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Map › France › Bretagne — Isthme de Penthievre to Petite Mer de Gavres › Plage des Sables Blancs

Bretagne · Baie de Quiberon - Plouharnel · Morbihan · Plouharnel

Plage des Sables Blancs

also known as Sables Blancs Plouharnel, Les Sables Blancs

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

Nearby Plage de Sainte-Barbe 3 km · Isthme de Penthievre 3 km · Grande Plage de Carnac 5 km · Plage de Kerhillio 5 km · Petite Mer de Gavres 18 km · Plage de la Falaise 36 km · straight-line distance

Seasonno season namedthe months riders and schools nameHow windy12-30+ knotsmixedLaunchmedium and tide-dependentaccess rules on record, belowWaterbay16-19°C in summer · 13 things riders flagLevelBeginner to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level sectionSchools5named at this spotFrom the airport100 min

When it fills in

afternoon for the summer thermal regime; otherwise weather-system dependent

Sables Blancs is the bay side of Plouharnel: sand, no waves, and water you can stand in a long way out at the right tide.
It takes N, NE, E, SE or S, and the session you want is a fine-weather E to NE anticyclonic flow of 12-18 knots, when the Baie de Quiberon goes flat and the freestylers turn up; it is at its best when water height and direction line up. Mid tide to high tide is the safe window.
Low tide on a big coefficient uncovers the oyster parks and their posts; if you go out then, stay to the right of the parks, and wear booties because the shells cut.
Beginners can learn here, and the schools teach around Plouharnel, but this is a shellfish beach with moorings and bathing areas in front of the campsites, not a lagoon. When the wind sits more N to NE it goes irregular.
The Plouharnel order of 3 March 2025 covers this beach and the kite zone is drawn on the panel at the entrance, not published online, so read the panel.
Nobody has published a wind range for this beach on its own; the 12-18 kt anticyclonic figure, the 15-18 kt summer W thermal and the reported 224 days a year at Beaufort 4 or more are all Carnac-area numbers.

The wind

Direction

beachwater
onshoreN

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

fills in: afternoon for the summer thermal regime; otherwise weather-system dependent

Typical strength

12-30+ knots across South Brittany regimes: anticyclonic E-NE 12-18 kt, summer W thermal 15-18 kt, and depression winds 15 to 30+ kt

Works most often in fine-weather NE anticyclonic wind. At its best for freestyle when water height and direction line up; goes irregular when the wind sits more N to NE.
The bay is closed to kites and windsurf from 1 November to 31 March, so this is an April-to-October spot and the beach zoning is in force from 1 April to 30 September plus school holidays. Fine-weather E to NE anticyclonic flow is the reliable regime.
The local count of 224 days a year at Beaufort 4 or more is a Carnac-area figure, not a measurement on this beach.

The quiver, in words

No table exists for this beach. Indicative for 75-85 kg on the bay's usual regimes: 11-12 m in the 12-15 kn anticyclonic NE, 9-10 m around 18 kn, 7 m when a depression pushes it past 25 kn. Derived from the weight-and-wind rule, not from a local measurement.

Direction to shore

NE, E or SE are the main directions here; which of them comes in onshore and which side-shore is unconfirmed.

Dominant direction

N, NE, E, SE, S

Forecast

Next three days, from Windfinder · full forecast

Month by month

  1. Jan48
  2. Feb39
  3. Mar63
  4. Apr47
  5. May44
  6. Jun38
  7. Jul48
  8. Aug35
  9. Sep35
  10. Oct35
  11. Nov45
  12. Dec55

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

  1. 48%Jan11°
  2. 39%Feb10°
  3. 63%Mar11°
  4. 47%Apr13°
  5. 44%May15°
  6. 38%Jun18°
  7. 48%Jul17°
  8. 35%Aug18°
  9. 35%Sep18°
  10. 35%Oct17°
  11. 45%Nov15°
  12. 55%Dec12°

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

MonthWindy daysForce 4+12 kn or moreKnotsFromPeaks atAirWaterReadings
Jan48%66%60%15.9 ktSW14:007.3°C10.7°C62
Feb39%58%49%13.7 ktW14:008.8°C10.3°C57
Mar63%81%77%16.7 ktSW15:009.9°C11.1°C62
Apr47%68%60%14.3 ktW16:0011.2°C12.5°C60
May44%79%71%13.5 ktNNE16:0014.7°C15.2°C62
Jun38%67%53%12.4 ktW17:0017.8°C17.6°C60
Jul48%68%58%13.4 ktW16:0018.6°C16.8°C62
Aug35%65%50%12.8 ktW16:0019.3°C18.1°C62
Sep35%60%50%13.1 ktW15:0017.3°C18°C60
Oct35%58%47%13.5 ktW15:0015.2°C17.2°C62
Nov45%57%57%16.1 ktW13:0011.9°C14.5°C60
Dec55%73%65%15.6 ktWNW14:008.8°C11.9°C62
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

bay

Standing depth

You can stand a long way out once the tide has covered the shell beds, which is the window the order allows anyway. How far, and the coefficient at which it stops being true, is unmeasured.

Tides

Mid tide to high tide, and in the bay that is the rule rather than a preference: riding is allowed around high water only. The bay drains a long way at low water, and on a big coefficient the oyster parks and their posts come out of the water.Some riders still go out at low tide by keeping to the right of the parks.

Temperature

16-19°C summer · 9-11°C winter

Wetsuit

A 3/2 or a shorty in summer, a 4/3 in the shoulder months, a 5/3 with booties in winter.

10–18°C water
Bay-side sandy freeride spot in the Baie de Quiberon, with flat or no-wave water compared with the ocean side.

