A 25-meter glass pyramid still stands on the beachfront at Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, its slides and pools empty behind cracked glazing. That’s what’s left of Aqualud, the water park that drew families to France’s Channel coast for over three decades before shutting for good in 2019.
This guide covers Aqualud’s full history and ride lineup, exactly why it closed and never came back, and the increasingly tangled saga of ownership changes, a hotel developer’s bankruptcy, and ongoing court fights that have kept its planned replacement, a five-star hotel called “The Dune,” from breaking ground years after it was first announced.
Quick Answer
Aqualud is permanently closed and will not reopen. It shut in 2019, was never revived after COVID-19 wrecked its finances, and as of 2026 its glass pyramid still stands abandoned on the Le Touquet seafront. A planned five-star hotel, “The Dune,” is meant to replace it, but the project has stalled through the hotel operator’s bankruptcy, a legal fight between the city and the former leaseholder, and unresolved court appeals over coastal-construction rules.
A Pioneer on the Channel Coast
Aqualud opened in 1985 in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, in the Pas-de-Calais department. It was the first water park built in what’s now the Hauts-de-France region, and only the second in the country: Aqualand Cap d’Agde had opened on the Mediterranean in 1983 as France’s original water park.
Aqualud’s twist on the concept was its enclosed, heated glass pyramid, which let it operate through northern France’s cooler, wetter climate in a way an open-air Mediterranean park never had to. That indoor hall, kept warm year-round, paired with an open-air outdoor section in summer to make Aqualud a genuine four-season attraction, unusual for a French water park of its era.
Stats at a Glance
Location: Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, Pas-de-Calais, France. Opened: 1985. Closed: 2019, permanently, following the pandemic shutdown. Total area: about 8,000 m², split evenly between a 4,000 m² heated indoor hall and 4,000 m² of outdoor pools and slides. Peak annual attendance: around 200,000 visitors, reached in the mid-2000s. Longtime operator: Parques Reunidos, through its French subsidiary LB Investissement. Notable feature: the first water park built in the Hauts-de-France region, housed under a beachfront glass pyramid.
Inside the Glass Pyramid: Rides and Attractions
The indoor hall, kept around 27°C, packed a dense lineup of slides into its 4,000 m² footprint. Named attractions included the Grand Canyon, Magic River, Black Hole, and Twister, a mix of enclosed tube rides and open flumes, alongside soaking pools and jacuzzis for the cooler months.
The outdoor half, open only in summer, added the faster Kamikaze slide plus the Splash and Aqua River attractions, along with shallower zones built for younger children, including Kid’s Lagoon and Kid’s Island. Together the two halves gave Aqualud a broader ride mix, in both scale and season, than most French water parks of the 1980s and 1990s attempted.
Rise and Decline: Visitor Numbers Over the Years
Attendance built steadily for most of Aqualud’s run: roughly 110,000 visitors in 1991, around 119,000 by 1996, about 160,000 by 2001, and a peak near 200,000 by the mid-2000s. After that, numbers slid, dropping to roughly 150,000 by 2013 and about 130,000 the following year.
The decline tracked a growing pattern of visitor complaints in the 2010s about aging facilities, worn changing areas, and water temperatures that didn’t always match what was advertised, signs of a park whose infrastructure was falling behind the cost of keeping a beachfront pyramid running.
Why Aqualud Closed for Good
Aqualud’s closure wasn’t a single event so much as a slow accumulation of pressure. Its beachfront location required regular, costly desanding and upkeep that an inland water park never has to budget for, and by the late 2010s the facility itself was aging faster than it was being reinvested in.
The park shut for renovation and then for COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, and operator Parques Reunidos never reopened it, citing the fixed costs and capacity limits that made the business unworkable once pandemic-era restrictions hit. A tentative reopening was floated for the 2021 season, with the pools even desanded that spring, but the plan was scrapped and the park never welcomed guests again.
