France / Pays de la Loire

Les Sables-d'Olonne

Les Sables-d'Olonne is a coastal resort area in Pays de la Loire, France. Its longest mapped beach (Grande Plage des Sables d'Olonne) stretches about 1.7 km and has a pebble surface. The sea averages 19.7 °C in August, its warmest month, and 9.9 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.

Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.

Musée de L'Abbaye Sainte-Croix (MASC) des Sables-d'Olonne en 2013.
Photo: Sylvain lasco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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

  • 114Restaurants, cafés & bars
  • 12Public toilets
  • –Showers
  • 1Drinking water
  • 104Car parks
  • –Lifeguard stations
  • 23Hotels & guesthouses
  • 24Grocery shops
  • 2Water-sports spots
  • 102Bus stops (1.5 km)
  • 7Pharmacies & clinics
  • 1Cash machines
  • 9Bike rental
  • 1Historic sites

Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 85 restaurants, 6 cafés, 20 bars and 3 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 23 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 “Horloge”, 170 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 5 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.

  1. 2015Excellent
  2. 2016Excellent
  3. 2017Good
  4. 2018Sufficient
  5. 2019Sufficient
  6. 2020Good
  7. 2021Good
  8. 2022Excellent
  9. 2023Excellent
  10. 2024Good
  11. 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 Les Sables-d'Olonne

Sea16.8 °C
Day high18 °C
Night low10 °C
Rain82 mm
Cloud cover61%
Wind4.6 m/s
Daylight11.0 h08:22–19:22

Beach-day index 3.5/10 · France median 4.9

Monthly averages at Les Sables-d'Olonne
MeasureJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sea °C10.6 °C9.9 °C10.3 °C12.1 °C14.6 °C17.3 °C19.0 °C19.7 °C18.5 °C16.8 °C14.5 °C12.2 °C
High °C9°10°13°16°19°23°24°24°22°18°13°9°
Low °C3°2°4°7°10°13°15°15°12°10°6°3°
Rain mm866268536047484945829192
Cloud %716461586056505048616567
Wind m/s5.25.35.14.54.34.14.13.94.14.65.05.2
Daylight h9.010.311.813.515.015.815.514.312.611.09.58.6
Record high/low15°/-9°19°/-10°22°/-6°26°/-2°29°/2°34°/5°36°/9°35°/9°32°/4°28°/-1°21°/-4°17°/-7°
Beach index2.42.62.72.93.76.27.67.76.43.52.52.4

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 14.6 °C, cooler than 76% 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 07:04 and sets at 21:19 local time.

Day highNight lowSeaRain (mm)
Climate and sea temperature at Les Sables-d'OlonneMonthly averages. Lines: daytime high, night low, sea surface temperature. Bars: rainfall in millimetres.0°5°10°15°20°25°0 mm50 mm100 mmJanuary: 86 mm rainFebruary: 62 mm rainMarch: 68 mm rainApril: 53 mm rainMay: 60 mm rainJune: 47 mm rainJuly: 48 mm rainAugust: 49 mm rainSeptember: 45 mm rainOctober: 82 mm rainNovember: 91 mm rainDecember: 92 mm rainJanuary: sea 10.6 °CFebruary: sea 9.9 °CMarch: sea 10.3 °CApril: sea 12.1 °CMay: sea 14.6 °CJune: sea 17.3 °CJuly: sea 19 °CAugust: sea 19.7 °CSeptember: sea 18.5 °COctober: sea 16.8 °CNovember: sea 14.5 °CDecember: sea 12.2 °CJanuary: high 8.8 °CFebruary: high 9.5 °CMarch: high 12.6 °CApril: high 15.7 °CMay: high 18.9 °CJune: high 22.6 °CJuly: high 24.4 °CAugust: high 24.2 °CSeptember: high 21.9 °COctober: high 17.6 °CNovember: high 12.7 °CDecember: high 9.3 °CJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Orientation, sun and shore

JunDecNESW

The shore faces south (190°). Open water fills about 36% 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 17:20 local time on a bearing of 236°.

Straight out to the south about 300 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.

About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 8 m deep and 16 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 7 m above sea level 500 m inland and 7 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.

Within 1 km, the land is 84% built-up land, 9% bare ground, sand or rock and 5% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 53% of that circle.

  • Built 84%
  • Bare 9%
  • Grass 5%
MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sunset over seayesyes––––––––yesyes
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
La Rochelle Île de Ré Airport La RochelleLRH57.0 kmsouth-east
Nantes Atlantique Airport NantesNTE74.6 kmnorth
Poitiers-Biard Airport Poitiers/BiardPIS160 kmeast

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

Local transport: 102 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Les Sables d'Olonne (350 m) and 104 mapped car parks within 1 km.

4 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 42K residents); within 30 km there are 32 (about 112.3K).

Photos

500px provided description: Sunset With Friends [#Les Sables d'Olonne]
Photo: David Lapetina, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · 17 A

From above

Satellite image of Les Sables-d'Olonne and its surroundings
Satellite view, 2.4 × 1.6 km centred on the beach, 2023-08-09. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

Around the beach

Attractions & museums

  • Musée museum 290 m S
  • Manège enfants attraction 640 m SW
  • Mairie Annexe de la Chaume attraction 640 m SW
  • Musée De L'abbaye Ste-Croix museum 680 m SW
  • Museum of Shell museum 690 m W
  • Zoo des Sables d'Olonne attraction 780 m SW

Historic sites

  • Chapelle N-d de Bonne Espérance monument 630 m S

Diving & boat hire

  • Cyclotron 680 m SW
  • Liberte Trott 800 m W

Map and nearby beaches

Loading map…

Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps

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 14.8 km away.
  • Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w175723116; 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_30TWS_20230809_0_L2A.
  • Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
  • Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRG0585194M085290).
  • 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.