To the south of the Basin, they are very far down the list, at 1643and place for La Teste, at the 2119and place for Arcachon, 2253and place for Gujan-Mestras and 5191and place for Le Teich, out of 34,827 municipalities in France. Even in the Department, they are far behind most towns with more than 2,000 inhabitants. According to this ranking, life is much better in all the big cities of the Bordeaux suburbs (in the category of municipalities with 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants), since La Teste and Gujan are respectively penultimate and last in this category in Gironde.
“Compared to the Bordeaux metropolis, there are few traffic jams in the south of the Basin, significantly less pollution, and many more natural spaces”
This is particularly surprising for these cities in the south of the Arcachon basin when we look at the methodology of the study, based on INSEE statistics weighted by an OpinionWay survey. 187 criteria are divided into 9 categories: quality of life, safety, health, shops and services, transport, education, sports and leisure, solidarity, real estate attractiveness.
Level of service
Take quality of life. Compared to the Bordeaux metropolis, there are few traffic jams in the south of the Basin, much less pollution, and many more natural spaces. Crime is also less important there, even if it exists. National, municipal and gendarmerie police are present everywhere.
For health, a town like Arcachon offers a unique service: that of general practitioners who come to your home at night and on public holidays every day of the year. The hospital center is modern and offers all the specialties, and those of Bordeaux are less than an hour away. For shops and leisure, you can find almost all the brands in the Bassin… except Ikea. As for education, schools, colleges and high schools are easily accessible and do not encounter any major difficulties. The university campus is also less than an hour away by public transport.
Precisely for transport, the bus network in the south is quite dense and efficient compared to many medium-sized towns which are nevertheless much better classified, without forgetting the SNCF line which connects all the stations like a regular RER. There are also 130 kilometers of cycle paths in the south, as many as in Bordeaux in proportion to the population. Mérignac airport is only an hour away, as is Bordeaux train station and it takes less than three hours to reach Paris by TGV. Sports equipment is all the more provided as each municipality wanted its swimming pool, its gymnasiums, its stadiums.
Ditto for culture with three beautiful rooms (soon to be four), whose programming on the scale of the conurbation is well worth that of the two cities at the top of the charts in France: Angers, Annecy. There are 15 cinemas for 70,000 inhabitants in the southern agglomeration, while the average in Gironde is 10 cinemas for 100,000 inhabitants, and media libraries in each municipality.
The housing problem
As for solidarity, the south of the Basin is renowned for the importance and vitality of its associative fabric. Concerning the attractiveness of real estate, it is indisputable. This is also the main problem of this territory: the difficulty of finding accommodation due to high prices. But this is also the case in the Basque Country, which nevertheless monopolizes the first places.
This is proof that a national ranking based on numbers, whether good or bad, does not always correspond to reality. But many will also say that they prefer that the Arcachon basin is poorly ranked in this list, since to live happily it is sometimes better to live hidden.