Southwest France

Hossegor has been a staple of the European surf scene and the world tour schedule for decades. Providing consistently hollow, overhead barrels for most of the season, La Graviere is one of the best banks on the Hossegor stretch, and plays host to a talented crop of the world's best barrel riders every year.

A chic stretch of sand in downtown Biarritz, this can indeed be a Grande Plage. In clean, medium sized swells the beach can produce excellent, walling, occasionally hollow waves, especially at lower tides - the rocky outcrops to the south and swirling currents helping to sculpt consistent banks fought over by the large, local crew. It can of course also churn out slow, fat rollers – such is the beachbreak roll of the dice. Works through the tides but mid to low is best, the southern casino end is usually busiest but the beach can hold a crowd.

Facing west into the full force of the Atlantic, Lacanau utilizes every passing swell, transforming them - with the aid of a few well-placed groins - into miles of quality, often-barreling beachbreak. Summer months see the lineups heaving with crowds, but swells can be frustratingly small if not absent. This area usually has less surf than Hossegor to the south. However the autumn is the gravy season, when the banks come alive under an onslaught of consistent groundswells. The only downside is that if a huge swell hits, there are no sheltered spots to retreat to.

The sheltered bay of Lafitenia on southwest France's Basque coastline is home to a classic right-hand point that can reel for up to 250 yards. In big northwest swells the lineup shifts around over the sand-covered rock reef creating an unpredictable, and heavy takeoff. After making the drop, it's all about generating speed and working your line with classic carving turns as the wall races through the mid-section. The inside then hollows out to create a nice little cover-up opportunity. This spot is always busy, especially during the summer months, but the payoff is definitely worth the wait. There is a huge point on the opposite side of the bay called Peyo's Left.

This long stretch of scalloped golden sand has earned a reputation as the best beachbreak in Europe, and one of the best in the world, for its tubes. Thick, meaty shorebreak barrels that'll leave you picking sand out of various orifices for weeks after a solid session. There's a huge trench offshore, not unlike Black's in San Diego, so the swell gets focused on the few miles of sand that make up Hossegor. But the tides in France are extreme (they can vary by 20 feet) and the sandbank that you surf in the morning will probably be a closeout shorepound by lunch. It's also prone to Atlantic flat spells.

From Les Cavaliers' barrels at the north end to VVF's wedging lefts at the south end and all the various peaks in between, Anglet is one of the most consistent spots in Southwest France. While never usually as big as Hossegor, it's also not as wind-sensitive. Les Cavaliers can hold a NW wind. While VVF's stays relatively clean in a SW, Hossegor blows out if the wind even thinks about blowing W. You can check most of the whole stretch from the top of the hill just north of Biarritz -- pick your peak.

This stretch of beach has an excellent reputation for producing quality, consistent banks. Can produce long walls at low and hollow, fast waves at high when the shorebreak can be punishing, especially when the size picks up. Can handle a bit more swell than the breaks just to the north.

Can be home to some quality banks and peeling lefts and rights all along this stretch of sand. When the whole of Hossegor is going off, this can be one of the least busy (but still super popular) spots. Fun peaks working best in small to medium swells - the rips can be unruly when it picks up. Fun little skatepark plus cafes etc.

The wave at Guethary can be quite deceiving. From the park benches at the west end of town, you look out at what seems to be a clean and mushy right-hand peak breaking into a clearly marked channel, as if Sunset Beach moved to San Onofre. But reality kicks in mid-paddle as you start to realize it's out there.The outside peak is a few hundred yards from the rocky shoreline and it shifts around, turning those peaks that seemed so easy and makeable from the cliff top into roguish A-frames stalking around the lineup just waiting to catch you inside. And if you try to go left on a big day, be prepared to inhale a whole bunch of Atlantic Ocean.Guethary is all about long, drawn-out bottom turns and swooping cutbacks and carves. Like Sunset, it's more of a thinking-man's wave, and the lineup tends to reflect that level of salt-watery sophistication.After the initial big bottom turn/cutback, the wave will either back off again, allowing another carving combo, or begin to wall up across the bay and demand some serious high speed lines toward the inside section. When it connects properly, you'll be using more of your rail in one wave than you would in an entire session at Hossegor.