Here, in greater detail, is a description of the French coastline, taken in an anti-clockwise direction, and starting at the top, on the Belgian border. The extreme north coast of France, from Belgium to Calais, borders on the North Sea, and is characterised by broad sandy beaches and sand dunes. The Channel coast near Cap Gris Nez

The map above divides the French coast very schematically into two types: in pink, coasts that are predominantly rocky, often with cliffs; in yellow, the flatter areas of coastline, where there are plenty of long sandy beaches.

These are questions that tourists often ask; but with over 2000 miles of coastline, continental France (i.e., excluding Corsica) has plenty of coastline and beaches of different sorts to satisfy the millions of tourists and holidaymakers who flock to them each summer.

It takes in the old regions of Pays de la Loire, Poitou-Charente and Aquitaine. To the east, the boundary of the French Atlantic coast is marked by the pretty departments of the Loir-et-Cher and the Indre-et-Loire, the glorious Limousin countryside, rich Périgord and Gascony; to the west, the expanse of the Atlantic ocean.