Cap d'Agde

Cap d'Agde (French pronunciation: [kap daɡd]) is a seaside resort on France's Mediterranean coast.

Cap d'Agde was planned by architect Jean Le Couteur as part of one of the largest state-run development schemes for holidays in French history.

A sea resort at Agde in Occitania was planned in the 1960s by the Mission Racine in the (insane with mosquitoes) old salt marsh in Cap d'Agde, the Luno lagoon, 1967 builder : SEBLI from Béziers and SOGEBI.

[8][9] The mass plan decided by Jean Le Couteur is in concentric circles of the different thematic zones (housing, parking, leisure, etc.)

At that time, the State carried out expropriations in Cap d'Agde to avoid land speculation while the general fact was the practice of illegal occupations, including on the islands.

[14] The first urban plan for Cap d'Agde was to stabilize sand with plants (pines, eucalyptus, coconuts, date palms and neriums), build dunes against wind and shore rains, and excavate a grand marina for sailing boats.

[14] The mostly winding boulevards that connect the residences are lined with eleagnus or oleanders, as a distinct sign the middle strip is planted with large trees of a specific type.

[17] Nowadays, the Landing Memorial 1980 allows remembrance on its hill, it is the place where we have the best view of the Pyrenees in the distance and of the entire coastline between Spain and Sète.

[18] And if the last vineyard of Bagnas is now very small below Château Maraval[3] with the Meyer distillery in ruins, walking in is a planned tourist-office leisure nowadays; This "Wine tourism" has been in full development for several years.

[20] Streets are labyrinthine in the 1960s' urban plan, shaped with numerous central parking places serving points of interest.

[21] After Lano set up, between Le Môle beach and the Memorial cape, the urbanization of the 1980s took place, (in 1983 Thalacap, a thalassotherapy institute opened in a hotel -it disappeared in 2006-).

[29] The marina is composed with one entrance, 10 basins forming a 35-hectares body of water dredged to 3 m.; attached to islands in administratively two parts, the public-accessible and not accessible ones.

Expansion has taken place on both sides of this new center, with the last developments towards the old port taking place in the 1990s, which is now occupied and owned mainly by retirees,[2] an evolution of the 1960 urban plan that only took working people into account;[30] this element led to the design of the new Cap center after 2000, with larger and more expensive apartments.

Leisure areas have been created, such as the Ile des Loisirs (designed in 1976[34])in the main marina (an amusement park, nightclubs and, in the past, a casino (1970s)).

In 2023, opened to public, an architecturally interesting floating Maison de la Mer was built in entrance of marina bassin n°1 to educationally illustrate the considerable connection between the shore and the salt water.

[34] Aside the antique villa d'Ambonne, on the land of the old farm, à completely new project for an arena in Agde, in use since 1974, a concrete building for open air shows.

[42] A Catholic church was built on a model adapted to the seasonal affluence: its right wing is formed by high bay windows that open onto a courtyard in which pews are placed for the faithful.

Church was built right next to the ruins of the Villa Embonne (a wheat mill), the first Greek settlement (next to the contemporan arena and Clape museum).

[43][44] It has a 2 km (1 mi) beach, a large marina, places for 2,500 campers, apartment complexes, hotel, shops, restaurants, night clubs, bars, post office, bank, ATMs, launderettes, hairdressers, and other facilities.

After World War II, in 1950's, the Oltra brothers noticed that people were coming in increasing numbers to camp on their land, for bathing and sunbathing nude.

The Oltra brothers began to formalise arrangements for campers on their land, and this subsequently led to the creation of a caravanning and camping resort, called the 'Oltra Club'.

Naturism initially had no part in these proposals, but Paul René Oltra, one of the brothers, persuaded the authorities to include plans for a naturist resort at Cap d'Agde.

[46] The naturist village has rules which require nudity as the norm, and which ban photography, the wearing of provocative clothing and the display of indecent items.

On 23 November 2008, the British newspaper The Sunday Times suggested that fires at three swingers clubs were started by hard-line naturists, or 'nudist mullahs', who oppose the echangistes or libertines.

In 2009, René Oltra, the company that bears the name of the resort's original promoter, required that visitors to its campsite, villas and flats belong to a naturist organisation.

Under normal circumstances at the time—much reduced during the pandemic–the village itself held 10,000 campsite pitches and 15,000 beds, a population density seven times greater than nearby Montpellier.

Free access to the nudist part is possible, coming from the north of the beach but impossible from the south with the Port Lano entrance.