The Jetée Thiers and the seafront

The Jetée Thiers is the middle of Arcachon's summer town: a broad wooden and concrete pier reaching out from the promenade, lined with white posts and red lanterns, with the boats for Cap Ferret and the Île aux Oiseaux leaving from the end of it.

The pier gives a ready-made line of perspective — lamps receding, people small at the far end, water on both sides — and the promenade behind it adds a long curve of belle-époque frontage. Look south from the deck on a clear day and the Dune du Pilat shows as a pale band above the water.

Early morning is the calm version, with the boats still tied up and the pier almost empty; the hour before sunset is the warm one, when the lanterns come on and the light comes down the bay. It is flat, paved and completely accessible, which makes it the easiest stop in town with small children or grandparents.