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Le Cap d'Agde

Travel Guide Europe France Le Cap d'Agde

Introduction

Agde roadside cafe [1280x768]

Le Cap d'Agde is a popular beach resort town, about 2 kilometres from the town of Agde, on the Mediterranean coast. Cap d'Agde is perhaps most commonly known as a popular naturist destination, however it also attracts vast amounts of holidaymakers that prefer to keep their clothes on. It's a typical holiday resort, with a population that increases dramatically over the summer months.

Cap d'Agde is also popular as the "Naked City" and is often referred to as the "Worlds Capital of Nudism". This coastal town has a nudist resort and a three mile beach where you can laze around naked. There are banks, doctors, shopping and dining areas catering especially to the needs of the nudists. Though France is known about its laid back attitude about nudity, but Cap d'Agde takes it to a new level and is the ultimate place to get naked.

In 2009, stage 5 of the Tour de France started in Le Cap d'Agde.

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Neighbourhoods

Le Cap d'Agde consists of 10 different districts

Rochelongue, blend of modern and old
Richelieu, a large beach where lots of the water sports take place
Le Port, the living centre, with lots of shops and squares
Naturist Village, where the majority of the naturists are found, is a fenced off part at the northeastern part of Cap d'Agde. It's essentially a town of its own, with all facilities needed within the area.
La Roquille
Le Môle
La Colline St Martin
L'Avant-port / L'Ile des pêcheurs
La Pinède
Les Falaises

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Sights and Activities

Canal du Midi is a monumental construction that is unique in the world and has been classified under UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. This canal was the brainchild of the famous French Engineer Barron Pierre-Paul Riquet, who devoted his entire lifetime to the planning and execution of this grand project. His intention was to dig a canal that would join Atlantic with the Mediterranean, so that trading ships could avoid the cost Gibraltar Strait. The work took around 15 years to complete from 1666 to 1681, but unfortunately Pierre-Paul Riquet could not witness its opening as he passed away a few months before that. Presently the canal is being used for river tourism and irrigation purposes.
The Old town is also known as 'Cite' and a stroll around the narrow streets reveal the 16th century house and private mansions built with volcanic rock. Recent excavations have revealed the existence of an urban layout dating back to the 5th Century BC.

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Getting There

By Plane

You can fly into two airports to get to Cap d'Agde, although the closest is the Béziers - Cap d'Agde Airport, approximately 15 kilometres away. It's serviced by Ryanair and Climber Air, offering direct flights from the UK, Germany and Denmark.

The other option is to fly into Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport, approximately 60 kilometres away. This is serviced by a lot more airlines, offering easy access from most European countries.

By Train

Take the train to Agde's SNCF railway station. There are daily direct services from Paris and Lille via TGV year round. The journey takes less than 4 hours by TGV from Paris. Agde is also serviced from England (TGV Eurostar), Germany, Switzerland and the Benelux (TGV Thalys and direct trains).

From Agde take one of the buses from the railway station to Le Cap d'Agde. These go year round and schedules can be obtained here.

By Car

Take the A9 (E15/E80), and exit on the D612 to Agde and Cap d'Agde. Alternatively, take the coastal Route d'Agde (N112) from Sète. This turns into the D612.

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Drink

Le Cap d'Agde has a pulsing nightlife, and youth from across Europe flock to the town in the summer months.

Some of the more popular night clubs include:

Amnesia
Purple Lounge
Espace Bora
Cotton
Le Pacha
Le Palma

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Sleep

There are a number of camping sites around the town, as well as more central holiday apartments.

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Keep Connected

Phone

Post

La Poste in France is also referred to as the PTT (short for postes, télégraphes et téléphones). The mailboxes are painted bright yellow and often there is a slot for local city mail and another slot for "outside mail". Normally there is a queue in the post office, but most of the post offices have the self service machine installed which is quite easy to operate. Nowadays many of the tabac and even some of the souvenir shops also sell postage stamps. Normally an overseas postcard costs almost as much as sending a letter.
Post offices are generally open from 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Apart from the basic job of mailing letters, most of the post offices do some banking activities also and some even have photocopy machines and cyber cafes for internet access.