Well done, boomtown! I have been thonging on several French beaches (Mediterranian, Les Landes at the Atlantic coast, Vendee) and I never had any complaints about wearing a thong. Last June I was in Le Grau du Roi (about 30 km’s from Montpellier) at plage l’espiguette. My camping was right at the beach. So it was a  family beach. I wore an iSwim thong with only 15mm sides and a rather low-cut front. See:

 https://iswimfashion.com/goods.php?id=2140&lang=en 

Mine is in another fabric and it’s black. The only comment I heared from a couple of teenager girls was something with the word ‘gay’ in it. They spoke french, so I did not understand the rest what they were saying. But I’m sure they were commenting my thong. 

One afternoon there was a french guy sitting about 10m from me. He was rather shy. I greeted him with ‘bonjour’. Before he left the beach he told me thongs were ‘cool’, which made my day. 

Thonged in Nice, Côte d’Azur last year. Went to a beach near the city centre. The beach I went to seemed family friendly, and there were not a lot of thongers (some girls in cheekies). Nevertheless, I stripped down and tanned in my thong swimsuit for about 10 minutes. No one said anything, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the beach because it was rocky. In fact, the beaches in Nice were all rocky.

I wore g-strings at several beaches along the French Riviera, including Nice, Cannes, and Saint-Tropez. But the most memorable experience was at Cap d’Agde. While there, two men approached me and asked me to remove my g-string. They handed me a flyer explaining that the beach was strictly a “nude beach” and that the community wanted to preserve it that way.

I visited cap d’agde this summer. I stayed at the border where the CO section begins. Most people are nude at this part, but some wear ‘normal’ beachwear. I wore my iSwim thong. No problems. Beachwalking along the waterline at the CO part was no problem. No comments. People in bikini swimwear were also walking along the waterline at the CO section. I can imagine if you are laying out st the CO section, that take off your swimsuit or thong.

The important point of his experience is there's a difference between CO- optional, and Nude which means nudity expected or demanded. In Germany at some publicly owned nudity accepted sites the nudists are demanding no clothes be worn. This is a hard line difference and they feel you can "sort of wear something" a lot of places but here is a sacred nude spot. This CO vs N may be happening more and more as CO or N sites are lost to textile use. Of course at a private facility the organization has a right to require a dress code. At American CO places such as Haulover Beach wearing street clothes gets lots of dirty looks because that may mean they're a perv just looking at nude people and may be encouraged to leave!

Just another few random comments after we spent two weeks in a Airbnb on old town- It was interesting to me to see how people were dressed around town. Some were wearing a lot and some very little. Heels and cobblestones don’t mix. Leather pants/skirts and full denim one pieces must have been brutally hot. Lots of see through clothing with visible thongs, a few see through tops with no undergarments. All of this made Nice fun to just walk around. People were having a good time and being themselves. The trash- what a disgrace. Every night an army of municipal workers and in some places twice a day come out to pick up after people. Pizza boxes. Plastic bottles and trash just everywhere on the streets. There plenty of receptacles, people couldn’t be bothered to pick up after themselves. I actually liked the rocky beaches- I hate sand sticking to my body. Just wore flip flops to the waters edge when needed. The rocks did get hot. It’s also a very steep entry into the water. The water temp was perfect to cool off from the 85-95 degree temps. The beach clubs are expensive and most seemed to allow smoking. I liked not having to worry about towels or chairs. Having a drink brought to you is kinda nice. The smoking kinda killed it for me though. I know it’s a European thing, dealt with it at every restaurant, but when you are paying 25-40 euros for a chair and towel… the public beach had smoke free areas that seem to be upheld. Since we were there for so long, it was great to be in Airbnb with a kitchen. We found fresh pasta, an Italian market that had great cheeses and meats as well as picking up fruit daily from the market. We didn’t feel obligated to eat out for every meal which was good. If we do come back to this area, I would probably try somewhere else just because it’s a trek and I feel obligated to experiment, but it was a great experience. I joked with my wife that I couldn’t tell if people were out from the night before or woke up for sunrise when I took my daily 6-8am walk on the promenade.

I wore my boy-strings micro g-strings in Biarritz to Grande La Plage for two days. many many people walked by and stopped and gazed at me. many took photos. I saw 10+ women around me topless and wearing thongs and g-strings. My wife more a thong. all women had thongs on. most men wore shorts. I got a lot of looks. some laughs and lots of photos taken of me. I was with my wife and two kids so I know they know I'm straight. it was awesome to be seen by so many foreigners with silent approval. hundreds of people walked by.

Since 2025 june 29th it is forbidden to smoke on french beaches during summer (and in ski resort during winter). Not sure local police enforce this rule everywhere, but it is the law. And sure they enforce it on crowed beaches.

Stringueur, becoming more common, even in the USA. Since 2023 smoking banned on Miami Beach and in all Miami-Dade County parks and beaches, including cigarettes, vapes, and e-cigs, due to health and environmental concerns from butts, with fines up to $500 or even jail time for violations.

I approve the smoke free policy because I don't want to smoke for others decision and here the 99% of cigarettes butts falls on floor, ground beach... And this makes me crazy. So I'm favourable also to smokers areas with ashtrays.

I"ve been travelling to France for over 20 years now and I have to say I agree with all of you. It's a country mile difference in the smoking culture between then and now and I'm all for it. I hate seeing cigarette butts in the sand when I'm establishing a place on the beach. Even in restaurants and bars its better. Sort of like the United States in the mid 2000's. But selfishly its important to be in a totally free and good mindset when you go thonging in France!

@navythong I love Les Sables d'Olonne! When I first went there, I didn't know what to expect but I'm kicking myself for not going to the nude beach section of the coast! What's your definition of a "conservative thong?" I feel like the most conservative thongish thing I have are my Joe Snyder capris which I wear practically everyday anyway. Still the next time I go to a French beach, I'm going to be more daring and "carpe diem" the moment.

Heading to France in July and spending four days on the Côte d’Azur (Nice to Monaco). I normally wear a navy thong at the beach and plan to do the same there, although I'll throw a navy brief in my bag as a backup. For those familiar with the area, what's the beach scene like these days? Are men's thongs fairly common, or should I expect to stand out?

Hi. Heading to West France in July as well and done some research on the thong swimwear on the beaches of France. I don't expect any issues wearing thongs unless at the beaches near larger cities where 'new' French push their own rules and men thongs are obviously a no-no. I'll be staying in a camp near Brest with aquapark and direct beach access. Park forbids thongs swimwear in their pools/slides due to risk of injury on slides. What I wear on the beach is my business, so looking forward to updating my string tan lines :-)

I never had any complaints about wearing thongs on French beaches. Once there was police at the beach because there was a guy suntanning nude on a family beach. He was told to leave. I was laying out about 50m away in my thong. The police must have seen me, but I wasn’t warned doing anythong wrong. I’m always a bit carefull with groups of more then two young guys. You never know how they will react. I don’t set up near them. This is my go-to thong when I hit the beach: https://iswim.com.tw/goods_pics/u1037-01/u1037-demo-md-07.webp Mine is wet-black, my favourite color for swimwear. It’s unlined and fits me perfect.

I'm on holiday in the south of France these days. I'm staying on a campsite near Plage de L'espiguette. Most holidays are over, so there are only few tourists left. Great beaches to make long thongwalks. I even met a fellow thonger from a European thongboard. We chatted about which thongs we have and what are ours favourites. Maybe we will meet again this weekend and will do some thongwalking together.