There are places that are semi-legendary in your mind. And when you visit them, they live up to that vision. And sometimes they don’t. Biarritz, France is not a place I knew a lot about but I did have an impression that it was a beach playground for the rich and famous in France’s Atlantic coast, lesser known to the world than its phenomenal Mediterranean coast. Biarritz’ location, in the southwestern corner of France abutting Spain (just 22 miles from the border!) facing the Bay of Biscay, seems ideal with warmer climate and perhaps not the throngs of partying tourists that the Mediterranean coasts can attract. It sits in the Basque region of France and is home to 20-30-odd thousand residents.
So, as we went from San Sebastian, Spain to Lourdes, France, we decided we would stop somewhere along the way as the road trip would be short so why not get a glimpse of some town along the way? As I looked at the map, I realized there were several neat towns along the French coast and inland (like Bayonne or Saint-Jean-de-Luz). As I talked to my Mom, she shared how she, when she was a girl, would read a novel with her best friend that partly took place in Biarritz and how they always daydreamed about Biarritz and seeing it some day. That settled it for me: Biarritz would be our stop on this lazy day of meandering on our way to Lourdes! Getting to Biarritz from San Sebastian was a piece of cake, like 45 minutes or so by car; it would have been maybe double that if you went by train. We went on the highway until Saint-Jean-de-Luz into which we drove but did not stop and then we tried to drive along the coast or as close as we could for most of the way.
We finally made it to Biarritz and we just followed the ever present blue “P” signs indicating where we could find parking. We did not just take the first one, we wanted to get to the heart of the town and then find parking as not everyone could walk longer distances. We found just such a perfect parking, underground of course, right by the waterfront by Saint-Eugenie Church – perfect!
Our visit was short but still worthwhile. A walk around the shopping district after a meandering drive into town was perfect. 
Saint-Eugenie Church
Biarritz’ place on the coast certainly offers beautiful vistas and spots to take in the views – or get on a boat and see the city from the water (which I wish we could have done!).
And then, we just picked a place on the beach (the ‘Grande Plage‘ – or great beach) to have lunch -not because it had the look of a great establishment (it did not, actually), but simply because of the view out towards the sea and the fact that we would be sitting in open air enjoying the beautiful weather that day.
We ate at a cafe off to the right
The Grande Plage (big beach) of Biarritz
Biarritz most distinctive or massively impressive structure is the Hotel du Palais (of which, unfortunately, I took the picture split by a lighting pole…) built in the mid-1800s by the wife of Napoleon III. It sits grand and stands alone by the water. What a great place to live (if you were Napoleon III’s wife, I suppose).
Hotel du Palais – and the pole in the middle of the photo
So, I can’t share much about Biarritz (Wikipedia tells me it had about 25,000 residents back in 2009…), its history (became popular once royalty starting going there in the 19th century), or all the ins-and-outs of what to do and see as the scope of our visit was limited and I had not researched much ahead of time (very uncharacteristic of me but nice to go with serendipity sometimes…). But, if like my Mom, you have wondered what Biarritz looks like, I hope this post checks that off your list!
With my beautiful mom and sister – great travel companions!!
My sister has always loved going to the beach – glad I could take her to one in France!
The teenager in the Biarritz of her dreams! It was about my mom that day!!
Dreaming of Biarritz too? Pin this image of its main beach to your board!
