After a rather long cross country rail journey of nine and a half hours from Aix-en-Provence to Arcachon (via Marseille and Bordeaux) it was nice to arrive and breath in the sea air. On the approaches to Arcachon you could tell things were different from Provence. The houses looked very neat, the streets looked tidier and the trains did not seem to have the same amount of graffiti as they did in/around Marseille. As we walked from the station to the hotel Arcachon itself just seemed very well cared for and almost manicured after our few days in Aix-en-Provence - it certainly felt very comfortable. Arcachon is however a fairly new holiday resort dating from the late 1800s and each area of the original town is named after a season of the month - you can quite literally visit four seasons in one day. The main area is Eté (summer) which has the majority of the hotels, restaurants and main seafront, there is Automne (autumn) around the old port area, Printemps (spring), on the south side of the town and Hiver (winter) almost sandwiched between the three other areas of the town. Each area has its own feel and probably style, but the Ville d'Hiver area is well known for big mansions and residences, whereas the others may be a little more reserved but still have interesting properties to admire. Sadly most of the houses are well outside our price bracket. There are plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from although generally all are fairly pricey so it can help to look for the special 'menu du jour' for better value especially if they do a pitchet/carafe of house wine for a few euros. Our first evening was had just wandering along the seafront taking in the views, the sea air and generally getting our bearings. Our dinner at Brasserie des Marquises was just OK if honest, certainly nothing special for the price paid - we chose wiser on subsequent evenings. Our second day had us walking a few miles exploring further and taking a four seasons tour of Arcachon. It has to be said that some of the houses in Ville d'Hiver were very impressive, in fact it almost had an American affluent country suburb feel about it at times. For lunch we stopped at a nice café/brasserie Petit Louvre in the main town - the €14.50 three course menu was great value and the wine was just €5.50 for half a litre. Fabulous! By late afternoon we had finished our walk through 'winter' and onto 'spring' where we found a great beach side bar to spend an hour or two - it seemed foolish to move on too quickly given the temperature was in the mid-30s. Our evening meal at Brasserie La Popote, close to the hotel, was much better than our first meal in Arcachon although having a second three course meal in a day with wine was maybe a tad excessive! Our second day involved a bit of cycling. The area around Arcachon Bay has hundreds of miles of cycle paths - there was no way we were going to do them all but plumped for a 7 mile each way excursion on two wheels to the Dune de Pilat (or Pyla). What a great recommendation it was to visit this natural wonder that is constantly moving east by 5 metres a year due to the wind and shifting sands. The sand dune is the highest in Europe standing at around 115 metres tall but the climb was aided by some steps. It is also 500 metres wide and 2.7 kilometres long. It was well worth the cycle ride to see it although sadly an experience shared along with hundreds of other people too. It is a popular visitor attraction, and very well managed, and for us was free of charge as we had arrived by bike and not in a car. Being France even the eating options at a tourist trap like the Dune de Pilat seemed much better that what would be expected in the UK. My cheese/ham salad complete with a fried egg seemed to be freshly prepared, the croque/frites/salad combo that Heather chose was good and prices were not too extortionate either considering the location. By the time we were cycling back to Arcachon, which fortunately was mainly downhill on the return, the temperature had risen to 34°c but it was still hard going. A mid point pit stop at the Bar du Soleil overlooking the sea was had before getting back to the air conditioned comfort of the hotel. It was a scorcher! Our third and final night in Arcachon started with sunset drinks at the Café de la Plage before heading to La Pizzeria for a bit of food - we both had pizza, which seemed appropriate, and jolly nice it was too especially when washed down with a litre of crisp rosé wine for just €9.00. A cheeky trip to Maxi Gelato - keeping with the Italian theme - serving up nice portions of ice cream rounded off the evening. Arcachon has plenty to offer and we were genuinely sad to move on to Biarritz (but we need to in order to catch a flight home). There is more to see and do in this area and as a result it has made it onto our 'return to list', the problem will however be when. It may be 'au revoir' for now Arcachon but also 'a bientot' too!