#29 mini-guide to biarritz
Photos taken on my Leica M6 with a mix of Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Pro Image 100, developed & scanned as always by Chan Photographic in London
Biarritz feels like a European city with a West Coast state of mind. The ocean is the center of everything here, with surfers paddling out from dawn to dusk and the steady rhythm of waves carrying through the town. It has the easy energy of California, but with French cafés, tiled markets, and grand old villas that remind you exactly where you are.
I arrived expecting polish and Riviera gloss, but Biarritz felt looser, more lived-in. Wetsuits hung from balconies, boards rattled in the backs of vans, and yet the streets were lined with Belle Époque villas and casinos. That tension between elegance and salt-worn imperfection is what makes the place work. Getting here by train from London, through Paris and Bordeaux, added a kind of anticipation. By the time I stepped off at the station in Biarritz, the shift was already obvious: the pace more relaxed, the air saltier, the crowd younger.
FOOD & DRINK
For morning coffee, Cafe Loky or La Manufacture du Café offer sufficiently strong flat whites. For lunch, the covered market at Les Halles is the obvious move. Stalls sell everything from tinned conservas to fresh oysters, and the upstairs bar does simple plates if you want to eat there. It's crowded but functional, and you get a sense of what people actually cook with here.
And in the evening, Port des Pêcheurs is the old fishing harbour, now lined with seafood restaurants that range from tourist traps to genuinely good. We opted instead to keep returning to Rue Gambetta and the streets around it, which fill up in the evenings with a younger crowd. Plenty of places offer traditional Basque cooking and pintxos amidst a communal, casual atmosphere. In particular, Bar Jean does pintxos that locals queue for and travel guides recommend, proof enough it's worth the wait.
WHAT TO DO
The beaches here are the main event. Grande Plage is the most central, backed by striped cabanas and the kind of faded elegance that photographs well. It gets busy but never feels oppressive. Port Vieux is smaller and more sheltered, good for swimming when the surf is up elsewhere. The scene here is timeless and could have been lifted from years past, especially when shot on film. If you surf, Côte des Basques is where you'll spend your time, but even if you don’t, it's still worth walking down for the light and the scene. Biarritz is small enough that you can walk around it in a day, but there are plenty of coastal walks offering different views from manicured to rugged and excellent people-watching everywhere.
GETTING THERE
Direct trains from Paris Montparnasse take around 4.5 hours and run several times daily. From London, you'll change in Paris, which adds time but is a good excuse for a day out or just a meal in Paris. The train from Bordeaux takes just over 2 hours if you're coming from that direction.
