Préfailles – Anse du Sud

Préfailles · Loire-Atlantique · France

Today’s forecast: the current surf forecast for Préfailles – Anse du Sud (wave height, swell, wind, tide and a 0–10 rating for every hour of the next 16 days) are only shown on SurfCams. They change every hour, so this text doesn’t contain them. To check today’s surf, open https://surf-cams.com/spot/prefailles-anse-du-sud.

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A small curved cove of about 300 m of sand and rock on the south side of Pointe Saint-Gildas, looking out toward the Bay of Bourgneuf. The point shelters it from the prevailing westerly winds, so when a big swell wraps around it can give clean, glassy waves while the open coast is messy. The wave breaks over rock at high tide and over sand at low tide. It needs a large swell to work, and very little is written about it as a surf spot.

Level
Intermediate
Break
Beach break, sand and rock
Waves
Lefts and rights
Crowd
Quiet
Season
autumn, winter
Boards
A shortboard or fish for the wrapping swell.

When it works

✓ A big west to south-west swell wrapping around the point, with a north-west to north wind.

When it doesn't

✕ Anything short of a large swell, and south to south-east winds blowing straight into the cove.

Watch out for

  • rocks
  • reef

Best months

January, February, March, November, December

Local tips

Think of it as a big-swell, windy-day alternative to the exposed Saint-Gildas reefs. High tide puts the wave over rock and low tide over sand, so choose your tide with that in mind. In July and August the bathing zone is buoyed off and a swimming raft is moored in the cove.

Getting there

A free car park, open all year, sits by the beach about 2 km from Préfailles centre, with toilets and a ramp down to the sand; the port and the cafés of Pointe Saint-Gildas are a short walk away.

Travel notes

How often it works
The cove is sheltered, so it only works on a big swell. It is a windy-day fallback when the open reefs of Saint-Gildas are too messy.
Crowd and vibe
Very few people surf here. In summer it is a family swimming beach.
Camping and vans
Camping de la Pointe in Préfailles and Camping l'Albatros in La Plaine-sur-Mer are both less than 2 km away. Nearest campsite about 1.5 km away.
Facilities
There are toilets, showers, drinking water and a summer lifeguard post, and the cafés of the Saint-Gildas port are a short walk away.
Water quality
The Anse du Sud monitoring point was rated good every season from 2022 to 2025 and holds the 2026 Pavillon Bleu. In 2026, one of its ten samples was only average.

Ideal conditions

Swell
SW–W best, SSW–WNW works
Size
2.5–4 m offshore swell; starts at 1.8 m, holds to 5.5 m
Period
11 s minimum, best from 14 s
Wind
Offshore NNW–NNE; handles onshore up to 15 km/h
Tide
high, low best
Faces
SSW (200°)

Live cam

No cam at this spot yet: the forecast and the guide are on the map.

Nearby spots

All spots in Loire-Atlantique · All spots

Sources