Île du Levant

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

Île du Levant is the easternmost and most unusual of the Hyères islands. Divided between a French Navy military base (90% of the surface, off-limits) and the naturist village of Héliopolis (10%), it offers a unique, offbeat atmosphere in the French Mediterranean. Héliopolis, founded in 1931 by the Durville brothers, is one of the world's first naturist villages. Its flower-lined lanes, terrace restaurants and wild coves reachable on foot make for a peaceful, out-of-the-ordinary setting. The vegetation, especially lush thanks to the mild microclimate, offers spectacular hiking trails between scrubland and cliffs plunging into a deep-blue sea.

Ninety per cent military, ten per cent naturist

The Île du Levant is the easternmost of the Îles d'Or, eight kilometres long and 9.8 km², and most of it is off limits: since 1948 the French Navy has used ninety per cent of the island as a missile test centre, fenced and forbidden. The remaining tenth, at the western end, is Héliopolis — the oldest naturist village in Europe, founded in 1931 by two doctors, the Durville brothers, as a colony of health and sun.

Héliopolis is a real village: a few hundred permanent residents, a square, shops, restaurants, a post office, hotels and rentals climbing a steep hillside above the harbour. Nudity is the norm — it is compulsory on the Plage des Grottes, the village beach, and on the coastal path, and the 'minimum' (a sarong or shorts) is tolerated in the village centre and shops. Visitors who are not naturists are welcome, but the code is not negotiable on the beach.

Beyond the village, the Domaine des Arbousiers nature reserve protects a stretch of cliff and maquis with a coastal trail and coves for swimming; the Sentier des Crêtes climbs the ridge to the fence that marks the military zone. There are no cars, the lanes are steep, and the view east over the Mediterranean at dawn is the reason the Durvilles chose the place.

May to September

The village lives from May to September; July and August are full, with a regular clientele who return every year, and June and September are warm and calmer. Outside the season most of Héliopolis closes and the boats thin out. The island is exposed to the mistral — on windy days the crossing is rough and the coastal path is no place to be.

Le Lavandou in 35 minutes, then uphill on foot

Boats leave Le Lavandou (35 minutes) and Hyères (about an hour), year-round but with few winter sailings; seasonal services also call from Cavalaire. Levant is France: no formality, euro. ⚠️ Respect the fences without exception: the military zone is active, patrolled, and not a place to wander into — the penalties are real and the risk is not theoretical.

Everything in Héliopolis is on foot and uphill from the harbour; pack light. The village has a dozen hotels and many rentals, a few restaurants and a small supermarket — book ahead for July and August. Combine it with Port-Cros, ten minutes away by boat, for a day of walking that needs clothes.

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