Côte des Basques at sunset

The Côte des Basques is the wide surf beach south of the town, backed by a steep green cliff with a promenade running along the top. It is where European surfing effectively began in the 1950s, and it still fills with boards every evening. Looking south the whole coastline runs away to Spain, with the Pyrenees standing behind it on a clear day.

As a location it gives space, which the rest of Biarritz does not. At low tide the beach is enormous and flat, wet sand mirrors the sky, and a couple can be tiny against several kilometres of open coast. From the clifftop promenade the same scene compresses into layers — beach, surf, headland, mountains — and the ramp down the cliff face gives a middle position with both.

Sunset is why people come. The beach faces west and the sun goes down straight into the ocean; the wet sand takes the colour twice and the surfers become silhouettes. That combination is why this stretch is booked out for evening sessions from May onward. Winter sunsets are further south and often more dramatic, with big Atlantic swell.

Practical: the tide governs the beach entirely. At high water there is very little sand at the northern end and the sea reaches the cliff foot in places — read the day's tide table and plan for a falling tide. Access is by ramps and steps down the cliff, which takes a few minutes and is not step-free. The cliff itself is unstable and has been reinforced; stay off the base and away from fenced sections.