France / Occitanie
La Grande-Motte
La Grande-Motte is a coastal resort area in Occitanie, France. Its longest mapped beach (Couchant) stretches about 1.2 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 22.0 °C in August, its warmest month, and 11.8 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in July–August.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 115Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 10Public toilets
- –Showers
- 3Drinking water
- 118Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 20Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 22Grocery shops
- 9Water-sports spots
- 2Marinas & slipways
- 22Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 5Cash machines
- 1Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 100 restaurants, 2 cafés, 10 bars and 3 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 20 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 “Saint Clair”, 610 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 9 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Good
- 2023Good
- 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 La Grande-Motte
Beach-day index 4.9/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 12.4 °C | 11.8 °C | 12.4 °C | 13.8 °C | 16.2 °C | 19.4 °C | 21.3 °C | 22.0 °C | 20.2 °C | 18.4 °C | 16.2 °C | 14.0 °C |
| High °C | 9° | 10° | 14° | 18° | 23° | 29° | 32° | 31° | 26° | 20° | 13° | 9° |
| Low °C | 0° | 0° | 3° | 7° | 11° | 15° | 18° | 17° | 13° | 10° | 5° | 1° |
| Rain mm | 61 | 47 | 54 | 69 | 65 | 42 | 30 | 36 | 65 | 106 | 104 | 61 |
| Cloud % | 64 | 59 | 56 | 54 | 52 | 41 | 32 | 36 | 43 | 58 | 63 | 62 |
| Wind m/s | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.1 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 18°/-9° | 20°/-11° | 24°/-8° | 29°/-1° | 33°/3° | 43°/8° | 40°/11° | 43°/11° | 38°/5° | 31°/-1° | 22°/-4° | 17°/-8° |
| Beach index | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 4.9 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
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 8.9/10 with highs of 31 °C, sea at 22.0 °C and 36 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.9 points above the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 16.5 °C, cooler than 66% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
October is the wettest month (106 mm) and July the driest (30 mm); the yearly total is about 740 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:47 and sets at 20:49 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south (181°). 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 238° to 304°, behind the land.
The opposite shore is only about 500 m away to the south, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 5 m deep and 11 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 5 m above sea level 500 m inland and 2 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 53% built-up land, 39% tree cover and 4% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 20% of that circle.
- Built 53%
- Tree 39%
- Bare 4%
- Grass 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport Montpellier/Méditerranée | MPL | 10.1 km | west |
| Nîmes-Arles-Camargue Airport Nîmes/Garons | FNI | 34.4 km | north-east |
| Béziers Vias airport Béziers | BZR | 64.7 km | south-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 22 bus stops within 1.5 km and 118 mapped car parks within 1 km.
5 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 39.8K residents); within 30 km there are 75 (about 625.9K).
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Kangoo Park La Grande-Motte attraction 430 m S
Islands in view
- Presqu'Île du Ponant 1.5 km E
Lighthouses & piers
- D pier 400 m SW
- E pier 400 m SW
- C pier 410 m SW
- B pier 410 m W
- F pier 420 m SW
- A pier 420 m W
Marinas
- Port de la Grande-Motte 320 m S
- Capitainerie de la Grande Motte 520 m SW
Diving & boat hire
- Vélo Club 50 m S
- Rivage 120 m SW
- CYBER LGM location vélos 190 m SE
- Voiles d'Oc 290 m SW
- Dream Boat Permis Bateau 330 m SE
- Rivage 34 570 m W
Campsites
- GCU La Grande Motte 890 m NW
- Camping La Petite Motte 980 m NW
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Grande-Motte | – | 22.0 °C | 1.2 km | Sand |
| Le Grau-du-Roi | 4.9 km SE | 22.0 °C | 3.3 km | Sand |
| Carnon-Plage | 7.7 km W | 22.0 °C | 2.9 km | Sand |
| Palavas-les-Flots | 13.0 km W | 22.0 °C | 3.5 km | Sand |
- Le Grau-du-Roi4.9 km SECompare
- Carnon-Plage7.7 km WCompare
- Palavas-les-Flots13.0 km WCompare
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 20.8 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature r5342689; 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_31TEJ_20230909_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRJ1334344M034225).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 2.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.