France / Hauts-de-France

Hardelot-Plage

Hardelot-Plage is a coastal resort area in Hauts-de-France, France. The sea averages 17.7 °C in August, its warmest month, and 7.9 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.

Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.

Hardelot-Plage, Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France
Photo: Valentin Polo vp_fr, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Cold water all year

The sea peaks at 17.7 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.

Windy months

Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.7 m/s in January, the windiest month.

Naturist beach

OpenStreetMap marks nudism here as “yes”.

No lifeguard mapped

OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.

Services in the resort

  • 20Restaurants, cafés & bars
  • 5Public toilets
  • –Showers
  • 1Drinking water
  • 125Car parks
  • –Lifeguard stations
  • 4Hotels & guesthouses
  • 6Grocery shops
  • 1Water-sports spots
  • 1Cash machines
  • 1Viewpoints

Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 15 restaurants, 4 bars and 1 fast-food outlet. Accommodation: 4 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 “Neufchatel-Hardelot Plage”, 230 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 0 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.

  1. 2015Good
  2. 2016Good
  3. 2017Good
  4. 2018Good
  5. 2019Good
  6. 2020Good
  7. 2021Sufficient
  8. 2022Sufficient
  9. 2023Sufficient
  10. 2024Sufficient
  11. 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 Hardelot-Plage

Sea15.7 °C
Day high15 °C
Night low11 °C
Rain81 mm
Cloud cover73%
Wind6.7 m/s
Daylight10.8 h08:14–19:04

Beach-day index 2.4/10 · France median 4.9

Monthly averages at Hardelot-Plage
MeasureJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sea °C8.9 °C7.9 °C7.9 °C9.3 °C11.4 °C13.8 °C16.1 °C17.7 °C17.5 °C15.7 °C13.3 °C10.8 °C
High °C7°7°9°12°15°17°20°20°18°15°11°8°
Low °C4°4°5°7°10°13°15°15°14°11°8°5°
Rain mm705852395254626856818684
Cloud %797671636664626465737979
Wind m/s7.77.46.55.45.55.15.25.35.86.77.17.5
Daylight h8.410.011.813.815.516.516.114.612.710.89.08.0
Record high/low13°/-4°14°/-4°16°/-4°21°/-0°23°/6°27°/8°31°/12°29°/12°25°/8°23°/4°17°/0°14°/-3°
Beach index2.02.22.52.82.72.94.14.73.92.42.02.0

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 cold water (17.7 °C) and cool air (highs of 20 °C).

At its warmest the water here is 4.4 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).

Across the year the sea averages 12.5 °C, cooler than 82% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.

November is the wettest month (86 mm) and April the driest (39 mm); the yearly total is about 760 mm.

Daylight runs from 8.0 hours in December to 16.5 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:40 and sets at 21:16 local time.

Day highNight lowSeaRain (mm)
Climate and sea temperature at Hardelot-PlageMonthly averages. Lines: daytime high, night low, sea surface temperature. Bars: rainfall in millimetres.0°5°10°15°20°0 mm50 mm100 mmJanuary: 70 mm rainFebruary: 58 mm rainMarch: 52 mm rainApril: 39 mm rainMay: 52 mm rainJune: 54 mm rainJuly: 62 mm rainAugust: 68 mm rainSeptember: 56 mm rainOctober: 81 mm rainNovember: 86 mm rainDecember: 84 mm rainJanuary: sea 8.9 °CFebruary: sea 7.9 °CMarch: sea 7.9 °CApril: sea 9.3 °CMay: sea 11.4 °CJune: sea 13.8 °CJuly: sea 16.1 °CAugust: sea 17.7 °CSeptember: sea 17.5 °COctober: sea 15.7 °CNovember: sea 13.3 °CDecember: sea 10.8 °CJanuary: high 7.2 °CFebruary: high 7.1 °CMarch: high 8.8 °CApril: high 11.7 °CMay: high 14.5 °CJune: high 17.4 °CJuly: high 19.5 °CAugust: high 19.9 °CSeptember: high 18.1 °COctober: high 15.1 °CNovember: high 11.1 °CDecember: high 8.2 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Orientation, sun and shore

JunDecNESW

The shore faces west (265°). 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 every month; in mid-June it goes down at 22:07 local time on a bearing of 310°.

Straight out to the west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.

About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 5 m deep and 18 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 15 m above sea level 500 m inland and 29 m at 1.5 km.

Within 1 km, the land is 45% tree cover, 27% built-up land and 19% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 49% of that circle.

  • Tree 45%
  • Built 27%
  • Grass 19%
  • Bare 8%
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sunset over seayesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
Sunrise over sea––––––––––––

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

Airports with scheduled flights
AirportCodeDistanceDirection
Lille Airport LesquinLIL108 kmeast
Ostend-Bruges International Airport OostendeOST111 kmnorth-east
London Southend Airport Southend-on-Sea, EssexSEN121 kmnorth-west

Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.

Local transport: 125 mapped car parks within 1 km.

11 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 51.2K residents); within 30 km there are 38 (about 218.8K).

Photos

Hardelot Plage sea front
Photo: Velvet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · 2019

From above

Satellite image of Hardelot-Plage and its surroundings
Satellite view, 2.4 × 1.6 km centred on the beach, 2025-08-25. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

Around the beach

Nature

  • Mont Café peak 1.4 km NE

Diving & boat hire

  • Kayak Mer Côte d'Opale - KMCO 370 m E

Map and nearby beaches

Loading map…

Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps

Compared with the nearest beaches
BeachDistanceWarmest seaLengthSurface
Hardelot-Plage–17.7 °C––
Équihen-Plage4.8 km N17.7 °C173 m–
Sainte-Cécile-Plage6.8 km S17.7 °C2.1 kmSand
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage13.0 km S17.7 °C8.1 kmSand

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 3.7 km away.
  • Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature n1723311510; 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 S2C_31UCS_20250825_0_L2A.
  • Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
  • Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRE1262604M062200).
  • Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
  • Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
  • Search popularity: about 33.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).

Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.