Where Napoleon III built a summer palace for Empress Eugénie and where Europe's first surfers hit the Atlantic in 1956 — the Basque coast's most glamorous resort, with three ocean beaches in the shadow of the Pyrenees and a culinary scene that merges Basque pintxos with Belle Époque grandeur
Biarritz (25,000; metro 130,000) in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is France's surf capital and its most elegant coastal resort — Napoleon III built Villa Eugénie (now the Hôtel du Palais) on the cliff above the Grand Plage for Empress Eugénie in 1854, launching the city as European royalty's favourite summer destination. American Californians Peter Viertel and Ricky Grigg introduced surfing to the Atlantic in 1956, making Biarritz the birthplace of European surfing; the Côte des Basques beach hosts competitive surf championships every summer. The Rocher de la Vierge (Virgin's Rock) — a sea stack c…
Biarritz was a whaling village until the early 19th century — Basque whalers from here are credited with discovering Newfoundland's Grand Banks as early as the 1370s, a century before John Cabot's 1497 voyage. The village's transformation began with Queen Maria Christina of Spain (1834), was accelerated by Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie (from 1854), and reached its apex when Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Alfonso XIII of Spain, and Kaiser Wilhelm II all summered here in the Belle Époque. The Basque cultural presence remains strong — Biarritz is at the western edge of the French Basque Country,…