Saint-Jean-de-Luz: the bay and the wedding church

Saint-Jean-de-Luz sits in the only sheltered bay on this stretch of Atlantic coast, and the shelter is engineered: three long breakwaters close the mouth, so the water inside stays flat when the surf is heavy fifteen minutes away at Biarritz. That gives you a beach you can work on any day of the year, a promenade of tall shuttered houses behind it, and Ciboure and the Fort de Socoa across the water to put behind a wide frame.

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, two streets back, is the other half. From outside it is a plain fortified block; inside it is dark oak and gold, with three tiers of wooden galleries running round the nave and a huge gilded retable behind the altar. Louis XIV married the Infanta Maria Theresa here in 1660, and the tradition is that the door they left by was sealed afterwards. It is a working parish church: ask before a session, work quietly, and never during a service or a wedding.

Light: the bay opens north-west, so sunset comes straight into it and the promenade houses go gold in the last half-hour. Sunrise is the quiet option, with the fishing harbour working and almost nobody on the sand. High summer fills the beach solid from ten to six.

Parking near the front is metered and full by mid-morning in season; the lots on the edge of town and a five-minute walk are the sane choice.