Current Time in Pau, France

Pau is the capital of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France, situated on a natural plateau above the Gave de Pau river with an exceptional view of the Pyrenean mountain chain to the south. The city is the birthplace of King Henry IV of France, the beloved monarch who ended the Wars of Religion with the Edict of Nantes, and the Château de Pau where he was born in 1553 is one of the most historically significant buildings in France. Pau is also celebrated as the city that invented winter tourism, having been discovered by the British aristocracy in the early 19th century as an ideal mild-climate winter refuge.

With a population of approximately 80,000, Pau is a comfortable and attractive provincial capital with a strong university presence through the University of Pau and the Adour Countries. The city's economy is diversified between civil service employment, education, agriculture related to the Béarn region, and the oil and gas industry, as Pau lies at the center of France's petroleum production region and is home to the Total energy company's French headquarters.

The history of Pau is shaped by its role as the capital of the Béarn viscounty and later the Kingdom of Navarre, a small but independent kingdom that straddled the Pyrenees and maintained its independence through centuries of French and Spanish power politics. When Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France in 1589, uniting the French crown with the Navarrese kingdom, Pau's historical significance was transformed from local to national and eventually global importance. The château where Henry was born, and where he spent his early childhood learning the Bearnese dialect alongside French, remains the most significant monument of the city.

The Château de Pau, originally a 14th-century fortress rebuilt as a Renaissance palace by Francis I and subsequently restored by Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III, houses a remarkable collection of Gobelin tapestries, royal portraits, and furniture associated with Henry IV and the Renaissance court. The circular tour of the château through its opulent apartments provides an intimate encounter with French royal history from the Renaissance to the 19th century. The large tortoise shell that served as the royal cradle of Henry IV is one of the most unexpected and charming royal relics in France.

The Boulevard des Pyrénées, a grand promenade extending along the edge of the plateau for nearly two kilometers, is one of the most spectacular urban viewpoints in France, offering an unobstructed panorama of the entire Pyrenean chain on clear days, with peaks visible from the Atlantic to the east. The British community that settled in Pau from the 1820s onward established fox hunting, a golf course (one of the first on the European continent), and the elegant villas and parks that give the residential quarters of Pau their distinctive Anglo-French character. The Pau Golf Club, founded in 1856, is the oldest golf club on the European continent.

The surrounding Béarn countryside is rich in gastronomic tradition. Garbure, the hearty Béarnese vegetable and preserved meat soup, Béarn cheese (Ossau-Iraty), and the local Jurançon wine, a sweet white wine with distinctive citrus and honey notes produced on the steep hillsides south of the city, are among the most celebrated regional products. The Pyrenean National Park, the spectacular Cirque de Gavarnie, and the thermal spa towns of the Pyrenean valleys are easily accessible from Pau.

Pau is accessible by TGV from Paris via Bordeaux in approximately five hours and has a small regional airport. The city's royal heritage, extraordinary Pyrenean panorama, charming Anglo-French atmosphere, exceptional gastronomy, and gateway position to the Pyrenees make it one of the most rewarding and characterful cities in southwestern France.