Map › France › Bassin d'Arcachon › Biscarrosse Plage Sud

Nouvelle-Aquitaine · Biscarrosse ocean beach, Landes · Landes · Biscarrosse-Plage

Biscarrosse Plage Sud

also known as Plage Sud Biscarrosse Plage, BISCARROSSE-PLAGE, "plage sud"

advanced onlyhigh crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Nearby Navarrosse 7 km · Mayotte 8 km · La Salie (La Teste-de-Buch) 10 km · Port de l'Estey 13 km · La Hume (Gujan-Mestras) 25 km · Les Arbousiers (Arcachon) 25 km · Mimizan-Plage 26 km · Claouey 34 km · Le Betey 35 km · Le Porge Ocean 50 km · Lac de Lacanau - Lacanau-Ville 61 km · Lacanau Ocean 63 km · straight-line distance

SeasonApr to Septhe months riders and schools name How windy15-20 knotsmixed LaunchLarge sand beach, but usable space is constrained by bathers, surfers, the signed kite area and the military zone in summer.access rules on record, below Watersea21.8°C in summer · 17 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airport70 minBordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD)

North thermal

18:00

The summer north thermal builds from around midday and holds to about 18:00. Synoptic west and southwest wind runs whenever the system does, morning included. No official timing is published for the beach.

The marks are the clock times the record names, laid on a 24-hour day. The bar between the first and the last covers those hours; it is not a promise of wind.

Plage Sud is the ocean kite spot at the south end of Biscarrosse-Plage, and in July and August it is the only spot in Biscarrosse where you are allowed to ride at all.

It is open Bay of Biscay: a shorebreak that gets heavy at high tide, real Atlantic swell, and baïnes that give you a flat patch at low water and a rip current in the same place an hour later.

It works in anything from south through north; west is straight onshore, SW and NW come in cross-onshore, and the summer engine is the north/NW thermal, quoted anywhere from 15-20 to 15-25 knots, building from noon and holding to 18:00. Whether the season is April to September or May to October depends on who you ask; June to September is the safe bet, spring through early autumn the wider window.

This is not a place to learn. If you cannot self-rescue through a shorebreak with a current under it, this is the wrong beach, and the local school H2O Kite teaches with that in mind.

Park at the Plage Sud car park, walk over the dune, rig in the signed kite zone south of the official signage, and never go past the wooden posts farther south: that is a military test zone, on the sand and in the water.

The wind

locals call it North thermal

Direction

onshoreS

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: The summer north thermal builds from around midday and holds to about 18:00. Synoptic west and southwest wind runs whenever the system does, morning included. No official timing is published for the beach.

Typical strength

15-20 knots for the NW thermal by one count, 15-25 knots for the summer north thermal by another; nobody has measured it on this beach.

The summer north thermal is the dependable one. South wind happens but is patchier, and anything west or NW is onshore and comes with Atlantic swell.

April to September for the NW thermal by one account, May to October by another; June to September is where they overlap and the thermal is most consistent. In July-August, Plage Sud is the only Biscarrosse spot where kiting is authorised.

Thermal or synoptic

thermal and synoptic

The quiver, in words

No table exists for this beach. Indicative for 75-85 kg: a 12 m at the 15 kn end of the thermal, a 9 m through 18-20 kn, a 7 m once it is 25 kn and the swell has built. Ocean riding here punishes being overpowered more than being underpowered, so size down when the shorebreak is heavy.

Direction to shore

W is onshore; SW and NW are cross-onshore; S and N are broadly sideshore along the coast.

Dominant direction

S, SW, W, NW and N all give a session. Over the long run the coastal record is dominated by W to NW; the summer engine is the N to NW thermal.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan37
Feb26
Mar32
Apr, riders' month47
May, riders' month34
Jun, riders' month30
Jul, riders' month31
Aug, riders' month44
Sep, riders' month25
Oct39
Nov42
Dec32

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+)

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep.

