Arcachon, Stroll in the Summer Town

The MA.AT - The Tourist Office

Located in the heart of the city, the MA•AT is a new living space open to all Arcachon residents and passing visitors. This building contains various spaces including the Media Library-Game Library, the Tourist Office, the Community Center, the Community Center, a digital space and an auditorium. Backed by the real place of relaxation and activities of all kinds that the "Jacques CHIRAC" garden represents, this space of sharing, conviviality and surprises invites you to discover innovative services for all ages, as well as a varied and immersive event program with a particular sensitivity to the environment.

Arcachon train station

Arcachon station was opened on July 25, 1857 by the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Midi et du Canal latéral à la Garonne with the aim of extending the village, which was expanding at the time, and to provide better transport. At that time, the facilities were temporary because the choice had not yet been made between a location in the center of the village and another further west on land to be developed. The decision, allowing the construction of the definitive building, was made in February 1859. The first building that the Pereire brothers had built was very simple. It was a wooden station. To make the work go quickly, they decided to dismantle the station that was in Agen, and to reassemble it here, in Arcachon. The definitive station with its "Chinese buffet" style architecture, more aesthetic and more resistant, was delivered in 1864.

Verdun Square

At the end of the street when you are facing the station on your left you will see Place Verdun. In the middle of this square you can see the War Memorial made by the sculptor Alexandre Maspoli in 1924. The pacifist War Memorial of Arcachon consists of a Victory supported by faceless soldiers. Inscriptions of pacifist inspiration surround the monument. The mourners symbolize the pain after the loss of a father, a husband or a child during the First World War.

The Olympia Theater

In the mid-19th century, to entertain the internationally renowned clientele that flocked to his town, the Mayor of the time, Adalbert Deganne, dreamed of a prestigious performance venue. He commissioned Eugène Ormières to build it. The architect would later become Mayor of Arcachon (1888-90). The Grand Théâtre was inaugurated on March 5, 1874. Bought by the City in 1898, it was renamed the “Olympia Theater” in 1924. A dance hall, theater, and cinema, it set the pace for Arcachon’s cultural life. Talented artists – Brassens, Brel, Bécaud, and Hallyday – came to relax there after the show. Joe Dassin and Mireille Mathieu gave memorable concerts there! A victim of its own success, the Olympia Theatre had to adapt: ​​a vast renovation project was launched in 2003. The Theatre reopened its doors in 2006. The 1 cut stones of the neoclassical façade were replaced.

Casino Deganne

The casino you see was once built as a castle. It is said that its owner, Mr. Deganne, had this castle built, almost identical to that of Marie-Clémentine (the Château de Boursault) to pay tribute to his childhood sweetheart. Mr. Deganne never lived there but received many guests there, also organizing sumptuous receptions: in honor of Adolphe Thiers in 1875, of Marshal Mac Mahon, President of the Republic, in 1877. He also gathered in his salons a large collection of paintings, acquired mainly at the Salons of Paris and Bordeaux. Offered as a gift to Napoleon III, the latter refused it for reasons of excessive maintenance costs. When Adalbert Deganne died, without descendants, the castle was at the heart of discussions around his will. Finally sold in 1903, it was converted into a casino.

Pierre Lataillade Pier

The Pierre Lataillade pier, built around 1845, is the oldest pier in Arcachon. Like the others, it has suffered the ravages of storms and high tides, particularly in 1882. It was rebuilt in 1903 and the wood that made it up gave way to reinforced concrete. Formerly called "Jetée d'Eyrac", it was renamed on December 10, 2020 in tribute to the former Mayor of Arcachon who died on November 7, 2020, who devoted a large part of his life to the City and worked to develop Arcachon.

