A little about Messagnges, how to get there and the facilities for camping holidays in the area.

Items you need for camping holidays here:

Sunglasses, sun cream, wet suit, dosh.

Messanges is just a small rural coastal village in an enormous expanse of nothingness really, and is located near enough half way between the two bigger resorts of Vieux Boucau, 4 kms to the south and Moliets which is the same distance to the north. For the best part of the year this area depends on farming & forestry for its living but in the summer months there are about 10 very large and good quality 2 star - 4 star camp sites scattered around in the pine forest.

There are a couple of lakes situated nearby which are a fair size by any standards, but which are far, far smaller than the lakes of Soustons, Port d'Albret and Leon close by, but with an enormous abundance of peace, calm and tranquillity. And then there is the forest, or forests whichever you like, because the wooded areas are immense by UK standards and have all sorts of wildlife in them including red squirrels which are abundant in France generally, but which not many of us in the UK are privileged to see.

There are superb coastal beaches close to the town and camping sites, and this is where the real fun starts if you like watersports because this area is a surfing paradise! Yup, the surfing is so good hereabouts that the waves have names! Five metre waves are plentyful they are called Lafitenia and Les Alcyons - to non surfers they must seem like a 16 ft brick wall approaching you at high speed, and certainly not safe to ride out on a Li Lo!

Seriously though, don't just take a board out in surf like this if you are a complete beginner, or if you do then make sure your nearest and dearest are well taken care of in your will. We have talked to guys in the recent past who thought nothing of facing a 5 metre wave, that is until the beast is coming at them at 50 mph. Luckily both survived the experience but both also admitted later that they were simply terrified! The moral is: If you can't surf then learn. If you can't be bothered to learn then find a rockpool to play in.

But that isn't all by any means because a few KM's further south near to St Jean de Luz and the Spanish Border is where the really big waves are, and 12 metre beasties which dwarf the surf around Messanges are no exception here. 

How to get to messanges and your camping site - dead easy really but it's quite a drive if you take the cheapo option and cross the Channel to Calais. The best ports for this trip are Caen, Cherbourg and St Malo which give you much more sailing time admittedly but far less driving too.

Head for Rennes in Brittany and from there simply hurtle down the free dual carriageway to Nantes where you need to pick up the Nantes Peripherique (ring road) following signs for Bordeaux. Exit that at Junction 48 and head for Bordeaux - most of the road south from Nantes is now payage, where you pay per section of road you use, but it is fast and the traffic is generally light (out of high season).

The Bordeaux peripherique this time and you can exit that at either junction 15 or 16 - we advise junction 16 as that takes you onto the free N10 down to Bayonne and Biarritz. Simply peel off when your sign for Messanges and your camping site appears.