From Parques Reunidos to Naos: A Tangled Ownership Chain
Spanish leisure group Parques Reunidos ran Aqualud for years through its French subsidiary, LB Investissement, which held the underlying lease on the city-owned land. In March 2023, that lease and the site’s redevelopment rights passed to hotel group Naos, which took up the plan for a five-star hotel called “The Dune.”
The handover didn’t settle things. Naos entered judicial liquidation in April 2024, pulling the project’s intended hotel operator out from under it. Then, in early 2025, the town of Le Touquet moved to terminate LB Investissement’s lease altogether, citing years of neglected security and maintenance on the abandoned site. The city won that fight: courts ordered LB Investissement to reimburse the town roughly €11 million for the security and upkeep costs it had covered, and the city reclaimed direct control of the land.
The Dune: The Hotel Project That Would Replace It
“The Dune” is planned as a five-star hotel of about 130 rooms, with restaurants, a spa and wellness pool, shops, underground parking, and a landscaped, dune-like roof meant to tie the building into the beachfront setting. Architecture firm MAES designed the project, and a building permit was granted in late 2022. Development responsibility has since shifted toward ADIM Nord Picardie, the Vinci Immobilier subsidiary now tied to the permit.
Six legal appeals have been filed against the project. Several challenges to the city’s procedural decisions have already been rejected in the city’s favor, but the substantive appeals are still pending before the Administrative Court of Lille. At their core, they turn on France’s Coastal Law, which bars new construction within 100 meters of the high-water mark outside recognized urbanized areas; the court still has to rule on exactly where Le Touquet’s shoreline falls and whether the Aqualud site counts as urbanized. A ruling has been expected but, as of the most recent reporting, had not been issued.
What the Site Looks Like Today
As of 2026, the glass pyramid is still standing, empty and deteriorating, with abandoned slides, faded signage, and children’s ride decor visible inside. The site has become a magnet for urban explorers, and videos of unauthorized visits inside the derelict park have drawn wide attention on social media, including clips with well over a million views.
The city has since banned entry to the site and cracked down on trespassing, both for safety, given the structure’s advanced decay, and to keep the property secure while the litigation over its future plays out. Crews have carried out limited demolition of the most hazardous structures on the property, but the pyramid itself has not been torn down, and full redevelopment remains on hold until the legal questions around The Dune are resolved.
Aqualud Le Touquet FAQs
Is Aqualud in Le Touquet still open?
No. Aqualud closed in 2019 and never reopened after pandemic-related shutdowns. The site has sat abandoned on the Le Touquet beachfront since, and there are no plans to revive it as a water park.
Was Aqualud France’s first water park?
No. That distinction belongs to Aqualand Cap d’Agde, which opened on the Mediterranean coast in 1983. Aqualud, opened in 1985, was the first water park built in the Hauts-de-France region and brought the concept to the Channel coast.
What is planned for the old Aqualud site?
A five-star, roughly 130-room hotel called “The Dune,” with a spa, restaurants, and underground parking. The project has a building permit but remains stalled by the liquidation of its original hotel operator, Naos, and by unresolved legal appeals over coastal-construction rules.
Why did the Aqualud hotel project stall?
Naos, the group that took over the site in 2023 to build The Dune, entered judicial liquidation in April 2024. Separately, the town later reclaimed the underlying lease from former operator LB Investissement over neglected site security, and six legal appeals against the hotel’s building permit are still working through the Administrative Court of Lille.
Can you visit the abandoned Aqualud site?
No, not legally. The town of Le Touquet has banned entry and cracked down on trespassing at the derelict park, both because the structure is unsafe and to secure the property while litigation over its redevelopment continues. Videos of unauthorized urbex visits have circulated online, but the site is off-limits.
Will the Aqualud glass pyramid be demolished?
Not yet, as of the most recent reporting. Crews have removed some of the most hazardous structures on the property, but the pyramid itself is still standing. Full demolition and redevelopment are on hold pending the outcome of ongoing court appeals against The Dune’s building permit.
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