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Arcachon
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On summer weekends, the Bordelais escape en masse to
ARCACHON
, the oldest resort on the CA?te d'Argent and a forty-minute train ride across flat, sandy forest from Bordeaux. The beaches of white sand are magnificent but can be crowded, and its central jetties, Thiers and Eyrac, are busy with boats going off on an array of cruises to places like the A?le aux Oiseaux and the Dune de Pyla.
The town itself is a sprawl of villas great and small, the most exclusive area being the
ville d'hiver
(winter town), whose wide shady streets are full of fanciful Second Empire mansions overlooking the seaside
ville d'AİtAİ
(summer town). Well worth a wander, the area can be reached by following the lively pedestrianized and restaurant-filled rue de MarAİchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny, running perpendicular to the seafront boulevard de la Plage; at the end of this mouthful of a street, a lift (daily 9am-12.45pm & 2.30-7pm) carries you up to the flower-filled, wooded
Parc Mauresque
(daily: April-Oct 7am-10pm; rest of year 8am-7.30pm; free), with the
ville d'hiver
beyond it. From the park, there are fine views over the seafront. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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France,
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