France / Hauts-de-France
Bray-Dunes
Bray-Dunes is a coastal resort area in Hauts-de-France, France. Its longest mapped beach (Plage de Bray-Dunes) stretches about 4.0 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 18.6 °C in August, its warmest month, and 6.7 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 18.6 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 8.0 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 6Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 23Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 2Hotels & guesthouses
- 3Grocery shops
- 20Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Cash machines
- 1Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 4 restaurants and 2 bars. Accommodation: 2 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Poste De Secours Central De Bray-Dunes”, 320 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 1 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Good
- 2016Sufficient
- 2017Sufficient
- 2018Sufficient
- 2019Good
- 2020Good
- 2021Good
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Good
- 2024Sufficient
- 2025Good
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Bray-Dunes
Beach-day index 2.1/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 7.6 °C | 6.7 °C | 7.2 °C | 9.2 °C | 11.9 °C | 14.8 °C | 17.2 °C | 18.6 °C | 17.5 °C | 15.1 °C | 12.2 °C | 9.5 °C |
| High °C | 7° | 7° | 8° | 11° | 14° | 17° | 19° | 20° | 18° | 15° | 11° | 8° |
| Low °C | 4° | 4° | 5° | 7° | 11° | 14° | 16° | 17° | 15° | 12° | 9° | 6° |
| Rain mm | 73 | 62 | 54 | 38 | 53 | 59 | 72 | 81 | 64 | 80 | 85 | 86 |
| Cloud % | 82 | 79 | 75 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 67 | 70 | 70 | 78 | 83 | 83 |
| Wind m/s | 8.0 | 7.6 | 6.6 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 6.1 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 7.8 |
| Daylight h | 8.4 | 10.0 | 11.8 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.2 | 14.7 | 12.7 | 10.8 | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Record high/low | 13°/-3° | 13°/-4° | 16°/-4° | 20°/1° | 21°/6° | 25°/9° | 31°/13° | 28°/14° | 25°/10° | 22°/5° | 17°/1° | 14°/-3° |
| Beach index | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
No month reaches 5.5 on the beach-day index; the best is August at 4.7/10, held back mainly by cool air (highs of 20 °C) and cold water (18.6 °C).
At its warmest the water here is 3.5 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 12.3 °C, cooler than 83% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
December is the wettest month (86 mm) and April the driest (38 mm); the yearly total is about 810 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.0 hours in December to 16.5 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:35 and sets at 21:14 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-north-west (335°). Open water fills about 50% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in February–October; in mid-June it goes down at 22:05 local time on a bearing of 310°.
Sunrise is over the sea in May–July.
Straight out to the north-north-west the next coast is roughly 120 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
The sea floor is still within the shallow coastal margin 1 km out; 3 km offshore the depth is about 5 m. Behind the beach the ground is about 8 m above sea level 500 m inland and 3 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 38% built-up land, 28% tree cover and 25% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 51% of that circle.
- Built 38%
- Tree 28%
- Grass 25%
- Bare 9%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ostend-Bruges International Airport Oostende | OST | 28.0 km | north-east |
| Lille Airport Lesquin | LIL | 70.4 km | south-east |
| Antwerp International Airport (Deurne) Antwerp | ANR | 136 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 20 bus stops within 1.5 km and 23 mapped car parks within 1 km.
9 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 58K residents); within 30 km there are 66 (about 420.1K).
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bray-Dunes | – | 18.6 °C | 4.0 km | Sand |
| Zuydcoote | 2.8 km SW | 18.3 °C | 1.6 km | Sand |
| Oye-Plage | 35.2 km W | 17.9 °C | – | – |
| Blériot-Plage | 50.9 km W | 17.6 °C | 1.2 km | Sand |
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 8.8 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature r10626833; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_31UDS_20240919_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRE1159107M059002).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 1.9K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.