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DISCOVER THE NORTHERN BASQUE COUNTRY

"Pelota, berets, beautiful architecture and fascinating history ! "

To truly experience the Basque way of life, you need take only a short drive to the country where you’ll experience picturesque villages and towns relatively unchanged over the centuries.

Ascain

Not far from the coast, the village of Ascain is the image you have of the typical Basque village. However it is La Rhune, 3km from town, which draws all the tourists. Standing over 995m high this mythical Pyrénéan peak overlooks the Basque Country and coast and is something of a legend. Since 1924 La Rhune has been accessible by La Petit Train de La Rhune, the furnicular railway that takes you to the top in 35 minutes. Or for a more satisfying appreciation of the 360 degree views from the summit, walk it!

Sare

Sare is deep in Basque country on the Spanish border, 14km south of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and 20km south of Biarritz. The lovely little Basque hilltop village displays 17th century houses built in the traditional style of the region, with shutters painted in the traditional red and green of the Basque flag.

Boasting the delectable 'Museum of the Basque Gateau', Sare is also famous for the Grottes de Sare. This huge cave which lies 6km south of the village was inhabited in prehistoric times. Tours operate through the cave, concluding with a spectacular sound and light show illustrating the very long history of the Basque people.

Ainhoa

Voted one of France's top 50 prettiest villages, charming Ainhoa, set in the shadow of La Rhune, is little more than a fortified main street and a large church. A curious feature of the town is that the buildings on one side of the street are more decorative, and have more balconies, than those on the other side of the street. This is because of the Basque tradition to build houses with their backs to the sea, for protection against the wind and rain. So on the eastern side of the main street you are seeing the backs of the houses, their half-timbered facades looking over their gardens towards the rising sun!

Ainhoa was an important stop on the pilgrim path to Santiago de Compostella, where many of the routes from France converged. The original village was destroyed by the Spanish in1629 with the current village built from the 17th century.

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Espelette

In this small town at the foothills of the Pyrénées, the piment (red peppers) are king and the town’s major income source! Due to the concentration on piment products and the town’s very characteristic red, green and white Basque architecture, Espelette is now a well-known tourist stop. Visitors marvel at the bunches of piment, strung like garlands of onions or garlic to dry, and hung high on the side of almost every building, even the post office!

Like wines, the flavour of piments vary from grower to grower, so why not join the locals in a tasting?!

Cambo-les-Bains

This small village is famous because of it’s resident, Edmond Rostand, writer of Cyrano de Bergerac, who came to Cambo-les-Bains in 1900 because of his pulmonary disease. Falling in love with the area he bought some land and had a house built which was completed in 1906. This was one of the first neo-Basque villas. The Villa Arnaga is now a heritage site and a museum devoted to the poet’s life and Basque architecture and crafts.

Irouléguy

Near the Spanish border, 50km south east of Bayonne, sits the village of Irouléguy with 200 inhabitants. This village has given its name to the wine Irouléguy and the vineyards which today cover the steep slopes facing the majestic Pyrénées. The slopes can have inclines of up to 60° which has led to the development of special growing and terracing techniques by Basque wine-growers to enable the cultivation of vines here.

Irouléguy is the smallest AOC in France and the only Northern Basque appellation. Irouléguy wines are often referred to as coming from "the smallest vineyard in France, the biggest in the Northern Basque Country".

Currently about 550,000 litres are produced annually, with about 70% of production being red wines, 20% rosé and 10% white. The majority of red wines produced here are made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Tannat. The whites are made with Courbu, Gros and Petit Menseng that produce a deep and complex wine.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, or Donibane Garazi in Basque, is located on one of the pilgrim routes across the Pyrénées on the way to Santiago de Compostela. The town, which was built from the 8th to the 13th century by the Christian kings of Navarre, is the historic capital of the Basque province of Basse Navarre.

Tourism has developed in recent years with visitors attracted by the old town houses by the river Nive, the narrow streets and the thirteenth century churches - Sainte Eulalie d’Ugange and Notre-Dame at the end of the “Roman bridge”, actually built in 1634. Many modern day pilgrims also choose to begin the walk to Santiago de Compostela from this historic town.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port also has fortifications, principally a citadel, remnants of the town’s chequered history when it changed hands from French to Spanish ownership several times. The town was also ravaged during the Wars of Religion, with its priests ‘exterminated’ and the church of Sainte Eulalie d’Ugange burnt. The Duke of Wellington also attacked the town some centuries later.