Photo spot in Arcachon & the Dune du Pilat
The Jetée Thiers and the seafront
The town's main pier walking out over the bay under red-and-white lamps, with the beach on both sides and the dune pale on the horizon.
About The Jetée Thiers and the seafront
Get directionsThe 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.
Best time to shoot
Early morning for an empty pier, the hour before sunset for the lanterns
Tips
Boats to Cap Ferret and the Île aux Oiseaux leave from here and the crossing takes about half an hour, so check the timetable before adding the far shore to the same session.
Other spots in Arcachon & the Dune du Pilat
The Dune du Pilat ridge at sunset
A hundred metres of pale sand with the Atlantic on one side and a pine forest on the other — the tallest dune in Europe, and its best half hour is the last.
The Ville d'Hiver villas
Three hundred nineteenth-century villas built among the pines for winter guests — carved balconies, quiet lanes and an iron observatory above them.
L'Herbe and the Cap Ferret lighthouse
An oyster village of coloured huts and a white Algerian chapel, with the red-and-white lighthouse standing over the pines a few kilometres south.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Jetée Thiers and the seafront — free of charge.