France / Occitanie
Palavas-les-Flots
Palavas-les-Flots is a coastal resort area in Occitanie, France. Its longest mapped beach (Palavas Est) stretches about 3.5 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.
The beach is tagged as supervised.
Services in the resort
- 95Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 10Public toilets
- –Showers
- 28Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 12Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 10Grocery shops
- 2Water-sports spots
- 1Playgrounds & water parks
- 21Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 3Pharmacies & clinics
- 1Cash machines
- 1Bike rental
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 80 restaurants, 7 bars and 8 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 12 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 - Hotel De Ville”, 420 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 10 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Good
- 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 Palavas-les-Flots
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 | 12.3 °C | 13.8 °C | 16.2 °C | 19.4 °C | 21.2 °C | 22.0 °C | 20.1 °C | 18.4 °C | 16.1 °C | 13.9 °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 | 8.1 | 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 06:48 and sets at 20:50 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-east (155°). Open water fills about 44% 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.
Sunrise is over the sea in September–April.
Straight out to the south-south-east about 500 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 9 m deep and 16 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 79% built-up land, 10% grassland and 8% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 51% of that circle.
- Built 79%
- Grass 10%
- Bare 8%
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 | 5.9 km | north-east |
| Nîmes-Arles-Camargue Airport Nîmes/Garons | FNI | 46.6 km | north-east |
| Béziers Vias airport Béziers | BZR | 51.9 km | south-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 21 bus stops within 1.5 km and 28 mapped car parks within 1 km.
4 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 40.5K residents); within 30 km there are 71 (about 655.8K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Luna park Palavas attraction 390 m NW
- Musée de la Voiture Miniature et du Train museum 580 m N
- Musée Albert Dubout museum 750 m N
Historic sites
- Redoute de Ballestras monument 750 m N
Lighthouses & piers
- Ponton A pier 270 m S
- Ponton B pier 290 m S
- Ponton C pier 300 m S
- Ponton D pier 330 m S
- Ponton E pier 350 m S
- Ponton F pier 380 m S
Diving & boat hire
- Jet 7 Location Palavas 120 m SE
- Samy Jet Ski Palavas 250 m SE
Campsites
- Aire Camping Cars Paul Riquet 790 m NW
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palavas-les-Flots | – | 22.0 °C | 3.5 km | Sand |
| Carnon-Plage | 5.3 km NE | 22.0 °C | 2.9 km | Sand |
| Plage des Aresquiers | 11.3 km SW | 22.0 °C | 860 m | – |
| La Grande-Motte | 13.0 km E | 22.0 °C | 1.2 km | Sand |
| Frontignan-Plage | 14.0 km SW | 22.0 °C | 3.3 km | Sand |
- Carnon-Plage5.3 km NECompare
- Plage des Aresquiers11.3 km SWCompare
- La Grande-Motte13.0 km ECompare
- Frontignan-Plage14.0 km SWCompare
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 17.6 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w283112390; 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 FRJ1334192M034185).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 18.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.