The Great Dune of Pyla, the Highest Sand Dune in Europe

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Great Dune of Pyla, the Highest Sand Dune in Europe

Most of us have heard about the deserts and sand dunes in Africa or Asia and some of us have traveled there and visited some of them but, I believe that there is small number of us who knows that a pieces of this incredible natural phenomena can be even found on the soul of the Europe.

Just about sixty kilometers away from Bordeaux in France, there you can find awesome piece of nature which seems to be forgotten that it belongs to Europe, it rather believes that it is somewhere in hot Africa.

Credits: Wikimedia

The Great Dune of Pyla (Dune du Pyla) is the highest dune which can be found in Europe. It reaches the height of 107 meters and it is located southern of the Archachon Bay in Gironde District in France. When we speak about the name of this place, it is important to mention that you won’t make mistake if you call it Dune of Pilat. The dual name has resulted as a consequence of the little confusion about the name which happened in past. It is about a half of kilometer wide and more than 3 kilometers long.

Many tourists come here to enjoy the view from the top of dune – Credits: 360cities.net

This unique place is great traveling opportunity for those who would like to experience how it is like to be in desert and this little version of desert is less than a hour of ride away from Bordeaux. A number of such smaller sand dunes can be found at the soul of sandy moor of Gascony. This dune is huge enough to be visible from the space. From above, it looks like huge white rectangle.

Excellent place for romantic walks – Credits: Travel.smart-guide.net

We have found a great resource for you who want to see how all this actually does look like: it is a 360-degree panorama made by Patric Conrad which allows you to see how it looks like from the first person experience.