French Basque Experience

Starting at 500€

Pickup: Hotel/Port Duration: 8 Hours Start: 9:00am

Tour Description

When most people think of the Basque Country, they think of Spain. Bilbao began the so-called Guggenheim effect. San Sebastián has all those Michelin stars. And Pamplona, notoriously, lets bulls run through its streets once a year. But the Basque Country is made up of seven provinces, three of which are in southwestern France. We have designed a unique tour to explore this beautiful area of the Basque Country. We will drive across the French border into the province of Labourd, heading north from Gipúzkoa, the landscape changed. Green hills gave way to the craggy foothills of the Pyrenees. The beach towns of the sometimes steep and rocky coast, from modest Ciboure and St. Jean de Luz to glamorous Biarritz.

St. Jean de Luz

St-Jean-de-Luz sits cradled between its small port and gentle bay. The days when whaling, cod fishing, and pirating put this small town in the map are long gone. Today, pastry shops serve Basque specialties, store windows proudly display berets (a Basque symbol),, while soft, sandy beaches tempt travelers to toss their itineraries into the bay. To get a feel for the town, we will take a stroll along the main sights, starting from the fishing port to the St John Baptiste’s church where Louis XIV and Marie Therese tied the royal knot in 1660.

Biarritz

We will start the day driving across the French border to Biarritz. Half ritzy coastal resort, half summer surfers’ hang-out, this seaside resort has been a favourite beach getaway since Napoléon III and his Spanish-born wife Eugénie arrived during the mid-19th century. Its elegant villas and heritage-listed residences, which glitter with belle époque and art deco details, have retained their glamour. Today Biarritz remains one of the southwest’s seaside gems and throngs with visitors in summer.

Hondarribia

Hondarribia is definitely one of the most beautiful towns in the Basque Country and a real must-see! If you only choose to visit one village in the Basque Country, this is probably the one. Hondarribia is a shining example of a uniquely Basque maritime way of life. The town has two distinct parts: the best preserved medieval walled town raised on a small hill, where we can find the Plaza de Armas with the Castle of Carlos V and the gothic church. The other part, the neighbourhood of La Marina, is where everything comes together to create the atmosphere of an authentic old fishing port.