Anna Cafolla offers an alternative guide to the French city, complete with independent stops, off-beat eateries and places of cultural interest
Introducing a series of alternative city guides, specially curated for the cultivated traveller.
Biarritz is ruled and made resplendent by the waves: its culture, charm, and the contours of everyday life stand in allegiance to the Atlantic coast’s constant, calligraphic surf.
Once a small fishing village, majestic architecture and Belle Époque villas are artefacts of its regal past as a summer residence for Europe’s heirs and heiresses, while its soft hills pop with candy-coloured facades, salmon-pink stucco and window shutters. On the cliff sits the much-photographed neo-medieval mansion Villa Belza, preceding it is La Grande Plage’s promenade lined with striped umbrellas and terrace restaurants serving oysters and rosé. Atop the Rocher de la Vierge, a Virgin Mary statue watches over its bravest surfers and dramatic sunsets the colour of Basque Country cider or sagardo.
The climate is just as relaxed – humid and oceanic all year round. Most days are sun-blessed, lending to slow seafood lunches and ice-cream on every whim, surfing, hiking and hobnobbing around the shops, and reading on the silvery beach with picnics of cured meat and cheeses from the local market. Biarritz is just 22 miles from the Spanish border, and so a trip here holds as much hope and liberation as the next cresting wave.
Below, you’ll find a list of recommendations of what to do in the elegant French seaside town.
Villa Magnan
A sleeping bucolic beauty above Lake Moursicot, this art deco villa was once the home of Spanish aristocrats and frequented by Cristóbal Balenciaga, then lay abandoned for 80 years. Jérôme and Anne Israel, a cinematographer and production designer, lovingly restored the residence. In three guest outbuildings, you’ll find rooms with original Chantilly parquet flooring, mosaics and soft pastel walls that tell its history, alongside Ortigia soaps and Loewe candles. Two dogs – shaggy Oona and golden Oomo – lop around the grounds, as well as hens, an albino peacock, and Hector the donkey. Guests eat daily changing breakfast plates communally in the cavernous dining hall – frills of jambon and tomato, stout sweet caneles and smoked fish with radish. Spend the day reading in its secluded grounds (ensconced in an outdoor claw-footed bath, maybe) and head to its evening bar to enjoy apéro on a four-poster bed.
De Puta Madre
After a few glasses, head down the steps to Villa Magnan’s al fresco restaurant, De Puta Madre. The antique furniture and pastoral surroundings of the villa are carried over to the restaurant, open since 2021. The set, seasonal menu celebrates Basque country eating: when I visited, I ate brebis (sheep) croquettes topped with anchovy and guindilla (little peppers you’ll encounter a lot); pork with ricotta, mint, and ribbons of melon and cucumber; Marmitako, a warming regional fish stew that’s a throne for two hulking langoustines, traditionally eaten on tuna fishing boats in the Cantabrian Sea; local cheese and a plum tart. Organic wines are supplied by Biba Ardoak co-op, and were narrated by the lovely sommelier Gladwys.
Yvonne
Mélanie at Yvonne is a passionate advocate for true vintage. Her careful, colourful curation sits inside the Ateliers de la Côte, an artists and crafts residence. She’s got a particular eye for shoes – 80s platforms, woven sandals – and I left with a sand-coloured crochet bag with a resin hoop handle. Fadead Vintage has a tight selection of Levis, leathers, and retro bikinis – cut the conical pads out of the tops if you don’t feel very Madonna. At Harolde et Maude, a friend once found some incredible Giuseppe Zanotti thigh-high boots for 90 euros.
Cheri Bibi
In the centre of town, just back from the seafront, Brittany-born chef Adrien Witte’s Cheri Bibi is an airy bistro with Basque-forward food that’s uninhibited, elegant and playful, with nods to his time cooking in Copenhagen. Curls of cured meats, beetroot-pink eggs, asparagus draped in diaphanous lardo and studded with roast hazelnuts, mussels in a sweet and sumptuous curry madras. Vegetables are taken seriously here. Venture into the wine cellar with Augustine to pick your bottle, and if the Basque cheesecake is on, get it: it’s on the right side of savoury.
