|
You will love this sunny condo apartment and Arcachon, France!
A destination resort with beautiful beaches and boardwalks, Arcachon is the largest town on the Bay of Arcachon, which empties into the Atlantic just 45 minutes west of Bordeaux. The bay is Europe's oyster capital, and is a commercial and sport fishing center as well. Beautiful beaches (both on the bay and the ocean!) and all kinds of water sports and shopping await you in town, or you can use it as a base to explore the Bordeaux wine country or the Basque region (Pyrenees Mountains) and Spain.
Your toddlers will love the calm waters at the beach on the bay, and your teenagers will safely find lots to do within walking or biking distance; it's a great spot for families of all ages!
The condo is the ENTIRE very private top floor of a 4-story modern building, with elevator. It's two blocks to the beach, a three minute walk. It has two bedrooms; one with a queen bed, and one with two twin beds. There are three balconies, a large double living/dining room with two sofabeds, lovely antiques and oriental rugs; a full bath with tub and in-tub shower, a tiled shower/sink room off the twin bed room, plus a "WC" powder room off the kitchen. With three sinks in the various bathrooms it never feels too crowded! Large by French standards, the condo is 863 square feet, plus 295 square feet of balconies. It's recently re-decorated in French blues and yellows; CLICK ON "OWNER'S WEBSITE" LINK BELOW FOR MORE PHOTOS.
NEW for 2006: AIR CONDITIONING!! (la CLIME!)
and for 2007: Laptop in condo for your use with WIFI and free long distance calling!
The condo is on a very quiet residential street, but in five minutes you can walk into "centre ville", the wonderful large French daily market, the casino, the park, all the cute shops, and many restaurants. There are walking and tourist train tours of the area's unique "arcachonnais" architecture, which is sort of a cutesy Victorian. (Belle Epoque)(Click on link below to the tourist bureau's website to see photos of the bay and the town.) Many tourist boat excursions and ferries leave from the pier, a five-minute walk away from the condo. If the bay is too tame you can ride the ferry across to the ocean side at Cap Ferret and take surfing lessons, or learn to hang glide off the Dune de Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe! Kite surfers have a beach too.
The condo is equipped with all linens, and ample cookware for the gourmet chef. An oyster purveyor (a personal friend of the owner)has a stand just around the corner, and you will enjoy trying the croissants and the pain au chocolat each morning from the many bakeries within walking distance. The town market is open daily, too. The area restaurants have varied cuisines: Basque, Morrocan, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Italian and many, many seafood choices along with traditional French.
Great day trips: St. Emilion for wine tasting and visit of the beautiful medieval town; Bordeaux for it's bistros, churches, designer shopping, museums, and antique dealers; Biarritz for lunch at the gorgeous Hotel du Palais; St. Jean de Luz for 15th century church, quaint port, and great Basque shopping; San Sebastian, Spain for the Paris-like city and great 3-star dining; Paulliac for lunch and tours of Mouton Rothschild and Chateaux Margaux; the amazing Chateau La Roquetaillande belonging to Montaigne's descendants, and Chateau La Brede, Montesquieu's former residence; the very chic Caudalie spa for massages and lunch. Or just spend your time relaxing in Arcachon on the beautiful beach!
Arcachon is easy to get to: you can fly to Bordeaux from European hub airports and rent a car, or take the "TGV" fast train from either Charles de Gaulle airport or from the Gare Montparnasse in downtown Paris. (Good option if you want to spend a few days in Paris!) At least one train daily from Montparnasse station is direct all the way to Arcachon, and from Charles de Gaulle airport you can change trains easily at the Bordeaux train station. From the train station in Arcachon it's a seven minute walk to the condo, so a car is not necessary unless you want to explore!
The condo is owned by Ann Sanford, a veteran (30 years!) Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch in Toledo, Ohio, USA, and avid francophile. Ann can help you plan your trip to Arcachon and give you lots of tips if you want to spend time in Paris or other regions of France as part of your vacation.
Make sure and check the link below to the rental calendar, which is constantly updated for all available weeks, before you email or call. You can also view the Guestbook from the calendar page for comments from past visitors. Thanks for viewing this! |