Thiers Pier

In 1899, James Veyrier Montagnères, then Mayor of Arcachon, decided to develop the seafront by building two additional jetties: "Jetée de la Chapelle" and "Nouvelle Jetty". This "Nouvelle Jetty", built in 1903, took its definitive name in 1907, the name of the adjacent square: Thiers. The pier and the square are thus named in honor of Adolphe Thiers, President of the French Republic from 1871 to 1873, who stayed as a "simple citizen" in Arcachon in 1875 at the Grand Hôtel. Used by the Germans during the occupation of Arcachon in 1940, the pier was destroyed by the occupiers on August 22, 1944, then rebuilt in 1946. Following a noted state of dilapidation, the pier was completely rebuilt in 2004 in a style combining tradition and modernism, chosen by the inhabitants. Today, the Thiers pier is still the main pier of the city.

Bird Island

Continuing along the seafront promenade, you can see Bird Island in the centre of the Bassin. The island is aptly named! It has a wealth of ornithological diversity, including nesting, migrating and wintering birds. 150 species of birds can be observed on the site throughout the year. There are 300 to 000 individuals resting or wintering. The flora is not to be outdone... Most of the island is made up of wetlands where many species of plants are hidden. These are the only salt meadows on the Atlantic coast that are free of any human intervention.

Cabins on Tchanquees

They owe their name to the Gascon "chancas" which means "mounted on stilts". These houses on stilts housed guards responsible for monitoring the oyster beds for a very long time. The first of them was built in 1, but it was destroyed by a storm in 1883. The cabins that can be seen today date from 1943 and 1945. The Conservatoire du Littoral has given full management to the commune of La Teste-de-Buch.

The Grand Hotel

At the corner of the promenade and rue Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny stands the old Grand Hotel. Inaugurated in 1866, this prestigious building benefited from all modern comforts. It was intended for a worldly clientele on holiday in Arcachon. It had a hydraulic elevator, a restaurant, a billiard room, libraries and lounges. The Grand Hotel welcomed personalities including Empress Elisabeth of Austria. In 1906, the building was ravaged by a fire, it was rebuilt in 1910. Today it houses luxury apartments.

The Chapel Pier and the Sailors' Cross

On March 27, 1877, the municipal council adopted the project of a jetty at the end of the Allée de La Chapelle in alignment with the Notre Dame Basilica. Initially very rudimentary in appearance, it was modernized around 1910 with a more resistant structure and street lamps. Its last renovation dates from 2013. At the entrance to the Jetty stands a wooden cross, this 14-meter cross was erected in 1722, at the same time as the Sailors' Chapel, it was red at the time. It has always been rebuilt despite the storms. The current cross dates from 1980. Tradition has it that a boat leaving the port would salute the cross with three blasts of the fog horn to benefit from the protection of the Virgin Mary. On their return he came to thank her. On March 25, the day of the patronal feast of Arcachon, the blessing of the Sailors is a tradition which takes place every year on the jetty.

Notre Dame Basilica

Faced with the ever-increasing influx of pilgrims who came to pray to the miraculous Virgin sheltered by the Sailors' Chapel, a church was built from 1858. The new building was placed against the Chapel, which was reduced in length. In Gothic style, it was completed in 1856, then enlarged in 1883. The Sailors' Chapel is the oldest building in Arcachon. The original wooden oratory had been built in 1519 by a Franciscan monk, Brother Thomas Illyricus, to house an alabaster sculpture representing the Virgin and the Child Jesus, which he had discovered on the beach, after having saved, through his prayers, two ships in distress on the Bassin.

Marquesas Square

The Place des Marquises takes up the plan of a bastide, a square bordered by arcades all around its market: no doubt, we are in the South-West! The building alternates brick, stone and polychrome wood, the facades display a profusion of gables, moldings, cornices, bow windows... which take up the architectural codes of Arcachon, echoing the Winter Town.

Bunker 502

In 2015, a Bunker built in 1943 under the German occupation was found. It is now located under the Tourist Office and is 120 m². Bunker 502 was specialized in telecommunications, and was built underground to protect it from bombing. Closed and razed in 1946, it had fallen into oblivion until 2015. The GRAMASA Research Group carried out the excavations. This place, never visited until then, knows how to make the link between past and present, in an immersive, educational, heritage way. Located under the Tourist Office, this vestige of the Second World War is now restored and open to the public. An immersive scenography accompanies you in the discovery of this symbol of Arcachon.