Known for its fine beaches, lovely sheltered bay, some fine architecture, its Basque culture and cooking and the wonderful quality of the light.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a charming seaside resort in the French Basque region, just south of Biarritz and close to the border with Spain. If you look at a map of the south-west of France you’ll see that below the resort of Arcachon there are miles of straight coastline without any natural bays. In fact Saint-Jean-de-Luz is the first sheltered bay you come to below Arcachon (Biarritz, just to the north, faces the full force of the Atlantic). And to nature’s natural defences humans have added their own, in the form of three sea walls.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz beaches

The Grande Plage

There are five beaches at Saint-Jean-de-Luz, with the main one being the Grande Plage beach, which is right in front of the town itself. This is the beach protected by the town’s sea walls, making the Grande Plage an ideal place for the family, especially those with young children. It’s a reasonably long beach, too, meaning you can usually find a quieter spot, though it is a popular location, and with the town being so close there are lots of facilities nearby. On the beach itself you can hire sunbeds, windbreaks and other beach paraphernalia, and there are also four beach clubs. There are lifeguards on duty daily (from 11am) from June to mid-September, plus at the weekend in May.

Plage d’Erromardie

The next beach along the coast is the Plage d’Erromardie, which is situated around a small headland, next to the Erromardie area of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. This beach is rather more exposed to the full force of the ocean than Grande Plage, and is also a mixture of pebble and sand. It is regarded as a good surfing beach and popular with experienced surfers. There are lifeguards present in July and August from 11am daily. There are several campsites in Erromardie, for which this makes a good local beach.

Plage de Mayarco

A little further along is the sandy beach called the Plage de Mayarco, which is close to the Acotz district of St-Jean-de-Luz. Next to a cliff, the Mayarco is popular with the residents from nearby campsites and prized by locals as a great place both for winter walks and as a place to watch sunsets. Access is also easy as there is plenty of free car parking nearby.

The Plage de Lafiténia and Plage de Cénitz.

The final two beaches are both known locally as surfing beaches. The Plage de Lafiténia, which is also close to the Acotz area of town, is described locally as a surfing ‘paradise’. While this may be overstating it a little, one surfing website describes it as having a ‘world class’ wave and being ‘one of the classic waves of Europe‘. As a consequence it can get a little busy with surfers pretty much all year round. There are lifeguards on duty during July and August, from 11am daily. The second of these beaches is the Plage de Cénitz. This beach has sandy and pebbly areas and is regarded as a good place for surfing newbies. There is also a highly-rated restaurant overlooking the beach called Le C.

For anyone want to explore surfing or other water sports – including diving and sailing – there are clubs and schools to join while you’re on holiday in St-Jean-de-Luz.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz town

If beaches aren’t your thing or the weather’s not great, then the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz is well worth walking around. It is an old port town whose wealth and fortunes peaked in the 17th and 18th century, thanks in part to the lucrative activities of local corsairs (essentially another word for pirate, though they operated with the support of the French crown). The wealth that existed at that time can be seen from the many fine houses that still exist today. The best places to see this old architecture are Quai de L’Infante, Rue Mazarin, Rue Gambetta and Place Louis XIV. Perhaps the most impressive of these buildings is the Joanoenia, also know as the Maison de l’Infante. It’s where Anne of Austria, former regent of France and mother of Louis XIV, stayed before her son’s marriage to Maria Theresa, the Infanta of Spain in Saint-Jean-de-Luz on 8 May 1660. The building is now open to the public but to be honest there’s not a huge amount to see inside, and it may be best just to admire it from outside rather than pay the €2.50 fee to get in.

For a guided tour of the whole town pop into the tourist office at 20 boulevard Victor Hugo for more details.

Things to do in and around Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Golf – A favourite pastime in the French Basque region

The town has the Golf de Chantaco course which was designed in 1928 and which has the wonderful natural backdrop of the Pyrénées foothills. Even older is the Golf de la Nivelle golf course at nearby Ciboure, which was created in 1907.

Cycling – a 56 km bike route

Cycling is popular and there’s an interesting 56km ‘cycle tourism’ route called La route des contrebandiers (‘The smugglers’ route’) that that takes you through a place called Sare which is officially classified as one of the prettiest villages in France. This cycle route is described as of average difficulty, so probably not for anyone who hasn’t been on a bike for 20 years…. The route also takes you to the village of Espelette, which is famous for its chilli peppers of the same name. If you visit in September you’ll see the chilis being dried out throughout the village.

Walking – 12 km footpath along the coast

There’s also a footpath that takes you along the coast to Hendaye – a distance of just under 12 km that takes about three hours. In fact this is just one section of a longer coastal walk called Talaia. In all this stretches for 54 km along the coast from Bidart to San Sebastián (Donostia in Basque) over the border in Spain. It has some stunning scenery though be warned; some parts are easier than others as this document explains.

Relax in a Spa

And if all this activity makes you yearn for some relaxation, then you’re in luck – for Saint-Jean-de-Luz offers great spa centres.

Overall Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a relaxing spot for a holiday, and one very popular with French tourists. It’s not perhaps as vibrant as Biarritz, but the centre of town is nonetheless packed with restaurants and bars to suit all tastes.

Impress your friends!

It is usually assumed that the old fishing port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz takes its name from a combination of Saint Jean (‘Saint John’ in English, referring to St John the Baptist) and the Spanish word for light ‘luz‘. Thus it would be ‘Saint John of the Light’. (And the quality of light along this coast is indeed striking …) However, while it seems certain that the ‘Saint-Jean’ part does refer to St John – whose protection was invoked for the perilous endeavour of fishing – the origin of ‘luz’ is far less certain. Though it’s close to the Spanish border, Saint-Jean-de-Luz has never been under Spanish rule. According to experts it seems more likely the word ‘luz’ derives from an old French word for cod or from a Basque word for marshes.

Getting to Saint-Jean-de-Luz

By air

There are regular flights to and from Biarritz Airport (sometimes known as Biarritz – Anglet – Bayonne Airport ) which is 15 km from Saint-Jean-de-Luz. There are regular flights from Biarritz Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle (easyJet) and Paris Orly (Air France), London Gatwick (easyJet) and London Stansted (Ryanair) as well as Geneva, Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels and Copenhagen. There are also airports at Pau (approx. 1 hour 15 minutes) and at San Sebastián across the Spanish border (about half-an-hour).

By car

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is just off the A 63 (Bordeaux to the Spanish border)which is a toll road. If you’re coming south from Bordeaux get off at junction (‘sortie’) 3 marked ‘Saint-Jean-de-Luz-Nord’. If coming north from Spain then take junction 2 marked ‘Saint-Jean-de-Luz-Sud’. Travel distances: Paris (794 km), Bordeaux, the Spanish border (10 km) and Bilbao (150 km). The Spanish capital Madrid is about 540 km away.

By train

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is serviced by a high-speed TCV train service and is two hours ten minutes by train from Bordeaux and five hours 40 minutes from Paris Montparnasse. The Saint-Jean-de-Luz-Ciboure is in the town centre.

Photo 1 by Dominique / CC BY 2.0 image cropped; Photo 2 by Albert Torelló / CC BY 2.0 image cropped; Photo 3 and Photo 4 by Terre et Côte Basques / CC BY 2.0 images cropped