Page 355 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

www.musee-basque.com; 37 The Drive » Bring a towel Plage Miramar, which
quai des Corsaires; adult/child because we’re taking the 13km are lined end to end with
€6.50/free; h10am-6.30pm (25 minute) beach-bums’ route sunbathing bodies on hot
Jul & Aug, closed Mon rest of to Biarritz. Follow the Adour summer days.
year) the seafaring history, River out of Bayonne down allée For a look under the
traditions and cultural Marines and av de l’Adour. At the waves, check out the
big roundabout turn left onto
identity of the Basque bd des Plages and take your Musée de la Mer (%05 59
people are all explored. pick from any of the beaches 22 75 40; www.museedelamer.
Also worth a visit along this stretch. This road will com; esplanade du Rocher
is Bayonne’s Gothic eventually lead into Biarritz. de la Vierge; adult/child/
Cathédrale Ste-Marie family €14.50/9.80/50, joint
(place Louis Pasteur; h10- TRIP HIGHLIGHT ticket with Cité de l’Océan
11.45am & 3-6.15pm Mon-Sat, €18.50/13/63; h9.30am-
3.30-6.15pm Sun, cloister 9am- 2 Biarritz midnight Jul & Aug, 9.30am-
12.30pm & 2-6pm), whose As ritzy as its name 8pm Apr, Jun, Sep & Oct,
twin towers soar elegantly suggests, this stylish shorter hours rest of year),
above the old city. coastal town took off as rich in underwater life ATLANTIC COAST 32 BASqUE COUNTRY
a resort in the mid-19th from the Bay of Biscay
5 p357
century when Napoléon and beyond.
III and his Spanish-born For life further afield,
wife, Eugénie, visited have a poke about the
regularly. Along its rocky stunning collections of
coastline are architec- Asian art at the Musée
tural hallmarks of this d’Art Oriental Asiatica
golden age, and the belle- (%05 59 22 78 79; www.
époque and art-deco eras museeasiatica.com; 1 rue
Adour that followed. Although Guy Petit; adult/child €10/2;
/ · it retains a high glamour h10.30am-6.30pm Mon-Fri,
2-7pm Sat & Sun Jul, Aug &
A64
quotient (and high prices
Briscous Bardos # \ to match), it’s also a during French school holidays,
\ # magnet for vanloads of shorter hours rest of year).
surfers, with some of
La Bastide Europe’s best waves. 54 p357
\ #
Clairence Biarritz’s raison The Drive » It’s a 4km,
d’être is its fashionable 10-minute drive south out of
beaches, particularly the Biarritz down rue Gambetta
# \ and rue de Madrid to the Cité
Hasparren central Grande Plage and
# Bonloc
\
/ ·
# Mendionde LINK
\
D22
YOUR
# Louhossoa TRIP
\
0 ¸ # Hélette
\
D918
Bidarray Iholdy # \ u Cheat’s x Heritage Wine
\ # Compostela Country
# Irissarry From St-Jean Pied de Port From Bayonne it’s a 192km
\
Ossès \ # work your way in reverse pine-tree-scented drive
PYRÉNÉES- through our cheat’s version to the capital of wine,
0 ¸ ATLANTIQUES of this ancient spiritual Bordeaux, and the start of
D948
Irouléguy journey. our wine tour.
# # / ·
\ #
10 D15 St-Jean Pied F G
30
\ # de Port
St-Étienne # # 0¸
\ #
11
D933
de Baïgorry m K 353