Mon Pays Basque

France’s Basque Country is a region where you can go from the sparkling heights of the Pyrenees to warm waters off the beaches of Biarritz on a single day out. We asked long-term resident and surf school owner Romain Laulhe for his tips on the peaks and troughs of the area he loves.  

French Basque local –
Romain Laulhe

I’ve been living in Anglet since 1995, when I was 10 years old. This place is a mix of all the good parts of South–West France. It’s not too crowded, not too wild, has nice beaches, good waves, plenty of shops and lovely woodlands. There are also some great special foods that come from the mixing of the cultures here. 

Do

  • I love to surf, of course and I recommend anyone to try. Anglet is a lovely, small surf town. As is Hossegor up the coast, although that’s actually in Landes. When the heat gets too much, Chiberta forest is great for a stroll in the shade, before you come back to the beach for a sunset drink in front of the ocean.  
  • From sea to sky! Take the cable car up the Pic du Midi, in the middle of the Pyrenees. It’s 2877m high and there’s a planetarium and observatory at the top. The cable car goes from La Mongie and takes a whole 15 minutes to get to the peak. 
  • Among the many great Basque foods is cheese, and we have a special route dedicated to allowing you to learn about and taste the many varieties. There are all kinds of ways to get involved and you go through some great landscapes along the way. 

Eat

  • I often start my day at Volt, a few minutes’ walk from the beach. It’s one of the outlets of a local coffee roaster. They have a great ethos with agriculture, labour, shipping all considered very carefully. More importantly, the coffee is perfect! 
  • Between Biarritz and more relaxed Anglet, you can find all types of meal. Surf Burger is a great place by the beach in Anglet, for simple food, but Le Jardin de la Paillote Bleue, only a couple of streets inland, is a slightly more refined place. It still feels relaxed, but the food is more artistic. 
  • If you want to go very fancy but not in Biarritz, there’s a place called Le Bistro Balneaire, just outside Hossegor, where you can eat with views of the inland tidal lake and try two of the regional specials – foie gras and magret de canard. 

See

  • Biarritz is our “big city”, and some people love it, some not so much. Le Marche Des Halles is a great place to shop, eat and drink, the Hotel du Palais is a striking sight and the view from Rocher de la Vierge, the long strip of land sticking into the sea, is iconic and worth a photo. Coffee or lunch at Miremont Patisserie, a 130-year-old café in the centre with lovely sea views, is a definite highlight. 
  • Sare is a classic Basque mountain village, parts of which feel like it’s never changed. Nearby, you can take Le Petit Train de la Rhune, a rattling wooden railcar that will pull you up the nearby mountain. It gets cold, so take a coat!  
  • The next town north of Anglet is Bayonne, where Jews fleeing Spain in the 17th century settled, bringing cocoa with them. The town has been a centre for chocolate ever since. There’s a chocolate museum, the Bayonne Botanical Gardens are excellent and the cathedral is worth visiting, but the real pilgrimage to make is to Cazenave or Chocolat Pascal in the same street, for the best hot chocolate of your life.   

Featured places to stay in Biarritz

Villa etcheBri - Gallery

Villa etcheBri

Anglet, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Ferme Elhorga - Gallery

Ferme Elhorga

Saint Pée sur Nivelle, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Hôtel Arraya - Gallery

Hôtel Arraya

Sare, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Dominxenea - Gallery

Dominxenea

Sare, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Ezpondakoborda - Gallery

Ezpondakoborda

Espelette, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Getting there

Being able to go from the sea to the mountains in the course of a day means you need to pack carefully. Make sure you’ve planned for varying weather and temperatures for the duration of your trip and within each day. 

Getting around

By train:

Start with the Eurostar to Paris and then transfer from Gare du Nord to Montparnass-Bienvenue using Metro Line 4 or 5. The transfer will take 20-30 minutes. From here, it’s the TGV to Biarritz, which takes around six hours despite its very great speed.  

 

By ferry:

This is probably possible, in small increments and using a variety of boats, but you’d probably be a weathered old sea captain by the time you arrived.  

 

By plane:

Flights from UK airports to Biarritz are frequent and ubiquitous, but you miss out on the chance to zoom corner to corner through France on the train. 

Top tip!

People celebrate everything here. There’s a Bayonne Ham Festival in April that’s been held for hundreds of years and The Fêtes de Bayonne in July is also something to see, as everyone dresses in white and red. Time your visit for one of those, or visit later in the year, outside the holidays. 

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