Photo Credit By: mikelo
Only 22 k from Spain, Biarritz is a wonderful mixture of identities with so much to offer the visitor. Students here learn the Basque language before their French. The Pyrenees have their feet here and from the town on a clear day, you can see the mountains and the pine forests beyond. On the other side is the magnificent pounding Atlantic. An ocean that can be calm, tranquil and sublime one moment and an empowering force the next ensures that Biarritz is the surf capital of Europe.
A town with a twist.
This French town with a Basque and Spanish twist has so much to offer the visitor. So much so that many hold the opinion that it outdoes the Cote d’Azur for sheer class and personality. It’s not hard to see why. There is a sleek class about Biarritz that is subtle and enduring.
Charm and celebrity
It might all have come to nothing had the Countess of Montijo, wife of Napoleon the Third, not decided to decamp here. The palace he built for her in 1830 is today The Hotel De Palais and one of Europe’s top destinations. Rooms here are named after the famous celebrities who stayed there. It can count Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner and Charlie Chaplin amongst its guests. Throughout the 19th and into the 20th century the rich and powerful came to Biarritz in their droves. The charm of Biarritz, just seems rubs off on you.
A feast for the mouth and eyes
Check out the Art Nouveau magnificence of the Casino Barriere. What a place to win and lose a fortune! The town itself is a magnificent feast for eyes and belly. Elegant streets and squares surround you. There is no shortage of places to sample the local cuisine that is strongly influenced by the sea and the Spanish passion for seafood.
A sweet tooth is well served in the town; there’s a chocolate museum where you can sample traditional hot chocolate. You could also head for the famously stunning Miremont tearooms. Here world class pastries vie for your attention with glorious views onto the centre of action, the Grand Plage beach.
Surf’s up
Here you can mix with the sunbathers, the fashionable and the surfers. Biarritz is simple a world class surfing resort and the Cote des Basques is its most famous surfing beach.
If you would rather watch sea life behind glass than eat it, or swim with it. The Museum of the Sea should fit the bill. It has something like 24 aquariums and a visual feast of sea life to take in, from sharks to starfish.
Wherever you are in Biarritz everything around you makes you feel alive and refreshed. From its elegant lifestyle to its busy night-life, it has something to offer everyone. If you are seeking an outdoors thrill, you’ll find that this Atlantic town is one of a multitude of charms. Biarritz boasts some of the best golf courses in Europe, and there are specialist centres where you can take a myriad of water therapy cures. The best cure for anything you could think of is probably just being right here.