Things to do in Le Touquet: as recommended by the locals

 

Despite numbers swelling enormously on high days and holidays, with visitors beckoned by the coast (water-sports, sand-sports, bars on the sand, dunes…) and the wealth of leisure-meets-luxury activities (golf, horseracing, casino...), there’s also an all-year-round community buzz here, in every sense. To capture the true spirit of Le Touquet, we did a bit of digging to find out what makes the Touquettois tick - or what they know that the rest of the world doesn’t! 

 

At a sky-scraping 57m and surprisingly in-town rather than sur-mer, Le Touquet’s lighthouse is no secret. What is lesser-known however is that for certain dates in the summer (13th July, 15th August) and over the Christmas break, you can book an evening visit. For the summer dates, your reward for climbing the 274 steps is a champagne and macaron tasting, whilst on the winter evenings, the magic comes from seeing the town’s twinkling Christmas illuminations from on-high, a view usually reserved for the Père Noël!

 

There are precisely 12.42 miles of cycle-path here and there’s a good reason why the stretch down to the Pointe du Touquet headland is popular with locals: they’re hoping to spot the other locals - a colony of seals. Hire a bike from La Baleine Royale in town (Rue de Metz) and head on over. 

 

Whatever your definition of energising, Le Touquet has something up its sleeve. For an adrenaline rush, you’ll find that one of the major local passions is char à voile (sand-yachting) – just take a lesson with one of Le Touquet’s qualified instructors and you’ll see why so many of the locals are hooked. Revitalising – but in a completely different way – consider chilling out à la Française with a seawater therapy spa treatment at the Ibis Hotel or the Novotel hotel on the south side of the beach – search up ‘bien-être in Le Touquet’ (wellbeing) and you’re on your way! And if you just fancy a swim? You’ve spotted the fun-for-kids lido on the seafront but you’re more likely to find the locals at the outdoor pool at Le Centre Tennistique Pierre de Coubertin. Its facilities are training-grounds for sporting greats but its rather nice heated outdoor pool is open to all. More ideas? Janine Marsch suggests horse riding in the dunes

 

Everyone around here knows the name Chez Perard, the widely-recommended fish restaurant at the heart of town. Not only is the cuisine of the highest quality (it’s best known for its fabulous fish soup - to be eaten with grated cheese, rouille paste and croutons), it has bags of character too (check out its cheeky vintage posters telling the restaurant’s 50 year old story). It also boasts a stylish Bar à Huitres - stop at any time of day for a glass of crisp white wine and half a dozen oysters - and a ‘traiteur’ service, meaning that it sells fully prepared dishes to discerning locals.

 

Le Touquet's Glitterati – You don’t have to be a guest at Le Touquet’s high-end hôtellerie Le Westminster to eat there. Try its gorgeous art-deco meets contemporary brasserie Les Cimaises. While you’re there, ask at reception to be pointed in the right direction for the wall of fame: signed photographs of the countless 20th century Franco-Brit famous faces who have passed through these doors.

 

If you’re puzzled when you overhear these words in Le Touquet, we can reveal that it’s local-speak for sneaking off to Rue Saint-Jean for a distinctive blue cat chocolate treat in a century-old shop of the same name. It doesn’t matter when you get the craving as they’re sometimes open until midnight! 

 

Le Touquet is well-known for its independent boutiques and its top-end designer names but it’s also somewhere you can do some quality food shopping. In addition to the bustling market (generally Thursday mornings and Saturday mornings), take a look at the specialist food shops (or commerces de bouche as they are known - suitably evocative ‘mouth shops’!).

 

For fromage – Spy the wheels of cheese in the window of Terre de Fromages where, as the name suggests, they’re particularly proud of their regional cheeses from the Opal Coast’s Audresselles and Sablé de Wissant to the edam-esque Mimolette and distinctive cone-shaped Boulette d’Avesnes.

 

To blend in with the locals, you’re going to need a baguette under your arm but beware the dilemma at Fred – there’s quite a choice! For pâtisserie, try their Côte d’Opale and for viennoiserie (that’s your breakfast pastries), their salt-butter croissants are sublime. 

 

… has its own airport. Lyddair.com offers scheduled flights to Le Touquet or charter-a.com offers chartered. Like car-sharing, flight-sharing has also – excuse the pun – taken off; take a look at en.wingly.io to see if you can hitch a ride. 

Meet the local 

 

… horseriding in Le Touquet. It’s a magical experience either on the beach at sunset or early morning in the forest.

… guided tours by bike of all the landmarks associated with the town’s English heritage: the homes of Ian Fleming, Somerset Maugham, P.G. Wodehouse and more. 

… 2 hour virtual reality tours using your smartphone and cardboard viewer. See Le Touquet in the present day and as it was in the 1930s.