1 Brittany: Plage Conguel At the southern tip of the Quiberon peninsula, far from Brittany’s crowds, lies Plage Conguel, a necklace of blonde sand surrounding a rocky point that, one day, like Quiberon itself, will succumb to the waves and become an island.

With one side facing the Atlantic swells and the other overlooking sheltered Quiberon Bay, you can choose belle or sauvage, and at high tide the beach becomes a series of family-sized rocky coves, with views across to Belle-Ile. 2 Pyrenees: Lac de Mondély.

Have you noticed how salty the sea is? Makes you sticky. It’s foul to swallow, too, which you can’t help doing because of the waves. And don’t get me started on wetbikes. Now swap the sea for a lake, and watch the picture change. Clear, fresh water, nothing but your own lazy backstroke to disturb the mirror-calm surface, stirringly wild surroundings and a seaside-standard sandy beach. That’s superb, secluded Lac de Mondély.

You can walk right round it in an hour or two on an enchanting path, creaking with crickets, a-flutter with butterflies; swim across the narrow middle in 10 minutes, feeling the warm and cool currents swirling silkily around your knees; or lie back with the smattering of sunbathers on the 150yd strip of soft sand and wonder why everyone else rushes off to that big ocean thing. It’s a mystery. 3 Languedoc: Collioure

So seductive is tiny, cobbled Collioure and its small, rocky bay, history claims it cured Matisse of artist’s block — after he visited in 1905, his colour schemes rocked up a notch and his work was never the same again. Now you can’t move for chic art galleries selling his prints and rickety postcard racks rammed with his renditions of the seaside town. Avoid August, when Collioure is mobbed by the French; June and September are quieter, and it’s still hot. Classy, too, with seafood restaurants on the hills overlooking the bay, and small waterfront hotels with ladders to take guests right into the clear water.