Biscarrosse — Plage Nord

Biscarrosse Plage Nord is the Landes ocean a stone's throw from the centre — the resort beach, not the lakes. A dune-coast beach break, baïnes, a shorebreak that stiffens at high tide, and the north-west thermal from April to September. Local custom: move north of the signs, the reference managed kite spot being Plage Sud.

Biscarrosse Plage Nord is the long sand beach of the Landes dune coast, on the resort's north face, a stone's throw from the centre — an ocean spot, to be clearly told apart from the nearby lakes (Cazaux-Sanguinet, Biscarrosse-Parentis), which are the real flat-water and learning grounds. On the ocean it's a wave spot known for the regularity of its banks, very busy in summer with bathers, surfers and surf schools. Kiting lives within a clear frame here: Plage Nord is one of the four regulated zones of the maritime order, and outside marked zones riding is free beyond the 300-metre band. Local custom, led by the Beachbugs club, is to launch north of the signs and work upwind, away from the bathing area — the reference managed kite spot in high season remaining Plage Sud. The hazard that comes first, as everywhere in the Landes, is the baïnes: these water holes whose overflow creates a rip current, where the rule is don't struggle, let yourself drift and swim sideways to the beach. A drowning here was a reminder that the risk is real. The north-west thermal blows from April to September; the easterly, for its part, is offshore. Worth noting for anyone running downwind south: beyond Plage Sud begins the DGA military zone, off-limits — but it doesn't concern Plage Nord.