Arcachon Half-Day Trip from Bordeaux Including Pyla Dune and Oyster Tasting

The excursion was excellent. Our guide, Vincent, provided thorough and interesting background information on the region. He took us to Le Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe. He brought coffee for us and was helpful throughout the tour. The highlight for me was the opportunity to taste the Arcachon oysters.....the best in the world!!!”

Great tour led by a fanatastic guide. the sand dune was Very impressive and the glass of wine at the top of the dune was a great idea! After that we went to a local oyster village where we enjoyed the oysters with a glass of wine.”

I highly recommend this tour. The dune was an unusual and fun point of interest during my stay in Bordeaux. The view at the top was spectacular. Our guide was fun and knowledgeable. And the oysters were really delicious!!!”

Great tour led by a fantastic guide. It was a memorable experience!!!!”

A great trip! Who would have guessed a huge sand dune is sitting there on the coast of France, and that Napoleon stopped it from further invading the country by planting forests. Lots of great picture-taking opportunities from the top of the dune. The sand is incredibly fine, making for a fun walk down the dune after taking the stairs up. Our guide was excellent, and even arranged for shrimp tasting for those of us not keen on oysters.”

Excellent tour with very good guide with excellent English. Most enjoyable and a good way to see the dune particularly if time poor as it was a half day tour. Would recommend.”

Nice guide, very helpfull. Interesting tour, excellent organized.”

This tour was really worthwhile. Out tour guide was great v knowledgeable. The sand dune was better than expected and the glass of white wine at the top was a nice touch Oysters were amazing. Defintely recommend!”

Amazing Place! Wonderful oyster and wine! Super nice guide, her name is Beatrice. Just love this tour, It's funnier than wine tour although it's kind of tired to climb up to Pyla Dune!”

This is a half-day tour well worth taking. The dune is impressive and the visit to the oyster bay and tasting we had shrimp, which was excellent, and those that had oysters said they were good also was a good complement. Our guide was excellent and provided great commentary both going and coming back to Bordeaux and answered lots of questions and provided great information and suggestions for our stay in Bordeaux.”

The guide was very friendly and helpful. I like the wine at the top of the dune.”

It was a fantastic tour and an excellent guide. The Oyster tasting was really a good experience and it was a good idea to eat with the group, which ment that everybody was talking with each other. The Pyla Dune was amacing. Thank you for a fantastic and exciting tour!!”

Excellent tour guide. Fascinating tour of dunes. Wonderful oysters. Loved this tour.”

This was sooo much fun and the oysters was super yummy. A must do tour on a sunny day!”

Professional tour guide. Stunned by the Dune and the oyster tasting session at the oyster farm was a real good experience, we had some of the best oysters we have ever had!”

The guide was professional, and we first stop at the sand dunes. We have a glass of wine on top of the dunes, which was magical. there after we went directly for the oyster tasting with a glass of wine or prawns. The oysters were fresh but a bit small. We had greater expectation as they we directly from the farm.”

Ann was our tour guide for the morning - we went and climbed the big sand dune and went to a local oyster village. Ann was a FABULOUS guide, very relaxed and kind and the small group tour format is great. If you have 4-5 days in Bordeaux, its a great tour for something a little different aside from 100 wine tasting!”

The dune itself is really cool but we only got about 20 minutes up top before going to the oyster tasting. The oyster bay was quite different then I thought, it was low tide or as I was calling it no tide. The bay was just boats sitting in mud, the oysters were kind of warm and it was summer which is not the best season for oysters. They all had egg sacks which were creamy and just ok tasting. Most of this trip is spent driving since Arcachon Bay is about 1.5 hours from Bordeaux. It was an ok trip, I would maybe rent my own car next time and go.”

I love this tour! We were a small group of three people, which made the dune walk and the oyster tasting very easy and totally enjoyable. I loved the little suprise when we arrived on top of the dune. Only negative thing was that the guide seemed a little insecure in terms of driving but we made it :-”

Was very happy with this tour. My only disappointment was that we did not drive through the town of Arcachon or relax on a scenic beach as indicated in the Overview which states - "Explore the town of Arcachon before a visit to an oyster farm for a sample of fresh oysters. Relax on a scenic beach before heading back to Bordeaux". I asked the tour guide and she said there would not be enough time to visit the dune, visit Arcachon and the oyster farm in the half day tour. My problem is that my expectation was set by what your overview stated. But even so the trip to the dune was fantastic.”

Loved this - the only problem was the traffic...it took so,long to get to the sand dunes we only had 30 minutes there. The oysters were wonderful!”

It was a pleasant day out. The guide was friendly. I enjoyed climbing the dune and the oyster tasting. However, I found this activity overcharged (€69) for what it offers. They drive you to the Pyla Dune, you have 20 mins on the top and then drive you to the oyster farms where you get half dozen of number 5 oyster and a glass of wine. If you want more oyster you pay for it. You don't get to visit the farm itself or learn about it. You just go, eat and then leave in a rush. I think that this is an activity for people who have a very short time in Bordeaux. If you have enough time you can go to the Pyla dune by train and spend more time there. At Chez Jean Mi in the market Marche des Capucins in Bordeaux you can eat same quality oysters and seafood with glass of wine for lower price.”

We visited here years ago wanted to see it again. The sand dune is most impressive and quite a climb. My husband adores oysters and was a bit disappointed in their quality compared to oysters from Normandy and Brittany. I had shrimp as I'm allergic to oysters, and they were delicious. Unfortunately, we sat in the back of the van and had trouble hearing the guide even tho' we asked her to talk loudly -- I don't think she even provided us with her name. It would have been useful if she had a sound system, similar to what was used on our St. Emilion tour.”

I was on the fence about booking this tour before our trip, but am glad we did. You can't really appreciate how amazing the Dune du Pilat is until you're standing at the foot of it looking up. Unfortunately, the day was drizzly and by the time we had climbed to the top, the view was obscured so we ended up buying a postcard at one of the conveniently located souvenir stands on the way back to the parking lot. Because of the weather, and perhaps the time of year, we also did not visit an oyster farm as no one was working that morning along the stretch where our guide took us. We, along with others, were also under the impression that we would be driving past the picturesque over-water cabanes tchanquées, but that was not the case, a disappointment as I am an avid photographer. We were, however, treated to fresh oysters (twice as many as advertised) along with a glass of white wine and fresh baguette. Compared to our wineries tour guide, our guide on this tour, Julie, was not as chatty although she was equally friendly. I deducted stars for this tour, not for the weather, but because I feel the tour agency should have made note in the tour description of what may not be available so that it is a little more accurate.”