Kerouac (and ohers) please name your top 10 favorite coastal cities
 

On another thread, kerouac indicated that Honfleur would not be in his/her? top ten favorite coastal cities. Without hijacking that thread, I'd like to hear what the kerouac favorites are and invite others to list theirs as well. My favorite places almost always are on water and I'd love to compare my list (which I'm working on) with those of kerouac and others. Please weigh in.

In France? Collioure and Vannes

Thanks, StCirq. Collioure makes mine too. I need to give Vannes another try. I'm so into La Trinite sur Mer that I've overlooked it.

Top 10 in France or Europe up to the poster.

so, not only can I not make up reasonable rules for this travel game--I think we have to narrow it just to France or rename it top 100 best coastal towns--I can't contain my own list. Here's my nominations so far:
Honfleur
Collioure
Llafranc
La Flotte (and others on Ile de Re as well as nearby La Rochelle)
Eze
Cassis
La Trinite sur Mer
Etretat
St. Jean de Luz
Sete

Thought of another one - La Conche des Baleines on the Ile de Ré.

Going to Ischia in October and really looking forward to some lovely beaches and thalassotherapy there, too!

St-Jean-de-Luz is one of our favorite places in France!

St-Jean-de-Luz
Antibes
St Gilles-Croix-de-Vie
Nice

When I seek out coastal locations, it's usually for a certain purpose. Otherwise, except for Marseille, I'm in-land city oriented.

For a quick beach trip from Paris, the old standards: Deauville, Trouville.
Handsome fishermen and port life: Sete
Just looking: St-Jean-de-Luz
Tidal changes: Saint-Malo/Dinard
Painting with water colors: Honfleur
Just love the place: Marseille

Hi, Julie. I'm off to Deauville tomorrow for the day (another place not on my top ten list), but I'll try to come up with a list before the weekend.

cities or towns, there seems to be some confusion above

Towns, Barfleur, La Rochelle, Ouistreham, Rochefort (pretty much on the coast), St Jean de Luz,

Then much smaller places like the Isle de Brehat.

I would think that any size counts. For example, Marseille will be on my list (pop. 860,000) but also Hossegor (pop. 3,800). I will leave unpopulated but magnificent natural sites aside (i.e. Cap Gris Nez, Pointe du Raz....).

Favorite cities on the coast:
Menton
Nice
Villefranche sur Mer

Antibes
St Tropez
Montpellier if it is considered to be on/near the coast
Aighes Mortes,
Narbonne if it is considered to be on the coat
Perpignan
Collioure
St Jean de Luz/Biarritz/Bayonne
Arcachon
Bordeaux - it it is considered.....
Royan - the section south of the center of town (which was leveled in WWII) with all the fabulous villas
Rochefort
La Flotte
St Martin de Re
La Rochelle
Le Croisac

Vannes
Port Manech
Cameret sur Mer
Ploumanach
Treguier
Dinan if it is considered to be on the coast

St Malo
Le Mont St Michel
Honfleur

Veules les Roses
Boulogne sur Mer
Le Touquet Paris Plage
Villas at Cabourg


This list does not include "nothing" towns on fantastic coastline.


Stu Dudley

I am not a beach person, but I loved my brief stay at Hotel de la Plage in Brittany:

Plage de Sainte-Anne La Palud Supervised beach Plonévez-Porzay | Finistère Brittany

Hotel:

https://www.plage.com/fr/

Here is my list of ten coastal towns, starting from the Belgian border:

Malo-les-Bains
Berck-sur-Mer
Le Tréport
Etretat
La Rochelle
Arcachon
Soorts-Hossegor
Sète
Marseille
Bonifacio

As we all know, such lists are entirely subjective. For example, Berck has to be one of the ugliest towns in France, cheaply rebuilt after the war. It is a very low class resort for working class people, and that makes a lot of its charm to me -- nothing pretentious, no attractions, not a single "cute" restaurant. But it has a truly magnificent beach which is quite popular even out of season due to the sand yachting ("char à voile"). During high season, sand yachting is not possible due to the crowds on the beach. It also has the absolutely incredible international kite festival in April and is one of the best places in France to observe the seal colonies on the sand bars just off shore. It is also one of the towns in France where you will see the greatest number of wheelchairs because it is the location of immense hospitals devoted to lung diseases -- it has some of the best air in France.

Here is the first report I ever made about Berck, but I have done others since then : The discreet charm of Berck-sur-Mer | Any Port in a Storm

kerouac, you are a treasure--and so, apparently, is Berck. Thanks for such an interesting slant on coastal towns.

Thanks. Here's another view of Berck where you can see the seals really well (in reply #2) : Low tide along the Channel | Any Port in a Storm

St Jean de Luz
Dinard
Cabourg
Cannes
Honfleur
Deauville
Frejus
La Rochelle
Biaritz
Juan les Pins

Bookmarking big-time.

JulieVikmanis, this is totally off-topic, but I wanted to say that this summer I stayed in Camogli at Cenobio dei Dogi based on your recommendation (and those of a few other Fodorites). It was a wonderful vacation-from-my-vacation. I did a ton of hiking, which was good because I also did a lot of eating. Thank you!

So glad you like the dei Doge. It’s a big favorite of ours.

About Berck sur mer, the movie 'bienvenue chez les Ch'tis' a major success of 10 years ago was shot there.
A place we love is the Island of Port Cros, an island off Hyères. Very small, something like 4- restaurants, some gorgeous beaches and great hiking paths. In the same area Saint Tropez retains for us the charm of a beautiful village. Best avoided in summertime though when celebs and not so celebs parade there in front of the huge yachts before going to select clubs where champagne cost a Smic (minim wage in France).