Biarritz

Stone tools from the Middle Palaeolithic show that people lived around Biarritz long before the town first appears in writing, as Bearids, in a cartulary of Bayonne in 1186. For centuries it lived from the sea and above all from whaling: watchers on the Atalaye headland burned wet straw to signal a whale, and the town's coat of arms still shows a rowing boat of Basque sailors with a harpoon above a whale. When the whales moved away in the 16th century, whalers from Labourd followed them across the Atlantic to Labrador and Newfoundland and later turned to cod.

In the 18th century doctors began to claim that the sea at Biarritz had healing powers, and in the 19th century sea-bathing became fashionable. Napoleon bathed here in 1808, Victor Hugo praised the place in 1843 and feared it would become fashionable, and in 1854 Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, built a palace on the beach. Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Alfonso XIII of Spain and a long line of other royals followed, the casino opened in 1901, and the railway from Paris helped to make it one of Europe's leading resorts; the population rose from 5,000 to 18,000.

After the Second World War the hotels and casinos housed a short-lived American university for demobilised soldiers. In 1957 a Californian friend of the film-maker Peter Viertel rode a surfboard off Biarritz, recognised as the first surfing in Europe, and the town became one of the continent's best-known surf spots. It hosted the G7 summit in August 2019.

Biarritz sits on the old cultural border between Gascony and the Basque Country, in the traditional province of Labourd, and it is uncertain whether Basque or Gascon was its historic language; French became the main language in the 20th century. Since the 1990s the town has promoted Basque language and culture, and Basque pelota is a popular sport, with tournaments of cesta punta at the Euskal-jaï court every summer.

Rugby is followed closely: Biarritz Olympique has won five French championships and two European Cups. Surfing has shaped the town's image and nightlife since the 1950s; the first surf club was founded in 1959 and the Biarritz Surf Festival at the Côte des Basques, founded in 1993, is one of Europe's leading surf events. A golf course near the lighthouse was laid out by British residents in 1888, a reminder of the old British colony.

The arts are strong for a town of its size. The Ballet of Biarritz is an important centre of French dance, the Oldarra choir dates from 1946, and the town hosts the Biarritz Festival Latin America, held annually since 1979, and the FIPADOC documentary festival in January. On Saint Martin's Day in November the Confrérie de l'Operne, whose emblem is the barnacle, proclaims a new member.

About 26,200 people lived in Biarritz at the 2023 census. The population passed 30,000 in 1999 and then fell back as fewer people moved in, and it has a high proportion of older residents. Biarritz forms one urban area with Bayonne and Anglet.

Tourism and spa treatments drive the economy, together with sport — golf, surfing and rugby — and some industry, including a Dassault Aviation plant, named after Biarritz though it stands in neighbouring Anglet, that assembles fuselages for Falcon jets. The fishing economy that built the town has gone.

The town has six official districts, from the villas of Saint-Charles and the lighthouse quarter to the hill of Saint-Martin and the residential area around the station. Life follows the seasons: crowded and lively in summer, much quieter in winter. Since July 2022 the Tram'Bus has linked the town with Bayonne and Anglet. About 40 per cent of the town's homes are second homes, and the town has raised the housing tax on them by up to 60 per cent.

Biarritz eats as the Basque Country does. Piperade is onions, green peppers and tomatoes sautéed and flavoured with red Espelette pepper, often with egg added; its colours match those of the Basque flag. Axoa is minced veal with onions and tomatoes, seasoned with the same pepper, once a fair-day dish. Bayonne ham, a cured ham with protected status named after the neighbouring city, appears on every menu.

The sea supplies the rest. Basque cooking favours fish and meat grilled over hot coals, salt cod and stews such as marmitako, a tuna, potato and pepper stew traditionally eaten by tuna fishermen on their boats in the Bay of Biscay. Restaurants around the fishermen's harbour serve seafood beside the boats, and the covered market in the centre sells fresh food; among Basque cheeses is Ossau-Iraty, made from sheep's milk.

For dessert, gâteau basque — in Basque etxeko bixkotxa, "cake of the house" — is a pastry filled with black cherry jam or pastry cream. The town's chocolate tradition has its own museum, and the Miremont sweet shop is one of its historic buildings. To drink there is txakoli, a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine, and Basque cider.