Plage des chalets, Beach in Gruissan, in the Aude department

Plage des Chalets is a beach along the Mediterranean coast featuring approximately 1,300 wooden houses built on stilts. The colorful structures stand in organized rows directly along the waterfront and define the entire character of this seaside location.

The first houses appeared in the mid-1800s when seaside bathing became fashionable. Residents rebuilt these structures on stilts after storms to protect them from water damage.

The chalets are rented out seasonally, and the beach in front of them serves as the shared front yard for the settlement. Bathers walk between the rows of stilts, and the wooden decks double as terraces facing the sea. The settlement grew out of the 19th-century fashion for sea bathing, when families came to Gruissan for the summer.

The beach lies at the southern end of Gruissan, below the massif de la Clape, and is reached by the road along the étang. The sand is firm enough for walking and cycling, and the shallow water shelves gently, so children can wade far out. The chalets stand on the sand itself, so access is on foot between the rows.

The chalets stand on public maritime land, so owners pay a fee to the state for the occupation; roughly 300 houses are the exception, held under private land rights. The settlement grew from a 19th-century bathing colony into a permanent row of stilted cabins along the sand.