LANDES GUIDE

View Landes Holiday Properties

Surfers love the Landes. It offers a paradise of mighty Atlantic rollers continually breaking on this part of the sandy Cote d’Argent beaches stretching 106km south from nearby Arcachon Bay. But the department of Landes with its mild climate also has gentler pleasures to enjoy including a wealth of nature reserves and wildlife, along with traditions part Gascon and Basque yet uniquely Landais. Originally, the Landes was marshland edged by shifting sand dunes where shepherds herding their flocks wore stilts. Vast pine forests planted to stabilise the land in the 19^th century have become the largest cultivated forest in Europe and are at the heart of the ‘Landes de Gascogne Regional Park’. Great for walking, horse riding and cycling.

 

Children will love the tourist train ride from Sabres to the eco-museum at Marqueze recapturing life before the marshes were drained. Landes’s wetlands are studded with freshwater lakes many of which make safe bathing. Spot otters on canoeing rivers and go migrant bird-watching on the ‘Marais d’Orx’ marshes. Visitors to this rural world of scattered farms and sleepy villages will find no big cities although Bordeaux with its world famous wine districts and Biarritz, mixing style with surfing, are within easy reach. Mont-de-Marsan, Landes’s capital, is certainly cosmopolitan. You may wish to avoid the ‘corrida’ (bullfight) during its July festival but the ‘course landaise’ - more like ‘running’ where no bulls are killed - is exciting. Local village fetes often sport their own lively versions using cows, and audiences participate. The Landais love music and festivals; there’s jazz at Uzeste and summer events with ‘bandas’ (brass bands) in Parentis and Dax. 

 

Inland are spa towns to discover, medieval villages, Roman churches and Landes’s traditional gastronomy. Take a glass of the finest brandy Landes’s sandy soils can produce in Bas Armagnac, and if ‘foie gras’ isn’t for you, what about ‘tourtiere’ a delicious apple strudel made with goose-fat instead of butter?

 

Returning to the ocean, many beaches are supervised all year and cycling, boating and golfing are popular along the Atlantic coast. Beautiful and rarely crowded, Biscarosse is great for land yachting, surfing and windsurfing (with child-friendly swimming on Biscarosse Lake). Watch world championship surfers at Hossegor in September 2008. Sailors from the adjacent port of Capbreton are even said to have discovered Canada before Columbus set foot in America.

 

Mont-de-Marsan

This elegant and cosmopolitan town known as the ‘City of Three Rivers’ lies at the confluence of the Douze and Midou rivers where they merge into the larger Midouze. Administrative centre for the department of the Landes and surrounded by its lush forests, the town makes an idea touring base. Visit its twelfth century keep, housing work by local sculptors and church of Ste Madeleine with its ornamental ceiling and marble. Stroll in the delightful woodland setting of Parc Jean Rameau overlooking the Douze. The town is the centre for ‘courses landaises’ - a gentler form of bull fighting where participants aim to vault the backs and horns of cows and no animals are killed. Fetes Madeleines in July is a great time to be in town, with a week of Basque carnival festivity including parades, music, flamenco dancing and the ‘corrida’ (bullfight). Horse racing is also a passion with the  townspeople, and the local race course hosts at least a dozen meetings each year.

 

Biscarosse Beach and Lake

The beautiful exposed beach of Biscarosse backed by dunes is rarely crowded and has space set aside for land yachts and kit buggies. Alizess Speed is the local sand yachting club. Majestic Atlantic breakers make this one of the best spots in Europe for surfing and windsurfing. Point Break Surf School is accredited by the French Surfing Federation and also has a “Jardin des Crevettes” for over 6 year olds. Xperience Gliss offers surfing and bodyboarding courses at all levels and Centre Nautique Biscarrosse Olympique is another accredited sailing and sports school. Biscarrosse Ville, 6 miles from the resort bungalows and apartment blocks of the beach resort, is an attractive place with older-style properties set amongst birch trees and a child-friendly swimming lake on its western edge. Find sailing and fishing here and the Musee de l’Hydraviation - commemorating a flying boat service to New York based briefly on the lake between the two World Wars.

 

Mimizan

Mimizan, close to the shores of the Etang d’Aureilhan, is a town divided. Mimizan Plage was developed in the nineteenth century Belle Epoque as a seaside resort and is popular today with families, surfers, body boarders and sailors. The inland town, centering around its eleventh century ruined abbey, is the ideal starting point for walking, cycling and orienteering trips into the heart of the surrounding forest. Mimizan Intercommunal Tourist Office has details of these, along with information on visits to the pine museum at Pontenx-les-Forges, guided tour around Mimizan explaining the history of the forest and wood working, heritage museum and the amazing Maison de l’Airial at Bias (open selected times June-Sept), where you can find everything you ever needed to know about wood and more. Sample over 100 wood ‘fragrances’ while the children ‘have a go’ on a giant wooden xylophone. 

 

Labastide d’Armagnac

A superb little medieval ‘Bastide’ village in Bas Armagnac. Its Place Royale, a well preserved arcaded square dating from 1291, is said to have inspired Henri IV in his design for the Place des Vosges in Paris. (Interestingly Labastide’s original building charter was ratified by England’s Edward I as ruler of Armagnac during this period). Worth a visit for its shady arched walkways and fifteenth century church, it also offers a costume museum, display of Armagnac brandy and an exhibition of historic fortified villages or ‘Bastides’. Look for the curiously named eleventh century church, Notre-Dame des Cyclistes, less than 2 miles away, declared as sanctuary for cyclists in 1959, it displays cycling memorabilia as part of the nearby Maison des Cyclists museum.    

