France / Occitanie
Le Grau-du-Roi
Le Grau-du-Roi is a coastal resort area in Occitanie, France. Its longest mapped beach (Plage du Boucanet) stretches about 3.3 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
- 119Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 16Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 81Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 17Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 12Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 17Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 2Cash machines
- 2Bike rental
- 2Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 103 restaurants, 4 cafés, 9 bars and 3 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 17 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 “Rive Gauche”, 690 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 Le Grau-du-Roi
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 west-south-west (255°). Open water fills about 33% 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 21:25 local time on a bearing of 304°.
Straight out to the west-south-west the next coast is roughly 20 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 4 m deep and 9 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 2 m above sea level 500 m inland and 0 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 70% built-up land, 16% grassland and 6% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 53% of that circle.
- Built 70%
- Grass 16%
- Bare 6%
- Wetland 4%
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 | 14.7 km | west |
| Nîmes-Arles-Camargue Airport Nîmes/Garons | FNI | 33.3 km | north-east |
| Béziers Vias airport Béziers | BZR | 67.5 km | west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 17 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Le Grau-du-Roi (280 m) and 81 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 20.2K residents); within 30 km there are 69 (about 589.7K).
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- L'Aquarium attraction 100 m NW
Diving & boat hire
- Canoë Kayak Club du Grau du Roi 750 m N
Campsites
- Les Jardins de Tivoli S.A.R.L. 70 m NE
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Grau-du-Roi | – | 22.0 °C | 3.3 km | Sand |
| La Grande-Motte | 4.9 km NW | 22.0 °C | 1.2 km | Sand |
| Carnon-Plage | 11.8 km W | 22.0 °C | 2.9 km | Sand |
| Palavas-les-Flots | 16.6 km W | 22.0 °C | 3.5 km | Sand |
- La Grande-Motte4.9 km NWCompare
- Carnon-Plage11.8 km WCompare
- Palavas-les-Flots16.6 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 17.9 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w66097905; 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 FRJ1230133M030010).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.