France / Pays de la Loire
Grande Plage
Grande Plage is an 852 m-long sandy beach facing south-south-east in La Tranche-sur-Mer (Pays de la Loire, France). The sea averages 19.7 °C in August, its warmest month, and 9.5 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Grande Plage
Beach-day index 3.4/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 10.1 °C | 9.5 °C | 10.2 °C | 12.1 °C | 14.7 °C | 17.4 °C | 19.1 °C | 19.7 °C | 18.4 °C | 16.7 °C | 14.1 °C | 11.6 °C |
| High °C | 9° | 10° | 13° | 16° | 19° | 23° | 24° | 24° | 22° | 18° | 13° | 9° |
| Low °C | 3° | 2° | 4° | 7° | 10° | 13° | 15° | 15° | 12° | 10° | 6° | 3° |
| Rain mm | 86 | 62 | 68 | 53 | 60 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 45 | 82 | 91 | 92 |
| Cloud % | 71 | 64 | 61 | 58 | 60 | 56 | 50 | 50 | 48 | 61 | 65 | 67 |
| Wind m/s | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 5.2 |
| Daylight h | 9.0 | 10.3 | 11.8 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 15.8 | 15.5 | 14.2 | 12.6 | 11.0 | 9.5 | 8.6 |
| Record high/low | 15°/-9° | 19°/-10° | 22°/-6° | 26°/-2° | 29°/2° | 34°/5° | 36°/9° | 35°/9° | 32°/4° | 28°/-1° | 21°/-4° | 17°/-7° |
| Beach index | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 6.2 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 6.3 | 3.4 | 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 7.7/10 with highs of 24 °C, sea at 19.7 °C and 49 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.3 points below the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 2.4 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 14.5 °C, cooler than 77% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
December is the wettest month (92 mm) and September the driest (45 mm); the yearly total is about 780 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.6 hours in December to 15.8 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:03 and sets at 21:17 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-east (165°). 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 November–February; in mid-December it goes down at 17:19 local time on a bearing of 236°.
Sunrise is over the sea in September–April.
The opposite shore is only about 12.0 km away to the south-south-east, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 1 m deep and 6 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 4 m above sea level 500 m inland and 1 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 64% built-up land, 19% grassland and 13% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 58% of that circle.
- Built 64%
- Grass 19%
- Bare 13%
- Tree 5%
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.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “La Grande Plage”, 110 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.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 43Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 7Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 38Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 10Hotels & guesthouses
- 6Campsites
- 9Grocery shops
- 3Water-sports spots
- 13Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 1Pharmacies & clinics
- 1Cash machines
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 33 restaurants, 2 cafés and 8 bars. Accommodation: 10 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.
Around the beach
Lighthouses & piers
- Estacade de La Tranche-sur-mer pier 540 m E
Diving & boat hire
- Sailing School Centre Nautique Tranchais 410 m NE
- Ouest Sea Zone 480 m NE
- Cycle BienEric 810 m NW
Campsites
- Camping du Sable d'Or 370 m NW
- Camping les Blancs Chenes 370 m NW
- Camping le Cottage Fleuri 370 m NW
- Camping Baie d'Aunis 550 m NE
- Camping le Vieux Moulin 770 m NW
- Camping Bel 800 m N
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Rochelle Île de Ré Airport La Rochelle | LRH | 25.7 km | south-east |
| Nantes Atlantique Airport Nantes | NTE | 91.2 km | north |
| Poitiers-Biard Airport Poitiers/Biard | PIS | 136 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 13 bus stops within 1.5 km and 38 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 6.7K residents); within 30 km there are 38 (about 186K).
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 5.8 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w40297783; 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.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_30TXS_20230809_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRG0585294M085365).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 12.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.