150 years ago, this fashionable resort was little different from other seaside settlements. In the Middle Ages, there was a small village here, whose inhabitants engaged in whaling. Starting from the 18th century, people began to come here on the recommendation of doctors who considered the water and air of these places healing.
The city gained fame thanks to Victor Hugo, who visited here in 1843. After the arrival of Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie, the resort became known as royal. The emperor and empress were enchanted by the place and built a residence here, named “Villa Eugenie”. (Now it is the most luxurious hotel on the entire Atlantic coast called Hotel du Palais). Following the French court, Biarritz was favored by European nobility and kings.
By the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the resort became popular among Russian society as well. Here one could meet Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov, Fyodor Chaliapin, who bought a villa in Biarritz… The Russian Orthodox Church of Alexander Nevsky, located opposite the Hotel du Palais, well remembers many of our famous compatriots, partly preserving the spirit of distant times.
The days when Biarritz was a resort only for the elite are long gone. Today it is an accessible, vibrant, and cosmopolitan city. It has many interesting museums: the Sea Museum, which showcases the flora and fauna of the Bay of Biscay, the Old Biarritz Museum, and the Miniature Car Museum. The villas of the 19th and early 20th centuries, more resembling castles, the wide beach between rocky shores, the ocean’s powerful surf, and the gentle, caressing sun, delicious restaurants, and beautiful European faces – this is what still attracts many tourists here today.
If along the entire Atlantic coast of France the water temperature (even in hot summer) does not exceed 17 °C, in Biarritz, thanks to the Gulf Stream, it reaches up to 25 °C.
Here you can wander around the city, swim and sunbathe, shop – in both the most prestigious boutiques and more modest shops, and engage in sports. A century ago, the English began to hold golf tournaments and equestrian competitions here. And thanks to the special shape of the seabed, which promotes the formation of continuous waves, a special crowd has recently flocked to Biarritz: surfers from all over the world come here to “catch the wave.”
Well, if you want powerful sensations without extreme physical effort, just walk to the northern tip of the city, Saint-Martin, and after climbing 248 (!) steps, reach the lighthouse to imagine yourself as a mighty captain of a huge ship and, intoxicated with delight, see the world at your feet.
