Current Time in Biarritz, France

Biarritz is an elegant seaside resort city in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France, located on the Atlantic coast of the Basque Country between Bayonne to the north and the Spanish border to the south. Once a simple whaling village, Biarritz was transformed in the mid-19th century into one of the most fashionable and exclusive resort destinations in Europe by Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who chose it as her summer residence. This imperial patronage established a tradition of aristocratic and celebrity glamour that continues to define the city's character today.

With a population of approximately 25,000, Biarritz is a relatively small city whose reputation and cultural weight far exceed its size. The city is internationally recognized as the birthplace of European surfing and one of the world's premier surf destinations, its powerful Atlantic waves attracting surfers from across the globe, and this surf culture coexists with the elegant grand hotels, thalassotherapy spas, and casino that represent the resort's aristocratic past. This combination of royal elegance and oceanic wildness gives Biarritz a distinctive dual identity found in few other cities.

The history of Biarritz begins with the Basque whalers who hunted in the Bay of Biscay from the medieval period. The village developed as a modest seaside destination in the early 19th century, but its transformation into a world-class resort began when Empress Eugénie first visited in 1854 and subsequently had the Villa Eugénie (now the Hôtel du Palais) built as her summer palace. Napoleon III followed his empress here regularly, and the imperial presence attracted European royalty and aristocracy who built grand villas in the surrounding hills, establishing a tradition of affluent tourism that has persisted through various eras of changing fashion.

The Grande Plage, curving between the old fishing harbor and the casino, is the central beach of Biarritz, its grand 1920s casino building and the promenade's elegant lamp posts evoking the resort's Belle Époque heyday. The Rocher de la Vierge, a sea rock connected to the mainland by an iron bridge and topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary, is perhaps the most iconic landmark of Biarritz and the site of one of the most dramatic coastline panoramas on the Atlantic shore. The Côte des Basques beach below the cliff, with its consistent Atlantic swells, is where the American filmmaker and actor Peter Viertel introduced surfing to Europe in 1957 using a board he had imported from California.

The Cité de l'Océan museum explores the world's oceans through interactive exhibits and celebrates the culture of the sea that has shaped the Basque coast. The Musée Basque et de l'Histoire de Bayonne, nearby in Bayonne, complements the cultural offerings of the region. Biarritz hosts the Biarritz Surf Festival each July, one of the most important longboard surfing competitions in the world, and the city's numerous surf schools and surf shops confirm the centrality of this culture to contemporary Biarritz identity.

The Basque gastronomy available in Biarritz is exceptional, with pintxos bars, fresh seafood, Basque cheeses, and the full range of Basque culinary creativity available throughout the city. The covered market and the waterfront fish market offer outstanding fresh produce from local fishing boats. The Basque pelota courts and the fronton are reminders of the deep Basque cultural identity that underlies the resort glamour.

Biarritz is served by Biarritz Pays Basque Airport with connections across Europe, and by TGV to Paris in approximately five hours via Bayonne. The combination of imperial elegance, Atlantic surf culture, Basque heritage, spectacular coastal scenery, and gastronomic excellence make Biarritz one of France's most genuinely distinctive and multifaceted resort destinations.