France / Brittany
Carnac-Plage
Carnac-Plage is a coastal resort area in Brittany, France on the North Atlantic Ocean. Its longest mapped beach (Grande Plage) stretches about 1.5 km. The sea averages 18.3 °C in August, its warmest month, and 9.6 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 18.3 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 50Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 5Public toilets
- –Showers
- 71Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 12Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 6Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 24Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 1Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Cash machines
- 4Bike rental
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 34 restaurants, 1 café and 15 bars. Accommodation: 12 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 “Grande Plage”, 480 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
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 Carnac-Plage
Beach-day index 2.8/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 10.2 °C | 9.6 °C | 9.9 °C | 11.6 °C | 13.8 °C | 16.2 °C | 17.6 °C | 18.3 °C | 17.2 °C | 15.8 °C | 13.8 °C | 11.8 °C |
| High °C | 8° | 9° | 12° | 15° | 18° | 22° | 24° | 24° | 22° | 17° | 12° | 9° |
| Low °C | 3° | 2° | 3° | 5° | 8° | 11° | 13° | 13° | 11° | 8° | 6° | 3° |
| Rain mm | 75 | 63 | 58 | 48 | 54 | 49 | 46 | 47 | 41 | 80 | 83 | 84 |
| Cloud % | 76 | 70 | 66 | 58 | 60 | 58 | 55 | 55 | 52 | 67 | 71 | 73 |
| Wind m/s | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 5.1 |
| Daylight h | 8.8 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.1 | 16.0 | 15.6 | 14.3 | 12.7 | 11.0 | 9.4 | 8.5 |
| Record high/low | 15°/-10° | 20°/-8° | 22°/-5° | 26°/-3° | 29°/0° | 34°/4° | 37°/8° | 39°/7° | 32°/4° | 28°/-0° | 19°/-5° | 15°/-6° |
| Beach index | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.8 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
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
The beach-day index peaks in July–August; August scores 7.1/10 with highs of 24 °C, sea at 18.3 °C and 47 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.9 points below the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 3.8 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 13.8 °C, cooler than 78% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
December is the wettest month (84 mm) and September the driest (41 mm); the yearly total is about 730 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.5 hours in December to 16.0 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:07 and sets at 21:27 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-east (160°). Open water fills about 25% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 235° to 307°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in November–January.
Straight out to the south-south-east about 300 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
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 7 m above sea level 500 m inland and 20 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 35% tree cover, 30% grassland and 29% built-up land (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 24% of that circle.
- Tree 35%
- Grass 30%
- Built 29%
- Bare 3%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Ille-et-Vilaine | RNS | 114 km | north-east |
| Nantes Atlantique Airport Nantes | NTE | 120 km | east |
| Brest Bretagne airport Brest | BES | 139 km | north-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 24 bus stops within 1.5 km and 71 mapped car parks within 1 km.
9 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 21.7K residents); within 30 km there are 51 (about 322.1K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Luna Park Distractions attraction 150 m S
- Le Manège d'Armelle attraction 150 m S
Islands in view
- Île de Stuhan 2.3 km E
Diving & boat hire
- Carnac Location by Veloc'Ouest 320 m E
Campsites
- Camping Les Menhirs 590 m E
- Camping les Salines CARNAC 870 m NW
Map
Loading map…
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 6.7 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w38659218; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_30TVT_20260706_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRH0456034M056290).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 18.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.