France / Hauts-de-France
Wissant
Wissant is a coastal resort area in Hauts-de-France, France. Its longest mapped beach stretches about 7.2 km and has a sand surface. The sea averages 17.6 °C in August, its warmest month, and 7.9 °C in March; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 17.6 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.7 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 23Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 9Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 23Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 17Hotels & guesthouses
- 2Campsites
- 2Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 3Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 1Cash machines
- 1Bike rental
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 17 restaurants, 1 café and 5 bars. 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 “Wissant Centre Plage”, 330 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 5 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Good
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Good
- 2022Good
- 2023Sufficient
- 2024Sufficient
- 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 Wissant
Beach-day index 2.4/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 9.1 °C | 8.0 °C | 7.9 °C | 9.2 °C | 11.2 °C | 13.7 °C | 16.0 °C | 17.6 °C | 17.4 °C | 15.8 °C | 13.4 °C | 10.9 °C |
| High °C | 7° | 7° | 9° | 12° | 15° | 17° | 20° | 20° | 18° | 15° | 11° | 8° |
| Low °C | 4° | 4° | 5° | 7° | 10° | 13° | 15° | 15° | 14° | 11° | 8° | 5° |
| Rain mm | 70 | 58 | 52 | 39 | 52 | 54 | 62 | 68 | 56 | 81 | 86 | 84 |
| Cloud % | 79 | 76 | 71 | 63 | 66 | 64 | 62 | 64 | 65 | 73 | 79 | 79 |
| Wind m/s | 7.7 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.8 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 7.5 |
| Daylight h | 8.4 | 10.0 | 11.8 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.7 | 10.8 | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Record high/low | 13°/-4° | 14°/-4° | 16°/-4° | 21°/-0° | 23°/6° | 27°/8° | 31°/12° | 29°/12° | 25°/8° | 23°/4° | 17°/0° | 14°/-3° |
| Beach index | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
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 (17.6 °C) and cool air (highs of 20 °C).
At its warmest the water here is 4.5 °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 06:39 and sets at 21:17 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-west (315°). 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 March–October; in mid-June it goes down at 22:08 local time on a bearing of 310°.
Straight out to the north-west the next coast is roughly 30 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
The sea floor is still within the shallow coastal margin 1 km out; 3 km offshore the depth is about 9 m. Behind the beach the ground is about 28 m above sea level 500 m inland and 37 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 40% tree cover, 20% built-up land and 19% cropland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a partly built-up setting. Water makes up 27% of that circle.
- Tree 40%
- Built 20%
- Crop 19%
- Grass 17%
- Bare 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ostend-Bruges International Airport Oostende | OST | 91.6 km | north-east |
| London Southend Airport Southend-on-Sea, Essex | SEN | 102 km | north-west |
| Lille Airport Lesquin | LIL | 107 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 3 bus stops within 1.5 km and 23 mapped car parks within 1 km.
6 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 16.6K residents); within 30 km there are 44 (about 278K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Dédales d'Opale • Le laby de Fanny attraction 950 m S
Nature
- Dune d'Amont peak 1.2 km NE
- Butte Carlin peak 1.2 km SE
- Motte du Bourg peak 1.5 km SW
Diving & boat hire
- Les Velos de Nico 80 m W
Campsites
- Camping Municipal La Source 370 m SW
- Camping de la Source 700 m SW
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
| Beach | Distance | Warmest sea | Length | Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wissant | – | 17.6 °C | 7.2 km | Sand |
| Blériot-Plage | 13.5 km NE | 17.6 °C | 1.2 km | Sand |
| Équihen-Plage | 23.8 km S | 17.7 °C | 173 m | – |
- Blériot-Plage13.5 km NECompare
- Équihen-Plage23.8 km SCompare
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 2.9 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w115713589; 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_31UDS_20240919_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRE1262899M062090).
- 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.