France surf guide
Surfing Seignosse & Vieux-Boucau
Quieter beaches just north of the main strip
- Spots3
- LevelsAdvanced, Beginner, Intermediate, Pro
- Best seasonOct-Mar
- RegionLandes (Hossegor)
The waves at Seignosse & Vieux-Boucau
Les Estagnots
- Beach Break
- Advanced / Pro
- 2-8 ft
- Sep-Apr
- Crowd 3/5
Just north of Hossegor's most famous peaks, Les Estagnots carries the same deep-water power that defines this stretch of coast, breaking over shifting sand in punchy, hollow beach-break sections. It's a genuine step up from an ordinary beach, with real barrel potential on the right bank.
The Seignosse stretch of coast tends to be marginally less crowded than central Hossegor, a small mercy given how good the wave can be. Banks here shift with the season and recent swell history, so it's worth checking a few peaks along the beach before committing to one.
Come on a clean groundswell with light wind, and expect the same powerful shorebreak and rip currents that characterise the whole Landes coast. It rewards confident, experienced beach-break surfers more than beginners, but is a touch friendlier than the absolute heaviest Hossegor peaks.
43.695, -1.432 · Clean groundswell, light wind
Bourdaines
- Beach Break
- Intermediate / Advanced
- 2-7 ft
- Sep-Apr
- Crowd 3/5
A wide, exposed beach break north of Hossegor that trades a little of the area's most extreme power for a more spread-out, exploratory feel. Bourdaines still breaks with real punch on its day, but the open beach means more room to find your own peak away from the tightest crowds.
Like the rest of this coastline, it's shaped by shifting sandbars that respond to the season's swell history, so banks that fire one month can go quiet the next. Its relative distance from the Hossegor town centre keeps the crowd a notch more relaxed, without sacrificing much in wave quality on a good day.
Come on a clean swell with light wind, walk the beach to find the best-looking peak, and treat it with the same respect as anywhere on this powerful stretch of French coast, the shorebreak here is no joke once there's size.
43.7, -1.428 · Clean groundswell
Le Penon
- Beach Break
- Beginner / Intermediate
- 1-5 ft
- Year-round
- Crowd 2/5
A more approachable stretch of the Landes coast, and a sensible choice for those wanting a gentler introduction to this powerful region. Le Penon breaks over sand in softer, more forgiving peaks than the heavy-hitting spots further south around Hossegor's canyon-fed banks.
It still catches the same reliable Atlantic groundswell that makes this whole coast so consistent, just without quite the same jacking intensity, making it a good option on bigger days when La Gravière is beyond most visiting surfers, or for those still building their beach-break skills.
Come at low-to-mid tide on a small-to-moderate swell for the friendliest conditions. It's a solid, dependable beach that lets you keep surfing through a Landes trip even when the main breaks further south have grown too serious for the day.
43.69, -1.43 · Small-mod swell
Where to stay near Seignosse & Vieux-Boucau
- Seignosse surf house — Surf Guesthouse: Relaxed base in the pine forest, close to Les Estagnots and Bourdaines.
Beyond the surf
- Seignosse forest trails: Pine-forest bike and walking trails linking the beaches north of Hossegor.
Best time to surf Seignosse & Vieux-Boucau
Seignosse & Vieux-Boucau works best around Oct-Mar. See the full month-by-month breakdown for France.
One strange surf spot a week
The Lineup: hippos that surf in Gabon, waves under smoking volcanoes in Kamchatka, one weird break in a weird place every week. No spam, always free.