motte, but steadier wind, quicker from Montpellier and fewer people on the water. It is where the foilers park themselves in summer on the thermal. In a south-easterly the water there is wrecked, waves breaking at random over sandbars.

   consensus3 riders

4. Grand Travers works on South to Southwest wind (minimum force 4 / ~13 knots) and is the designated overflow/alternative spot to the busier La Grande Motte beach itself

   strong2 riders

5. Kitesurfing is formally prohibited at Grand Travers from 15 June to 15 September (peak tourist season), pushing riders to a designated summer kite zone requiring SE wind and 17+ knots minimum

   strong2 riders

• Bring sun protection - 'don't forget your cream not to burn'
• Use the designated kite zone and its marked landing/launch/parking area in summer
• Check the SE-wind, 17-knot minimum threshold before expecting to ride the summer zone

Things we could not verify. If you have ridden here, you can help.