The town is on a 3,700-acre (1,500 ha) plot of land with 4 beaches on 3.5 km of European Atlantic shoreline, and a lake.

The root of the name Soorts is probably close to that of Sorde, the verb gascon sórder or sordar, sourdre, meaning "where there are sources".

The origin of Hossegor is more obscure: it may be an Aquitain or Basque name to be attached to the hydronyms osse and the adjective gorri, meaning "dry water".

On April 1 of that year, thanks to an increase in tourism, the local government decided to add the name of Hossegor to the town of Soorts, thus creating Soorts-Hossegor, as it's known today.

Other personalities later joined them, like Charles Derennes in 1913, then Maxime Leroy, Gaston Chérau, Pierre Benoit, Tristan Dereme and Leon Blum in 1920.

The naming of Hossegor in the Gascon language is to do with the 'gouf of Capbreton', an underwater canyon thousands of metres deep and hundreds of kilometres long, this creates waves from the ocean on the Landes coast.

In the Landes region are several good surfing spots which are enjoyed when possible by the public and also professional athletes as part of yearly competition.

[10] The Hossegor coast has been one of the few world class surfing locations in Atlantic Europe, with beach breaks at Gravière and La Nord, Les Estagnots.

[11] Also, there's nearby beach breaks in Capbreton and Seignosse, which have shared the surf competition due to differing wave conditions.