37%Jan13°
26%Feb12°
32%Mar13°
47%Apr14°
34%May17°
30%Jun20°
31%Jul21°
44%Aug22°
25%Sep22°
39%Oct20°
42%Nov16°
32%Dec14°

windy days per month (3 h+ at 12 kn+) · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Windy days	Force 4+	12 kn or more	Knots	From	Peaks at	Air	Water	Readings
Jan	37%	53%	42%	13.9 kt	E	12:00	8.4°C	12.8°C	62
Feb	26%	47%	39%	12.8 kt	N	15:00	9.5°C	12.4°C	57
Mar	32%	61%	55%	14.6 kt	W	14:00	11.7°C	12.9°C	62
Apr	47%	70%	63%	14.1 kt	NNW	16:00	13.2°C	14.3°C	60
May	34%	68%	52%	13.5 kt	NNW	16:00	16.6°C	16.5°C	62
Jun	30%	60%	47%	12.1 kt	NNW	16:00	20.1°C	19.9°C	60
Jul	31%	60%	47%	12.3 kt	NNW	17:00	21.7°C	21.2°C	62
Aug	44%	66%	60%	13.8 kt	NNW	17:00	22.3°C	22.4°C	62
Sep	25%	52%	40%	12.7 kt	NNW	16:00	19.7°C	21.7°C	60
Oct	39%	55%	47%	13.7 kt	E	13:00	18.1°C	19.9°C	62
Nov	42%	55%	48%	15.6 kt	E	13:00	13.4°C	16.2°C	60
Dec	32%	45%	39%	13.2 kt	E	11:00	10.1°C	13.7°C	62

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from the operational forecast archive at 1.5–7 km (2023-2024), daylight hours only, not a ground station: it resolves thermal, lake and valley winds far better than coarse reanalysis but still tends to understate a strong local thermal. A windy day has at least three consecutive daylight hours at 12 knots or more. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

High-resolution weather model (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical forecast archive — best-match operational model (ICON-D2 / AROME / ICON-EU / GFS by region), not a ground station · 2023-2024

The water

Type

sea

Standing depth

No reliable standing-depth zone; there are rideable waves and flat sections in baïnes at low tide, but also strong currents and shorebreak.

Tides

Tide-sensitive Atlantic beach. Read the wave height and period, then the tide and its coefficient, before deciding; flat baïne sections show up at low tide and the shorebreak is at its heaviest at high tide.

Temperature

21.8°C summer · 11.5°C winter

Wetsuit

Summer shorty or 3/2 depending on wind; winter full suit. Peak water temperature is 20-25 C, winter low 11-12 C.

Currents

Strong currents and baïnes, the standard hazard on every Landes ocean beach.

12–22°C water

Open Bay of Biscay beach: shorebreak, Atlantic swell and baïnes. Ocean riding on this stretch of the Landes coast goes from complicated to very dangerous if you have not read the conditions first.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Not for beginners. Intermediate to expert by one rating, advanced by another; either way you need to be autonomous in shorebreak and current.

The scene

What riders come here for

wave ridingfreeridewingfoilsurf

Summer surf-and-bathing beach first, kite spot second; you ride around the bathers and the surfers and stay out of the marked bathing areas.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: Large sand beach, but usable space is constrained by bathers, surfers, the signed kite area and the military zone in summer.

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Navarrosse, 7 km

Navarrosse Mayotte La Salie (La Teste-de-Buch)

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

No kite-specific rescue and no kite-club watch. Bathing is supervised only inside the red-and-yellow flags and only during the rescue post's opening hours; a prevention patrol works the stretch from Plage Sud to Plage du Vivier from the April school holidays onward. Outside that box and those hours nobody is watching the water, which on a baïne day matters.

Emergency numbers are 112, 15 for medical and 18 for the fire service (2026).

Launch

Park at the Plage Sud car park, cross the dune on foot, and use the signed kite area. The summer kite zone is delimited by a yellow-and-black sign; launch and ride only south of the official signage while staying out of the military area farther south.

Space

Large sand beach, but usable space is constrained by bathers, surfers, the signed kite area and the military zone in summer.

