Les Sables-d'Olonne (; French meaning: "The Sands of Olonne"; Poitevin: ''Lés Sablles d'Oloune'') is a seaside town in Western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, on the

Atlantic Ocean 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 ...

. A

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

of the department of

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, Pays de la Loire, it has the administrative level of

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

. On 1 January 2019, the municipalities of

Olonne-sur-Mer Olonne-sur-Mer (, literally ''Olonne on Sea'') is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Les Sables-d'Olonne.Château-d'Olonne and Les Sables-d'Olonne merged, retaining the latter name.

Location and geography

Les Sables-d'Olonne is a seaside town in western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated on the coast between

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

and Saint-Nazaire, near the coastal terminus of the A87 that connects it and nearby communities to

La Roche-sur-Yon La Roche-sur-Yon () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department. The demonym for its inhabitants is ''Yonnais''. History The town expanded significantly after Na ...

Cholet Cholet (, , probably from Latin language, Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a Communes of France, commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous c ...

, and

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

to the northeast. The nearest major metropolitan center of France, to Les Sables-d'Olonne, is Nantes, to the north (approximately 105 km, by road).

Les Sables-d'Olonne station Les Sables-d'Olonne station is a railway station serving the town Les Sables-d'Olonne, Vendée department, western France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprise ...

has rail connections to Paris, La Roche-sur-Yon and Nantes. It is at the level of administrative division in the French Republic of a

and is a sub-prefecture of the Department of

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

Climate

Les Sables-d'Olonne has a oceanic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfb'') 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''). The average annual temperature in Les Sables-d'Olonne is . The average annual rainfall is with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Les Sables-d'Olonne was on 18 July 2022; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 12 February 2012.

History

Les Sables-d'Olonne () is French for "the sands of Olonne". It was founded in 1218 from Havre d'Olonne by Savary I de Mauléon, the Lord of Mauléon, Sénéchal of

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

and prince of Talmont. Its history is tied to the ocean for which it has served as a port and point of maritime commerce.

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

separated Les Sables d'Olonne from the town of

Olonne Olonne-sur-Mer (, literally ''Olonne on Sea'') is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Les Sables-d'Olonne.French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, unlike the surrounding

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, the city supported the Republic, and so was often besieged—unsuccessfully, because of its port. The current local tourism industry traces its roots to bathing establishments, first begun in 1825. Rail service reached Les Sables on 29 December 1866, via the line from

Bressuire Bressuire (; la, Berceorium; Poitevin: ''Beurseure'') is a commune in the French department of Deux-Sèvres, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The town is situated on an eminence overlooking the Dolo, a tributary of the Argenton. Notable buildin ...

, Saumur, and

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

; express service to and from Paris would arrive in 1971. The city's port served as a base port for American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. Germany occupied Les Sables d'Olonne during World War II and, upon evacuation of that army at war's end, the German army made an effort to destroy the port, and mined the harbor.

Population

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Les Sables-d'Olonne proper, in its geography at the given years. The populations of

Interests and events

The

Vendée Globe --> The Vendée Globe is a single-handed (solo) non-stop round the world yacht race. The race was founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, and since 1992 has taken place every four years. It is named after the Département of Vendée, in France ...

yacht race, which takes place every four years, starts and ends at Les Sables-d'Olonne. The Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix is a municipal museum situated in a 17th-century building that is devoted to modern and contemporary art, and that has "Musée de France" status. It includes works of

Gaston Chaissac Gaston Chaissac (1910–1964) was a French painter. An autodidact and son of the French rural working class, he became involved in the art world when he lived next door to Otto Freundlich and Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss in Paris during the 1930s. They sho ...

(1910–1964) and

Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufacturer who subsequen ...

(1903–1966). Les Sables-d'Olonne is the setting for 1948 novel ', by

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...

. The town is the birthplace of

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

François l'Olonnais Jean-David Nau () (c. 1630 – c. 1669), better known as François l'Olonnais () (also l'Olonnois, Lolonois and Lolona), was a French pirate active in the Caribbean during the 1660s. Early life In his 1684 account ''The History of the Buccaneer ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Les Sables-d'Olonne is twinned with: Niceville, Florida, United States *

Gourcy Gourcy is a town in the Gourcy Department in the province of Zondoma in Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Ma ...

, Burkina Faso *

A Laracha A Laracha is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It belongs to the comarca of Bergantiños. It has a population of 11,337 inhabitants (INE, 2011). References External ...

, Spain *

Murat Murat may refer to: Places Australia * Murat Bay, a bay in South Australia * Murat Marine Park, a marine protected area France * Murat, Allier, a commune in the department of Allier * Murat, Cantal, a commune in the department of Cantal Elsewhe ...

, France *

Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. The city is an autonomous administrative district (''kreisfreie Stadt''). Schwabach is also the name of th ...

, Germany *

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

, England, United Kingdom

Gallery

Sables-Olonne-entree-port1.jpg, The channel, view from the tower St-Clair Sables-Olonne-entree-port2.jpg , The channel, from the west dock Sables-Olonne-plage1.jpg, Promenade de l'Amiral Lafargue Sables-Olonne-prieure1.jpg, The priory St-Nicolas Sables-Olonne-chateau1.jpg, The tower St-Clair

Location and geography

Climate

History

Population

Interests and events

Twin towns – sister cities

Gallery

See also