Cap d'Agde visitor guide

Visit Cap d'Agde, France

Cap d'Agde is the 'resort' part of Agde, a pleasant Languedoc town a little distance to the north. It is east of Beziers and south-west of Montpellier.

The resort has been almost entirely built since the late 1960's at the foot of an ancient volcano and based around a large marina lined with nice apartment blocks, and has easy access to large sandy beaches.

Despite being quite new, Cap d'Agde has won awards for its architectural integrity and is not what you might expect when you read that it is a 1960's seaside resort - although it is true that there are places where it clearly dates from that epoch!

Exploring Cap d'Agde

The main centre of Cap d'Agde falls into several different parts, each with their own characteristics - but each having a plentiful range of holiday accommodation, and access to beaches and all facilities. Taken together it is a very popular destination on this part of the Languedoc coast.

Start your visit at the main harbour area, which is lively and pleasant for a promenade as well as having easy access to some of the popular attractions here such as the aquarium, aqualand and the Museum of Ephèbe. The town also has a highly regarded golf course.

Museums may not be your main interest on holiday but the Museum of Ephèbe contains lots of artefacts found in the sea from both the medieval and ancient Greek and Roman periods, and includes some very impressive ancient bronze statues.

The fort you can see just off the coast at Cap d'Agde dates from the 17th century (although an earlier castle stood in the same place). The Fort de Brescou is built on a submerged volcano and was used as a prison until the middle of the 19th century.

Cap d'Agde beaches

The popularity of Cap d'Agde is largely based on the number and quality of beaches here. Altogether there are more than 14 kilometres of sandy beaches some of which can be reached by shuttle bus from Cap d'Agde.

Together these beaches offer a wide range of options, with some of the beaches offering all possible facilities and sports and others remaining more wild.

While the long beaches such as Rochelongue, Richelieu and Roquille attract the most visitors we suggest that among the smaller beaches you visit La Grande Conque, a small beach of grey-black sand created from volcanic rock and in a scenic setting.

Naturism at Cap d'Agde

Cap d'Agde is well known for its naturist (nudist) section where the beach and surrounding facilities including shops, restaurants and banks are all part of the naturist part of Cap d'Agde, one of the largest developed resorts of this type in the world.

Because of this extensive naturist section, Cap d'Agde is very popular with people from all around the world who prefer to holiday in this way. Most of the section is 'clothing optional' but the five kilometres long beach in this part of the resort is naturist only.

Note for naturists visiting Cap d'Agde: if you are especially bold, visit Cap d'Agde on December 31 for a mass naturist swim in water that will be, well, invigorating! Very popular apparently although I haven't found the time to check it myself...

Don't worry if you are not a naturist - you can still visit Cap d'Agde and find plenty to amuse yourself - the naturist area is only a part of the whole resort.

See more of the popular Languedoc resorts and beaches

See more seaside resorts in France. You can find more travel ideas in the Herault guide and the Languedoc-Roussillon guide.