Hazards riders report 17

Strong shorebreak at high tide
Currents and baïnes
Crowded summer beach
Surfers
Military test zone south of wooden posts; do not pass south
Powerful shorebreak at high tide
Baïnes and strong currents
Atlantic waves, period, tide and coefficient can make conditions dangerous
Crowded summer beach and bathers
Military test zone south of the wooden posts; do not enter
Not a reserved kite-only zone, so vigilance with other users is required
Baïnes and strong currents, the standard hazard on this coast
Atlantic swell: wave height, period, tide and coefficient can turn the beach dangerous regardless of wind strength
Crowded summer beach with bathers and surfers
Flagged bathing zones you must stay out of
Military test zone south of the wooden posts, off limits on the sand and in the water
Not a reserved kite-only zone, so the space is shared and vigilance is on you

Rules & access

2026: the summer kite zone on the beach is marked by a yellow-and-black sign, and navigation is authorised only south of the official signage while staying out of the military test area further south, which is marked by wooden posts on the sand and in the water. Bathing zones, flagged red and yellow, must be left alone. Commune-wide, the municipal nautical rules bar kitesurfing and windsurfing from regulated bathing zones and from port areas. The lake spots are governed separately: Navarrosse is open to kites from 1 September to 31 May only, Mayotte is run as a school zone, and Port de l'Estey has a shellfish area marked by yellow buoys that is off limits. Plage Sud is reported as the only Biscarrosse kite spot authorised in July-August, which sits against the lake rules as posted, so check locally for your dates.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Read tide, swell period and coefficient before wind strength; the shorebreak at high tide is the go/no-go call, not the knots.
Park at the Plage Sud car park and walk over the dune; the kite zone starts at the yellow-and-black sign and riding is only allowed south of the official signage.
Find the wooden posts before you launch and stay north of them; the military test zone behind them is off limits on the beach and in the water.
In July and August get there early: it is the only Biscarrosse spot open to kites those two months, the beach fills with bathers and surfers, and you want to see where this year's signed zone is before rigging.
Plan the session for the afternoon: the north thermal reportedly builds from noon and holds until 18:00.
A shorty or 3/2 does it in summer with the water at 20-25 C at peak; winter is 11-12 C and a full suit.
In July and August get there early: the beach fills with bathers and surfers and you want to see where this year's signed zone is before rigging.
Plan the session for the afternoon: the north thermal builds from about midday and holds until 18:00.
If the ocean is unrideable, the lakes are the fallback, with one catch: Navarrosse is shut to kites from 1 June to 31 August and Mayotte is a school zone.

Getting there

Airport

Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD)

Route

From Bordeaux take the A63 then the A660 toward the Bassin d'Arcachon and Biscarrosse, about 70 minutes from the airport; park at Plage Sud and walk over the dune.

Transfer

70 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Campsites, lake-side rentals and beach hotels across Biscarrosse-Plage and the Bisca Grands Lacs area; nothing kite-specific.

No-wind days

Surf or bodyboard the same beach; paddle, canoe or sail on the lakes; cycle or hike the forest; swim; or drive up to the Dune du Pilat and Arcachon.

Photos

Biscarrosse beaches, looking south, 2015 — DimiTalen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When is the best time to kite Biscarrosse Plage Sud?

April to September is the good NW-thermal window, with the north thermal generally most consistent from June to September.

Is Biscarrosse Plage Sud suitable for beginners?

No, local schools rate it not for beginners, requiring intermediate-to-advanced autonomy because of baines, currents and shorebreak.

What is the wind like at Biscarrosse Plage Sud?

South through north winds all work, with west onshore and NW thermal typically 15-25 knots building through the afternoon.

Are there rules or restricted zones at Biscarrosse Plage Sud?

The summer kite zone is marked by a yellow-and-black sign, and a military zone farther south, marked by wooden posts, must not be entered; Plage Sud is the only Biscarrosse spot authorized in July-August.

Last updated: August 2026