Dune of Pilat

The Dune of Pilat is the tallest sand dune in Europe, standing at La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area about 60 kilometres south-west of Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast. It is a straightforward proposition: a wall of sand between pine forest on one side and the ocean on the other, climbed by a wooden stair in season and by brute effort out of it. The dune moves inland year by year, which is why the forest behind it is being slowly buried. Sunset from the crest is what most people come for.