Your level

beginnerintermediateadvanced
Beginners can learn here at the right tide, with standing-depth zones and no waves, but the oyster parks and posts are real: a first-season rider should go out with a school or with someone who knows where they are.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridefreestyleflat waterlearning
A long bay beach shared with the campsites behind it: bathers and walkers in front, moorings offshore. July and August need more care around the marked zones.

Launch and rules

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

With a school or a boat

5 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: medium and tide-dependent

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Plage de Sainte-Barbe, 3 km

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

Rescue

No lifeguard on this beach. The commune's only supervised bathing zone is the mobile one at Sainte-Barbe, watched 13:00-19:00 in high summer (5 July to 29 August in 2025, 4 July to 30 August in 2026); outside that zone and those hours the water is unsupervised and you are on your own.
Emergency call points are marked on the beach-zoning map, at Sainte-Barbe and along the ocean side. The schools around Plouharnel move between beaches with the wind, so a lesson boat may or may not be here on a given day.

Launch

Bay-side launching is from the beach at the end of the road through the state forest, by the Sables Blancs car park. The mooring zones of Sables Blancs and Pen er Lé, and the strip between them and the top of the beach, are closed to the sport, so the usable ground is the sector beside them, as drawn on the panel at the entrance.Wait until the tide has put water over the shell beds; at low water the oyster parks and their posts are dry.

Space

medium and tide-dependent

Hazards riders report 13

  • oyster parks and posts at low tide
  • tide dependence
  • shells that can cut feet
  • moorings and bathing areas near campsites
  • irregular wind when the direction sits more N to NE
  • large tidal range exposing the beach far at low tide
  • oyster parks and their posts, dry at low tide
  • shells that cut feet, worst along the oyster-park edges
  • seagrass beds you are not allowed to walk on
  • ringed plover nesting in the top of the beach and the tideline, April to the end of August
  • mooring zones and bathing areas in front of the campsites, closed to the sport
  • large tidal range: the bay drains far at low water
  • a closed season in the bay from 1 November to 31 March
Rules & access
Municipal order AR/VOIRIE/2025-20 of 3 March 2025 governs Plouharnel's beaches, and its zoning runs from 1 April to 30 September inclusive plus the school holidays and the Toussaint break.
The Baie de Plouharnel is a Natura 2000 bird protection area, and inside it kitesurfing and windsurfing are forbidden from 1 November to 31 March; the rest of the year they are allowed around high water only, and without trampling the seagrass beds.
Activity sectors are lettered on the information panel at each beach access and marked by colour-coded poles on the dune; outside a lettered K sector, kiting has to take place beyond 200 m from the water's edge as it stands at that moment.
On the bay side, launching is from the beach at the end of the road through the state forest: the Sables Blancs and Pen er Lé mooring zones, and the strip between them and the top of the beach, are closed to the sport.
Kite wings are banned on the beach inside the bathing zone unless a zone is set aside for them. Ringed plover nest in the top of the beach and along the tideline from April to the end of August, at Sables Blancs north in particular, so keep off those strips.
A declared kite school may field at most three instructors with four kites each. Dogs are barred from the beach, leashed or not, except at Mané Guen, and motorised access to the sand needs authorisation.

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

Rider tips

  • Wear booties: the shells cut, worst along the oyster-park edges.
  • Skip low tide on a big coefficient unless you know where the oyster parks and posts are; if you must go, keep right of the parks.
  • Read the kite-zone panel at the beach entrance before rigging; the Plouharnel boundary is posted there and nowhere online.
  • Aim for mid tide to high tide, when the bay has water over the shell beds.
  • Stay clear of the moorings and the bathing areas in front of the campsites, above all in July and August.
  • Do not plan a winter session here: the bay is shut to kites and windsurf from 1 November to 31 March.
  • Ride around high water. That is what the order allows, and it is when the shell beds are covered.
  • Read the zoning panel at the beach entrance before rigging; the sector letters and the K zone are posted there and nowhere online.
  • Outside a K sector you have to be beyond 200 m from the water's edge, so know which sector you are in.
  • Keep off the seagrass when you walk out; the ban is written into the order.
  • Stay clear of the Sables Blancs and Pen er Lé moorings and the bathing areas in front of the campsites.
  • From April to the end of August, keep off the top of the beach and the tideline where the plover nest.

Getting there

Airport

Lorient Bretagne-Sud Airport or Nantes-Atlantique International Airport

Route

From Plouharnel take the D968 toward Saint-Pierre-Quiberon, turn left before the Quiberon isthmus and carry on to the car park after the railway crossing. From Nantes it is the RN165; without a car, plan the last leg on BreizhGo or MobiBreizh.

Transfer

100 min

Cost level

medium

Staying

Camping des Sables Blancs is the campsite for this beach; the wider bay has more campsites and the tourist-office listings for everything else.

No-wind days

Surf on the ocean-side Plouharnel beaches, beach walking and fishing at low tide, Carnac megaliths, Quiberon peninsula visits and cycling.

Photos

Morbihan Plouharnel Mane Guen Plage Dune Vue Erdeven 23032016 - panoramio
rene boulay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

When does the wind work best at Sables Blancs?

The spot favors north, northeast, east, southeast and south wind, with fine-weather northeast and E-NE anticyclonic flow specifically recommended for freeride.

Is Sables Blancs suitable for beginners?

It can suit beginners at mid to high tide because there is standing depth and no waves, but low tide on big coefficients exposes oyster parks that must be avoided.

What hazards should riders watch for?

Oyster parks and posts appear at low tide and exposed shells can cut feet, so booties are recommended near the oyster-park edges.

Are there rules to follow at Sables Blancs?

A March 2025 municipal order regulates nautical and beach activities in Plouharnel, and kite zones are shown on entrance panels at each beach.

More in BrittanyPlage de la FalaiseSaint-Michel-en-Greveall →

Last updated: August 2026