France in August - by the sea of course

With both Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines, France offers unrivalled variety

August is holiday time in France and that’s official. Will the last person to leave Paris please turn out the lights?

Many French employers close for part or all the month and their employees head for the beach, or the mountains or the family home in the country. City-based second-homers add to the influx. Villages burst into life after months of hibernation.

The entire tourism industry goes full on to give all those visitors everything they want. So August is all about choice - of accommodation, restaurants, things to do and places to go.

There’s so much on offer that we’ve split this story into two parts covering the coast and inland. So what’s to do by the sea? Well, of course one can simply get wet in it, like this determined young man.

Photo: The beach and a boy with a mission, the T-shirt says it all - "Enjoy"

The sea’s a natural playground where trained lifeguards patrol the beaches in the summer months, backed up by a cast of thousands including the police, gendarmes, fire brigade and paramedics.

The warm Mediterranean laps gently at the shore with hardly any tide, barely noticeable at less than 30 centimetres, making it ideal for children of all ages and any other members of the non-swimming classes.

The Atlantic coast is slightly cooler with a more lively sea as an entire ocean tries to punch its way up the continental shelf. That makes for large beaches with real waves and a tide which rises and ebbs (up to 12 metres at St Malo).

Pushing all that water into the Bay of Biscay creates 150 kilometres of surfers’ paradise between Biarritz and Arcachon.

So how to enjoy all that coastline when you’re only here for a short time? Well, the obvious place to start is the Office de Tourisme, sometimes known by the more prosaic Syndicat d’Intiative. They have an exhaustive and sometimes surprising list of things to do, many not immediately obvious.

Visitors to Sète can spend a day on a trawler followed by a visit to the fish auctions. That’s for real hardline thinkers outside the box, since the boat leaves port at three o’clock in the morning.

Many resorts and ports offer boat trips and guided tours from an hour or two up to a whole day. Some boats are glass-bottomed offering a glimpse of your dinner before you eat it.

Photo: Day trips abound but this one's special - a gaff-rigged sailer at Agde

The more active can take a skippered sailing trip or have lessons, either by the day or for a whole week. As the jet-ski becomes the water-born version of the quad-bike, more and more resorts offer lessons and rental.

Photo: Jet-ski lesson 1 - Don't worry about trawlers, they give way, well mostly...

Now for the pièce de résistance where I get to say “Seafood and eat it”...

Since eating real food is a legal requirement in France, a lifelong form of national service, it’s one of the reasons that you came. Fish always seems better when someone else cooks it. Every region has its specialties.

A visit around Marseille wouldn’t be complete without that fish stew the bouillabaisse. There’ll be a mix of fish and vegetables as expected but what makes the dish are the herbs and olive oil.

Catalan cuisine makes a feature of sea bream and there’ll be peppers in there somewhere. Anchovies are a speciality and salads don’t reach your table without a few. Collioure, near the Spanish border, looks how a Mediterranean village is supposed to look - winding narrow streets which cling to the hillside while restaurants decorate the harbour.

From Matisse onwards, artists have replaced fishermen as the local staple industry.

Photo: Seafood and eat it at Gruissan

Basque cuisine benefits from both French and Spanish influences. Despite all the regional squabbles surrounding Basque separatism, their cuisine is much respected in both countries.

Look here for a more Atlantic, cod-based, range of dishes. Cooking styles such as basquaise feature red peppers and tomatoes.

Further north, shellfish rule supreme around Arcachon. If you pass this way without trying mussels or oysters, you’ve not been here.

Brittany’s another shellfish capital. There’s a Breton fish stew not to be missed but try the Coquilles St. Jacques - scallops in white wine sauce with potato.

St Malo is much more than a ferry port. It’s a vibrant fishing community with excellent restaurants around the harbour. What better way to finish the holiday before taking that boat home?

Related links :

• http://www.purefrance.com/