France has a long coastline – from the English Channel in the north to the Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea in the south. On top of that, there are plenty of lakes and rivers that traverse the inlands, making it so that you’re never too far away from water. 

That being said, some areas are better for swimming than others. For instance, for the most part, swimming in France’s major rivers is either not recommended or not allowed, based on municipal rules. 

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: Can you swim in France’s largest rivers?

If you are looking to swim in a pre-existing beach or swimming area, then you can check to see how clean the water is by going to the French government website baignades.sante.gouv.fr.

The site, created by the French ministry of health, is available in both English and in French and has compiled information from over 3,000 official swimming sites across the country. Keep in mind that it does not show areas that are not classified as official baignades (swimming areas).

You can either zoom in on the map to see existing beaches and swimming areas near you, or you can select your département on the drop-down menu, followed by the commune. 

On the map, you will see that each swimming site is ranked, using information from the regional health authority (Autorité régionale de santé, or ARS) with the best being “Excellent”, followed by “Bon” (Good), “Suffisant” (Adequate), “Insuffisant” (Inadequate), “Insuffisament de prélèvements” (Not enough samples), “Site non classé” (Non-classed site) and “Interdiction” (swimming forbidden).

If you would rather see the information in list-format, click the link in the bottom right hand corner “Création d’un bilan par année au format PDF”. The years available were 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Users should also be available regarding the individual profiles of each individual swimming site, which will provide information from pollution monitoring and the primary pollutants present to logistical things such as parking areas and first aid available on site.

To access this information, you must zoom all the way in to the specific area you want to check. At that point, you ought to see the name of the beach, its ranking and the period of the year it is open. You will also be able to click on its individual profile for further information, as shown below.

Once you are on the individual site’s page, you can see more recent and thorough results from sampling. You can click ‘profile du site de baignade’ to be connected to the information page attached to the local town hall.

What does the sanitary rating cover?

The ranking is based on analyses, which look at the presence of bacteria, tar or oil residue, glass, plastic and other waste, over the swimming period, which in France generally runs from June 15th to September 15th.

Bacteriological samples are taken 10 to 20 days prior to the start of the season, and then twice a month afterwards. 

Certain sites that have maintained high standards for at least two years may reduce the sampling period to once a month, but all sites regardless of their rank must conduct a sampling at least one time per month.