LANDES

Hydrotherapy, gourmet treats, lovely lakes and luscious beaches await you in Landes, says Heidi Fuller-love

- Heidi Fuller-love

The glorious Landes département studded with swathes of silvery sand and backed by dense, sweetscented pine forests, is a magnet for nature lovers.

To get a flavour of this brinebathed region, start your trip in Biscarrosse (or ‘Bisca’ as locals call it) some 60 kilometres south of Bordeaux. Grab a rich, sticky vanilla and rum cake, pastis landaise, from Boulangerie Lou Pan d’Aqui Salon de Thé, just across from the tourist office, then hire a bike from Au Vélo Pour Tous (au-velopour-tous.fr) and cycle the pancake-flat streets of this lively little town to burn off those calories.

Apart from its lake-studded landscapes and 14th-century Église Saint-Martin, Bisca is famed for its échassiers landais, the shepherds who once used stilts to follow their flocks through the region’s marshes.

Learn more about these elevated shepherds at the Musée des Traditions et de l’Histoire – you can even take a boat trip to explore the marshes – then head next door to the Musée de l’Hydraviation (entry €8, hydravions-biscarrosse.com) where fascinating exhibits – ranging from aviator’s artefacts to full-size seaplanes – tell the tale of Biscarrosse’s role in launching France’s first commercial flights.

Bisca has plenty of beautiful beaches, but if you’re hankering for some of the region’s best, drive 30 minutes via the D400 to Mimizan, justly known as the Pearl of the Silver Coast, where you can try your hand at surfing and other exciting watersports with the experts from Mimizan Surf Academy (mimizansurfacademy.com).

Alternatively, climb the 192 steps to the top of the Phare de Contis or just laze on the talc-fine sands of this glorious 10-kilometre-long beach.