Biarritz

A statue of the Virgin tops a rock in the sea, reached by an iron footbridge from Eiffel's workshops. It went up after a tale of whalers saved from a storm. On days of heavy surf the bridge is closed.

The villa Napoleon III built for Empress Eugenie is now the Hotel du Palais, closing off one end of the beach. In summer flags mark the swimming zone and lifeguards watch it. Stay between the flags when you swim.

French surfing reportedly began here in 1957 when an American film crew member arrived with a board, and surf schools still line the sand. At high tide the beach all but vanishes, so check the tides before heading down.

A sea museum in a 1930s Art Deco building, showing the Bay of Biscay in big tanks. Seals are fed at set times, which is when crowds gather round the rooftop pool. On rainy days the queue grows long.

This white lighthouse crowns the northern headland, and a spiral stair climbs to a railed gallery at the top. The whole Biarritz shore spreads south, with the Spanish mountains too in clear weather. The grassy slope in front belongs to sunset watchers.

A covered market selling fish and cheese in the morning; later in the day the bars around it lay out pintxos and drinkers spill into the street. Some fish stalls will shuck oysters while you wait.

Twenty minutes from Biarritz by bus, with Basque half-timbered houses lining both banks of the Nive. For the five-day Fetes de Bayonne as July closes, everyone wears white with a red scarf. That week, rooms get pricey and fill fast.

The harbour village where Louis XIV married a Spanish princess in 1660; inside the church, Basque wooden galleries rise three tiers high. The door the king walked out through was walled up afterwards and remains closed.

A mountain straddling the Spanish border, climbed slowly by a cog railway running since 1924. Pottoks, the native Basque ponies, roam its slopes and wander up to the path. Summer tickets sell early, so the train needs booking.

A science centre on the sea, surfing and climate, under a roof curved like a wave. A screen room styled as a submersible and a surf simulator make it a good rainy day with children. A combined ticket covers the aquarium run by the same company.

A tiny harbour hidden below the cliffs, lined with crampottes, low fishermen's huts with red or blue shutters. Seafood restaurants around it set out terraces facing the water. Steps lead down to it halfway along the walk to the Rocher de la Vierge.

Built in 1892 for the Russian nobles who wintered in Biarritz, this Orthodox church stands out with its sky-blue dome. Inside is a gilded icon screen. It faces the Hotel du Palais across the avenue, a short stroll from the Grande Plage.

A neo-Gothic castle on the Hendaye clifftop, designed by Viollet-le-Duc for explorer and astronomer Antoine d'Abbadie. Animal carvings and relics of his Ethiopian travels fill the rooms; there is an observatory too. Paths cross the protected meadow around it.

The road from Ciboure, beside Saint-Jean-de-Luz, to Hendaye runs along cliffs of tilted rock strata stacked like book pages. You can park and take the coastal footpath. On windy days, breakers smash across the layered rock.

A small fishing village south of Biarritz, its white Basque houses gathered round a sloping slipway where boats are hauled out. An offshore reef throws up big waves that bring seasoned surfers in winter. It has a train station, one stop from Biarritz.

A village near the Spanish border whose one main street is lined with white Basque houses trimmed in red or green timber. Many lintels bear the year of building and the owner's name. It belongs to the Most Beautiful Villages of France association.

The Basque-style mansion Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac, built at Cambo-les-Bains. A long French formal garden of ponds and clipped box stretches before it. The drive from Biarritz is some thirty minutes, and his belongings fill the rooms.