 

Dax and the Borda Museum

Dax has been a premier spa resort since Roman times with famous mud baths. Water from the hot spring which feeds the town’s central fountain is at a constant 64 degrees centigrade. Admire Dax’s Gallo-Roman architecture, stroll beside the River Adour and discover the town’s long and interesting history relating to the formation of a united France. The Borda Museum has interesting displays on the history of the area since pre-historic times. Ticket price includes a visit to the archaeological crypt. Dax is a major bull-fighting and course landaise centre, with August being the main month for events.

 

Cote d’Argent

200km of silver sand stretching in total south from the mouth of the Gironde Estuary to the stylish resort of Biarritz, where Atlantic rollers, white with foam, crash on beautiful beaches backed by high dunes and the largest cultivated forest in Europe. Over half this paradise for lovers of extreme watersports and beached based activities, such as sand yachting and horse riding, lies in the department of the Landes south of Arcachon Bay. Find venues for serious surfers like Hossegor, ancient fishing villages transformed into family-friendly seaside resorts like Biscarosse and Moliets, with inland lakes close by, for child-friendly swimming, fishing, boating and picnicking. Marked cycle and walking trails help you explore the dunes and forest fringes with their wealth of animal and bird life in peaceful sanctuaries such as Lake Arjuzanx. With such vast stretches of natural beauty it is always possible to find deserted places to relax and unwind - even in high season. Make time for a trip into neighbouring Gironde to climb the mountainous Dune du Pyla - Europe’s highest sand dune at over 100m.   

 

Arjuzanx Reserve

If you are interested in bird-watching, visit the National Reserve in Arjuzanx, particularly in winter to see the cranes. Weekend tours with a guide are available from Oct to mid March on Wed, Sat and Sun (am and pm) and Fri pm (booking advised). For further information, tel: (00 33) 5 58 08 11 52.

 

Marais d’Orx Nature Reserve

A prime location for bird-watching, especially spoonbills and crested grebes. The staging post for over 250 species of migrating birds covers 1000 ha at the foot of the Pyrenees in southern Landes.

 

Old Gascon gastronomic traditions are very much alive in the Landais hinterland of Chalosse, Tursan and Bas Armagnac, where quality crops are produced, including asparagus and kiwi fruit. Sample foie gras (half of France’s production comes from the Landes) and Floc de Gascone aperitif - tasting a little like sherry. Or try salade landaise, a mixture of salad and warm salted meat - wonderful with a glass of Tursan wine. Golden maize fed, free-range Landes chicken is so tender it’s rightly popular. Look for seasonal' cepes and girolles mushrooms in Landes’s autumn cuisine and sea trout from April to July. Along with the region’s rivers, the Bay of Biscay is teaming with a variety of fish including tuna, sardines and shellfish. Armagnac, the fine golden brandy produced on the Landes’s sandy soil, is justly world famous and a must to end any meal.  

 

Surfing, Hossegor

The area around Hossegor on the Landes’s ‘Silver Coast’ is world famous amongst surfers for the quality of its sand bars and beach breaks, due to a deep ocean floor canyon channeling the force of the Atlantic directly onto its beaches. Autumn through to spring are the most challenging times, while beginners should choose the summer waves. The French leg of the Surfing World Championships begins here in September 2008 - a chance to see the professionals in action. The resort offers a variety of surfing courses at all levels and ‘Surfaris’ to lesser known surfing spots nearby. Backed by forest with a 250 hectare salt-water lake nearby, the town also offers, boutique shopping, golf and a good variety of clubs, cafes and restaurants.  

 

Train ride from Sabres to Marqueze Eco-museum

The 5km restored steam train ride from Sabres to the eco-museum at Marqueze in the Landes de Gascogne Regional Park makes a great adventure for children. There are regular departures daily June-Sept and in the afternoons Apr-May and mid Sept-Oct. Fare includes entrance to the museum which is one of 3 sites. Displays in a forest clearing show old activities such as charcoal-burning and sheep farming and how the forests supported local industries like brick kilns and glass works. It is a living model of life in the Grande Lande during the nineteenth century, complete with shepherds homes, kitchen gardens and tradesmen such as bakers and weavers.

 

Dax Market

Visit Dax on Saturday mornings for the open-air market selling farm produce, vegetables, fruit, flowers and the covered market selling meat and poultry. On the first Thursday of the month, head to the market hall for local second-hand items for sale

Courses Landaises – Bull Jumping

Actually a gentler form of bull fighting - a participation sport where brave members of the audience can join in vaulting the backs and horns of cows rather than bulls. The aim is to dodge the animal, not kill it. Points are awarded not only to the ‘sauteurs’ (jumpers) and ‘ecarteurs’ (swervers) but also to the ‘coursiere’ (semi-wild cow). Events take place at Mont-de-Marsan, Mimizan, Dax, Parentis and Sainte Eulalie and details can be obtained from the Course Landaise Federation. Almost every village fete has its own version of the sport which usually makes for great entertainment - often as part of a week of festivities. Find details at local tourist offices. 

 

Fetes Costume

People in SW Landes are known for their festivals - called ‘heste’ locally. Most organizers and many participants at fetes, especially the ‘courses landaises’ wear a local costume of white with a strongly contrasting coloured scarf, sash or beret. These outfits can usually be purchased at large supermarkets for about €15 - €20.   

 

Dax, Feria, 12 to 17 August 2008

Dax’s feria is the local annual festival which includes the releasing of bulls onto the streets.

 

Please check precise details and dates with event organisers before making your holiday and travel arrangements.

 

Copyright: Holiday France Direct 2008