Argelès 2035 Vision

How many beach town resorts do you know with a 7km pure sandy beach?

Copacabana? Barcelona? Miami?

And how many beach towns do you know that basically close from October until May?

The answer: Very few – except Argelès sur Mer.

So, it’s clear that Argelès sur Mer is an under-loved missed opportunity and full of potential to be an all-year-round resort that’s make a much greater economic impact on the Department and employs young people all year round.

Where is the vision and passion for Argelès sur Mer?

Here are some ideas to transform Argelès sur Mer by 2035:

i)                    Make Argelès sur Mer the home of beach volleyball and padel in France & create a shady cool beach promenade

Install permanent volleyball pitches on the beach that are bookable with changing rooms, as well as a permanent beach café. Take inspiration from the many beach café bars along the beaches in Barcelona.

At the same time, it would be great to create a fully shaded promenade running up the whole beach where people can walk, bycycle and rollerblade in the shade. You could even have water vapour steam released to keep the path cool during July and August!

Another idea would be to install padel courts on the beach alongside the existing beach volleyball courts, helping to establish Argelès as a year-round hub for outdoor sports.

To support funding, the management rights for both the volleyball and padel courts could be offered to private sports and leisure companies, who would then finance their construction in exchange for operational rights.

ii)                  Curate an all-year-round food and drink centre in Argelès sur Mer

If you walk around Argelès when it’s off-season, it often appears like an Apolocalypse with closed shops and few people and you expect tumbleweed to roll by.

There’s a great phrase that says: “if you build it, they will come”.

The Mayor should curate an Argelès sur Mer beach town centre that’s open all year round, preferably close to the beach bar and volleyball courts, and is curated to great bars, restaurants and cafes that are open all year round. It doesn’t need to be big. The promenade down to La Reserve would make a great permanent town centre.

Imagine a cozy contemporary café with high quality patisseries, a cool beach bar on the beach open all year round similar to in Barcelona (protected from the wind with wind breaks), a handful of restaurants with varied cuisine and perhaps regular music or live events close to La Reserve – even during the Winter…?

With the right curation, I believe Argelès sur Mer could become a popular resort all year round.

As visitors number would increase, other businesses would open or stay open all year around.

iii)                 Camp sites and hotels should be open all-year-round

At a time when there have never been more pensioners with plenty of time on their hands, Argelès sur Mer closes its hotels and campsites at the beginning of October. This is crazy!

I know from visiting other campsites in the Department that are open all year round that they are popular all throughout the year.

There should be at least two or three camp sites open in Argelès. The Mayor could encourage camp sites to open all year round by offering financial benefits and then it needs to be marketed to pensioners for affordable winter residency.

iv)                 Make Argelès sur Mer a centre for wellbeing and healthy living

One of the trends over the last two decades has been for health and wellbeing – and this trend does not look like stopping. I can see potential for encouraging yoga, wellbeing and healthy living practitioners.

Ideally, a wellbeing centre or resort would need to be built and this would mean giving financial incentives to well-known and respected wellbeing brand to setup in Argelès.

v)                  Relaunch Argelès sur Mer as an all-year-round affordable wellbeing and volleyball resort with great cafes and restaurants

Now, I’m not saying any of the above is easy. It requires a strategic vision and financial investment.

Currently, it’s my verdict that Argelès sur Mer is a nice camping resort, but I think it could be one of the jewels of France’s riviera through these 2035 upgrades for the 21st century and beyond.

In turn, this will attract higher value tourists, greater employment and investment into the 66 Department all year round – not just a few months in the Summer!