Maison Arosteguy
Maison Arosteguy is the oldest family delicatessen in France, founded in Biarritz in 1875 – and a place to satiate any love for tinned fish. Ave Victor Hugo is a gourmet street; you can visit Don Ulpiano for its Iberian hams and 1001 Fromages for a distinctive selection of French cheese and tangy Poilâne bread, best eaten with wheels of goats cheese piled with candied citrus and yuzu juice or dusted with espelette pepper.
Les Halles Market
This red brick market is a lively trip through the region’s best produce, a perfect place to grab coffee in the morning or make a sandwich for the beach. Pass shoals of iced fish, serpents of chorizo and vegetable stacks to find L’Ecaillerie, an oyster bar run by the Nopal brothers, for platters of Marennes Oléron oysters and white wine. Fourth generation truffle growers’ Maison Balme’s small stand is a must for the truffle omelette.
Champ Lacombe
London-born gallerist and former Gavin Brown’s Enterprise director Lucy Chadwick moved from New York to her beloved Biarritz to open Champ Lacombe in 2021, the town’s first contemporary art gallery. When I visited the sleek space, the first of a two-part series showing work by Arthur Jafa was on show, centring around his film LOLM – an immersive, intense piece on the overwhelm and tumult of grief. Chadwick has brought work by Zeinab Saleh, Sagg Napoli, Martine Syms and Mark Leckey to the space, as well as an impressively curated multidisciplinary show that interrogated the spectacle of baroque art.
Maison Adam
The rustic, crisp Maison Adam macarons, originally created for the wedding of King Louis XIV, are locally known as mouchous, from the Basque word ‘muxu’, for kiss. They have more bite to them than the Paris variety – and precede Ladurée’s by three centuries. The shops are aromatic with roast almonds. Come away with a box, as well as the generously sized Gâteau Basques in cherry and apricot, and a chic tote bag.
For other sweet treats, Miremont is a delightful, authentic tearoom with a terrace to enjoy tartelette framboise and petits choux.
Retour Verre Le Futur
Retour Verre Le Futur is a bottle shop that liases intimately with winegrowers of over 300 natural wines, including brilliant Basque ciders. You can drink in the shop without corkage and with cellar prices, and do tastings. Owner Hubert Lauriot Dit Prévost is an alum of Epoq, a central wine bar and restaurant with flame-grilled small plates. L’Artnoa’s delightful staff will provide a pleasurable education on the region’s wines, and Etxola Bibi is the place to toast the sunset over Côte des Basques. At sun down, Club Sandwich transcends with local DJs and biodynamic wine.
Lobita Atelier
Lobita is a bright, independent specialty coffee shop with an excellent cold brew and housemade granola you can buy by the bag. With a market stall and brick-and-mortar, both are short walks to the Côte des Basques for a seafront jaunt, the Sainte-Eugénie Church with its intricate, blushing stained windows, and Le Port des Pêcheurs, a quaint marina to perch and watch the fishing boats come in and deposit their bounty to the seafood restaurants.
Michel Pujol
Michel Pujol is a terrific tiny store that specialises in antique stamps, postcards, and posters from the Basque Country. It’s only open from mid-morning to late afternoon (or at the owner’s whim), but worth a venture and dig.
Bayonne
Only a 15-minute drive from Biarritz is Bayonne, a medieval town veined with narrow streets and flamboyant neo-gothic architecture. Each Friday, it hosts a vibrant flea market – look out for silks and ceramics. When you’re finished taking in the city, Dame Jeanne is a relaxed wine bar, and Harakina (which means ‘butcher’ in Basque) is a checkerboard-floored bistro that does a hearty pork chop and delicious chocolate cake.
