An attractive area
The ocean
The coast is one of Seignanx’s greatest assets, with its 8 km of beautiful sandy beaches and dunes. Lifeguard posts are opened from mid June to mid September to insure safe swimming. For people who like watersports, 2 professional surfing schools can teach you how to ride the waves. Seignanx is situated between 2 meccas of European surfing, Hossegor and Biarritz.
Seignanx also offers you the chance to try out sea fishing from its beaches. Ondres has a children‘s beach club offering a range of activities including swimming pools equipped with flumes.
The pine forest
To fight against encroaching sand and drain the marshes, local people undertook enormous drainage and planting work to create the largest pine forest in Europe which offers a range of activities. Take the bike trail (150 km of tarmac route along the Landes’ seacoast) with access restricted to cyclists and roller-bladers, or one of the numerous well-marked
paths of Ondres and Tarnos, like the route to Santiago de Compostela.
You could also learn than the pine isn’t only dedicated to wooden furnitures or papers. “Gemmage” for example is a traditional activity which consists in notching the pine. It then produces resin to clog the wound. Collected and transformed, this resin is used in many derived products (varnished, inks, adhesives, gums…)
Countryside
The landscape of Seignanx is a mixture of wooded slopes and valleys dotted with tiny villages. It embodies the very best of the
good life tradition. At its heart is traditional gastronomy and in particular producers of foie gras and confit will delight in sharing their produce with you. The Marais d’Orx and Lesgau nature reserves in St Martin de Seignanx allow you to observe wild birds at close quarters. The Five Senses botanical garden at Arremont is an intersting place for holiday makers who enjoy discovering nature through their 5 senses. Walking tours will take you past lakes such as Turc and Garros where it’s possible to fish.
Along the river Adour, starting from the bridge of Urt in direction of St Laurent de Gosse, have a stop to contemplate the “portes à flots, huge locks built to control the water from the surrounding fields and the Barthes. You could easily imagine the way of life of the people which was rythmed by the river and the sailing boats.
Heritage
Chateaux, fortified churches, typical Landais farms and Ottoman building, each district has its own particular heritage.Don’t forget to visit the Château of Roll-Montpellier, which offers guided tours. Step back in time in La Cité des Forges, testimony to industrial development at the end of the 19th century which continued to operate up to 1965.
The area is dotted with “frontons”, special walls used for playing pelote, bare-handed or with a wooden racket. These are an important part of local culture.