Cap d'Agde Visited
October 14, 1995
| These are my personal impressions from a first visit to Cap d'Agde and a few practical hints for anyone thinking of going there. They are based on a week in mid-September 1995, which is in the low season. I had a really good time and met some great people, but Cap d'Agde does have a few drawbacks. |
The place
Cap d'Agde itself is a substantial town of mostly holiday villas and apartments. The Quartier Naturiste (Naturist Quarter) is only a small part of the town, although still substantial as a resort - more a suburb, with its own shops and restaurants. Access to the Quartier Naturiste is controlled by the police, but the strictness of the control is patchy - apparently it was tightened up in 1995 because of theft and other offences committed in the grounds the previous year. If you are staying there, you can obtain a free magnetic swipe card to re-enter after going outside. There is admission by the day: FF12 for pedestrians, FF50 for cars, with special rates for more frequent visits. However, it's possible to get in simply by walking along the beach from the village of Marseillan-Plage.
The Quartier Naturiste is a bit like a smaller version of the main town, built around a marina. It's about 20-30 minutes walk to the centre of Cap d'Agde, and about 10 km to the ancient city of Agde, where there is a railway station. There is an inconvenient circular bus service to both Agde and Cap d'Agde from the Quartier Naturiste, running less frequently outside the high season. Although Cap d'Agde is convenient for visiting interesting places (e.g., Narbonne, Carcassonne and Nimes) if you have a car, it is not well placed if you rely on the train.
The Quartier Naturiste has an excellent beach, maybe 2 km long, which is clean and well cared for, but it must be packed in the high season. There are several swimming pools; if you arrive with a tour company, free admission to one of them may be included in what you have paid.
Although the resort is open all the year round, most businesses inside are open only from May to September.
The Naturism
You're free to go anywhere nude in the Quartier Naturiste; nudity is compulsory on the beach (but this is not effectively enforced) and in the pools. On the streets and in the shops clothed and partly-clothed people seem to outnumber nude ones by maybe 10 to 1, even when the weather is plenty warm enough. This can be a bit intimidating if you step out naked and find everyone else clothed.
To the east of the naturist beach is a beach where naturists (unofficially) and textiles seem to coexist happily. At the west end, there is a path alongside the channel giving entrance to the Quartier Naturiste port, where you will find yourself opposite textiles fishing and strolling.
A wide range of people of virtually all ages visit Agde, and the place did not seem to be dominated by any age group or by one sex. Not surprisingly, given the time I was there, I saw very few families with school-age children, but many couples with and without young children.
The Weather
The reason why there is so much tourist development along the Languedoc coast is that there wasn't much of anything there before, apart from the growing of low-quality wine. That was partly because it is a barren coast prone to strong and unpleasant winds, and many people prefer the shelter of the pool to the beach. A cold wind can spring up at any time, it seems.
September weather is unreliable, although you can expect higher temperatures and more sunshine than in the British Isles. During my week we had cloudy early mornings with the sun breaking through later to give temperatures around 22-26C. One day it rained all day (the first whole day of rain since May) and for two days the wind was too strong and cold for sitting comfortably on the beach. I was told that September 1994 had much rain and gales.
The high season in Agde in 1995 was cooler than normal, coinciding with the hot dry weather in northern Europe.
The Price
Agde is expensive. Shop prices are about 2 to 2.5 times those in the supermarkets outside: you pay a high premium for the privilege of shopping in the nude. This is on top of the unfavourable exchange rate due to the strong French franc (especially for people paid in sterling).
Take as much as you can of the things you will need when you first arrive and, when you can, go shopping in the supermarkets (such as Intermarche) on the outskirts of Agde.
The Accommodation
The Quartier Naturiste, both residential and business, has a rather run-down, tatty look about it, especially when compared with the main part of Cap d'Agde. The self-catering accommodation, at least that offered by the British tour companies, is on the poky and spartan side. Most of it seems to be owned by individuals who furnish it to their own taste and let it out through agencies. This means that you may spend your nights surrounded by some awful kitsch. Believe me.
The apartments in Port Natur are particularly badly designed from a security point of view, and if you leave the French windows open for air in hot weather anyone has access to your room. While I was there a couple lost everything as they slept.
There is a three-star hotel, the Eve, but I didn't investigate it. I suspect it's for the feelthy reech.
The Night Life
There are many bars and restaurants in the Quartier Naturiste, some of which have entertainment. The entertainment is predominantly French. Tour companies may arrange entertainment for their own customers. There are also discos/night clubs, one of which advertises itself explicitly to swingers. I visited one of the discos, which was very expensive. There is a similar range of entertainment outside the Quartier Naturiste.
The Sleaze
In 1994, apparently, there were complaints about the behaviour of some people on the beach - since it is a naturist beach, the complaints presumably came from naturists. As a result, the municipality of Agde passed a bye-law (arrête) for 1995 onwards prohibiting "exhibitionism", "pornography" and "pornographic jewellery" in the Quartier Naturiste. In some ways the Quartier Naturiste is more strictly regulated than the rest of France. I did see some porn on sale in the shops, but no worse than anything on sale outside (in France, pornographic videos are on sale in supermarkets).
The east end of the beach has an area marked by a fence where the authorities seem to tolerate exhibitionism in the dunes, and it is probably best for families to avoid this area. Aspiring exhibitionists should perhaps be warned that fine adhesive Agde sand being wind-blasted into all crevices may well be a passion-killer.
When assessing Cap d'Agde from this point of view, remember that it is not a naturist resort in the usual sense, but a part of France that happens to be for naturist use, and it is regulated by the local government. Although Cap d'Agde may seem very exciting from the viewpoint of Northampton or of Normal, Illinois, it is not way out for a place that is (a) in France and (b) somewhere where people go to relax. The sleaze is not obvious to families or those who are not looking for it.
The Conclusion
Cap d'Agde is an interesting and enjoyable place, and I hope to go back, but it's not a naturist paradise. If you want the Cap d'Agde experience, then there is only one Cap d'Agde, but if you just want to be naked, then, from the climatic and financial points of view, Spain is probably better value.