La Teste-de-Buch (; oc, La Tèsta (de Bug) ) is a commune in the

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,6 ...

department,

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

, Southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.Commune de La Teste-de-Buch (33529)
/ref> It is located on the south shore of

Arcachon Bay Arcachon Basin or alternatively Arcachon Bay (French: ''Bassin d'Arcachon'') is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest coast of France, situated in Pays de Buch between the Côte d'Argent and the Côte des Landes, in the region of Aquitai ...

, lying in the southwestern part of Gironde. It is the largest of four communes that comprise the

Communauté d'agglomération Bassin d'Arcachon Sud Communauté d'agglomération Bassin d'Arcachon Sud is the ''communauté d'agglomération'', an intercommunal structure, covering the area south of the Arcachon Bay. It is located in the Gironde department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southw ...

(COBAS), which coincides with the

urban unit In France, an urban unit (''fr: "unité urbaine"'') is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a ...

(agglomeration) of La Teste-de-Buch-Arcachon, population 67,563 (2018).Comparateur de territoire
INSEE It is the eighth-largest commune in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

in geographical area. La Teste-de-Buch is famous for the

Dune du Pilat The Dune of Pilat ( French: ''Dune du Pilat'', official name), also called ''Grande Dune du Pilat'', is the tallest sand dune in Europe. It is located in La Teste-de-Buch in the Arcachon Bay area, France, 60 km (37.2 mi) southwest of ...

, the highest sand dune in Europe. It is also the site of a fictional battle during the Napoleonic wars depicted in ''

Sharpe's Siege ''Sharpe's Siege'' is the eighteenth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1987. The story is set on the Atlantic coast of France in the Napoleonic wars during the British Invasion of France in 1 ...

'' by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

Geography

La Teste-de-Buch is located in the department of

, in the middle of the

Landes forest The Landes forest (; La forêt des Landes in French) in the Landes de Gascogne (las Lanas de Gasconha in the Gascon language), in the historic Gascony natural region of southwestern France now known as Aquitaine, is the largest man-made woodland ...

, and south of

. It is the capital of the

Pays de Buch Pays de Buch (, literally ''Land of Buch'') is one of several areas that make up the Landes forest in France. It extends across seventeen towns around the Arcachon Bay and the valley of the Eyre River. The village of Porge is at the north end ...

. Neighbouring communes are Gujan-Mestras to the east,

Arcachon Arcachon ( ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for i ...

to the northwest, and

Biscarosse Biscarrosse (; oc, Biscarròssa) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is located southwest of Bordeaux, and inland from the seaside resort of Biscarrosse-Plage on the Atlantic coast. Near Bis ...

and

Sanguinet Sanguinet (; ''Sanguinet'' in Occitan) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is situated next to Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet. Geography The commune is situated in the north of the departmen ...

to the south. The Dune of Pilat is a famous landmark on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

coast, situated in the western corner of the commune. The seaside resort of Pyla-sur-Mer, the village of Cazaux, the bird refuge and sandbank of Arguin are also part of the town. The

Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet is a lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part ...

is in the southeast corner, astride the departments of Gironde and

Landes ''Landes'', or ''Lanas'' in Gascon, means moorland or heath. ''Landes'' and ''Lanas'' come from the Latin ''plānus'' meaning “‘flat, even, level, plain’”. They are therefore cognate with the English plain (and plane), the Spanish word ''l ...

. The rest of the commune area consists of old dunes, where the natural forest has changed little over centuries. During World War I, an airfield was created near Cazaux for airplane pilots training (fighters and bombers). Most of the American volunteers pilots of the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...

came to the "Camp de Cazaux" to finish their training as war pilots. When the U.S entered the war, the 36th Aero Squadron was based here.

Climate

La Teste-de-Buch features an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(''Cfb'') under the Köppen system, closely bordering on a

warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(''Csb'') due to the lack of rain in july compared to november, the wettest month of the year. Winters are cool and wet, while summers are hot but bearable. However, cold snaps in winter or heat spikes in summer are rare but not unknown.

Population

International relations

La Teste-de-Buch is twinned with *

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflu ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, since 1987. * Schwaigern,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, since 2004.

Geography

Climate

Population

International relations

See also