Bordeaux day trip #2, this time to Arcachon, Dune du Pilat, and Cap Ferret. I was so excited about this day because I heard such amazing things about the area’s beauty.
We got a mid-morning start, made worse by me forgetting my phone in the room. This meant we didn’t have our tickets. Argh. So, we went back and took a later train-bus combo. I was pretty mad at myself but got over it eventually.
Arcachon
We arrived at the Arcachon station and went to the bike rental shop. He had just closed for lunch, but re-opened to lease us to e-bikes. Phew, lucky break! While the bikes weren’t as nice as the St. Émilion bikes, they were still very good. There were some mild gradients along the way so I was glad we picked the e-assist option.
But first, lunch. We went to a Boulangerie (Aux Pains D’antan) that had some savory pastries. I got an “apero bread,” which was a very delicious, fresh pizza stick. I don’t think it’s meant to be eaten like a sandwich but it was tasty. SMS got a curry chicken wrap.
After lunch in a very nice park square, we hopped on our bikes and headed towards the Dune du Pilat. We biked along the beach near Arcachon, where there was a huge teenage beach volleyball event. So, there was some good music along that part of the path. We kept going and the bike path went away from the shore and along the road. It was separate and went by some gorgeous large beach homes so there was still a scenic element.
Dune du Pilat
We got to the Dune area and parked our bikes. We were there 1 Oct, but fortunately, the staircase up was still intact despite the stated end date of 30 Sept.
The Dune du Pilat is massive. It’s one of those things were there are a lot of articles and reels about it, but being there in person is completely different. Although SMS and I often differ on the level of crazy we want to pursue, both of us were in alignment that we didn’t want to walk down the dune to the beach. Just to walk in sand on an incline and be tired and sweaty. No thanks, lol.
We did want to see it from the bottom, so we cycled to two viewpoints. The first took a few minutes to cycle to and we were surprised to see that we weren’t actually that far from where we had been. It was still a different vantage point, but about halfway down the dune. Still no inclination to hike to the beach.
Then we went to a second lookout that was a slight view, but was mostly obscured. I think we might have been able to find a public access point to the lower beach, but we wanted to get back to turn the bikes in and take the ferry to Cap Ferret.
We rode back at a pretty good pace, e-assisted with our pedaling. We still had to work (aka, it wasn’t a moped), but it was nice to have the boost. We turned in our bikes right at the 4 hour mark, so the rate stayed at the half-day price.
Then, we walked to the jetty to see if we could get ferry tickets to Cap Ferret. I really wanted to eat oysters on the other side of the bay. SMS was a super good sport because he was kind of tired, but all he said was “This town looks nice too.”
Cap Ferret
We got our tickets with 5 minutes to spare. We boarded the ferry and it was delightful. On the way over, we sat in the cabin for some shade. When we arrived ~25 minutes later, we disembarked and went straight to the restaurant l’Escale right on the dock.
We ordered an apero, oysters, burrata salad (SMS), and sardines (me). We shared all the dishes. The food was excellent and, more so, after two nights of terrible steak, it felt so good to eat the delicious grilled, salty sardines.
We had taken the 5 o’clock ferry over and had tickets for the last ferry back at 6:30. I had told the waiter we had limited time, which was a key move. He was on it, so even though we didn’t have a lot of time, we weren’t stressed about when to pay or if the dishes would be too spaced out. The only mistake I made was I said we had tickets for “six noon” since I said six et midi instead of six et demi. But now I know. SMS also noted that it seems people just say et trente, so I think I’ll just default to that.
The ferry ride back was even more beautiful. We were close to sunset and we sat outside. The ocean winds felt amazing. We walked through Arcachon for a bit before taking the direct train back to Bordeaux. Again, this was a train-bus in the a.m. and train in the p.m. situation. Not sure why but even having a one-way direct train is quite nice.
We headed back to the hotel in preparation for the next day: another day trip day- this time to check out the Left Bank!
Wow wow wow! What an amazing day! I’ll bet those oysters and sardines were so delicious. I am glad you were able to get past being mad at yourself for leaving your phone behind, it’s no good to waste your vacation time that way. And I don’t think I would have wanted to deal with the sand at the dunes either.