My cousin, Mo-town-mama, writes that friends of hers are going to the south of France. They love the beach, but prefer sand to pebbles. They are avid scuba divers and may enjoy doing some of that. They do not want to spend an arm and a leg on lodging. Or a ton of money, I presume.

I cannot help her because I just haven't been south of the Loire in over ten years -- except on trips to Italy, Turkey, Mauritius, and so on. Any suggestions? THANKS!

PS I know this question is a bit vast. But I'm hoping they join in and add details, and slowtrav will have another contributing member!

My beach experience is mostly along the eastern (Italian) portion of the Cote d'Azur. Most of the beaches in this area are pebbly or the sand is brought in. Sandy beaches are more towards St. Tropez,Cassis, or Bandol . It looks like the scuba diving is more in that area also.

Would they consider Corsica? I've heard the diving is nice at the southern tip and the beaches are much nicer. I stayed at Calvi and there is a wonderful sandy beach along the bay. It may also be less expensive.

One of the things we love about our area of the south of France - the Languedoc - is the miles and miles of sandy beaches.
I've noticed skin and scuba divers at an interesting beach in Agde - I'll attach a photo of the beach - black sand from the local (extinct) volcano and dramatic rocks off shore.
Anne

There's some fine scuba diving west of Cannes, around the seaside town of Agay. Agay also happens to have a pretty half-moon beach of sand and a few campgrounds close by.

Moving west from there, you'll also find scuba divers off the coast of Sainte-Maxime/Les Issambres and some around St Tropez. It would be difficult to find inexpensive accommodations in season in St Tropez, but Les Issambres is more low-key. These all sport decent sandy beaches.

My own favorite fine sandy beach area would be the island off the coast of Hyères, Porquerolles. Off season, you can find reasonable hotel rates on Porquerolles. I'm afraid summer gets a little crazy crowd-wise then (to my taste) - that's when we head for the hills .

I second Anne's choice.
The area around Marseillan - very near Agde - has lovely sandy beaches and is generally not as expensive as the Riviera end. The regional food is also wonderful and distinctive.
Don't know about scuba diving; not something I paid attention to, sorriest.

Interesting.

There is no good coral along the French coast.

Rocky areas (or wrecks) are better than sand for scuba diving.

There are rocky areas in Cote d'Azur, Sete/Agde & Pyrenees areas. There are some sandy bays in Cote d'Azur, but the area west of Marseille is pretty well all sand as far as the pyrenees area.

L'espiguette is a 22km stretch of sand dune backed beach in the Camargue with no roads or buildings.

West Med info : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com

East Med info : riviera.angloinfo.com

France diving info : http://www.plongeur.com

Of course, you can check the beaches using google earth or google maps (with sat view). e.g. :

Google earth image of Le Grand Travers near Carnon.




Peter

Hi,
We are going to stay in Cassis this September and I came across this site that might interest you for diving.
http://www.centrecassidaindeplongee.com/default.html

They provide quite a few places for diving and exploring.

Rocky beaches are usually better for diving. Cassis and surroundings have both sandy beaches (not fine sand however) and numerous rocky beaches and Calanques. So you should be fine in that area for both. I am not a diving pro but an occasional amateur, but check it out at least.

I really like Cap d'Ail, near Nice - but it's pebbles!

The beach close to Perpignan, over near the Pyrenees, is sand though.