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A little backstory: Back in the day, like 150 years back, long-distance international travel was not only a major hassle, it was wildly, almost prohibitively, expensive. A Londoner with some time on his hands would more likely hit the geothermal springs in Bath or the beaches at Brighton than take on the slings and arrows trying to get anywhere outside the UK. Only the nobility had the wealth, and the need to escape prying eyes in their respective courts, to make travel a regular event.
Sitting on Bay of Biscay in very southern France, Biarritz was thus in the perfect Goldilocks Zone: Easy enough to get to, but far away from anywhere “important.” By the mid-1700s, the Basque town was already beginning to get a rep as a getaway; by the 1800s, Biarritz Fever seized the well-heeled of Europe. Queen Victoria, King Edward VIII, and Empress Eugenie were just three glitterati making regular migrations to the sunny shores. Eugenie was such a familiar face she had a palace built there for her own personal use.
Today, that palace is the tres-chic Hôtel du Palais — and it is THE place to book a room. Biarritz is no less glam for the time that has since passed, although some of the crowds have changed: You might not get much royal-watching done, but if you like surfing, you are in the European capital of the sport. The Biarritz Surf Festival is now one of the largest longboarding competitions in the world.
So it goes without saying the beach culture is still very much intact. La Grande Plage, the town’s largest beach, pulls in beautiful bodies from all over the world, and for all the beaming PR, Biarritz still remains much of the natural beauty that caught everyone’s in the first place. New additions include two new casinos, a museum dedicated exclusively to chocolate (it’s reason enough to go), another to Asian art, and still another to all the creatures of the sea.
But if the more things change, the more things stay the same; “taking of the waters” is still the economic mainstay as much as it was over a century ago, but with a modern twist. Developed in the 70s, Biarritz is world-renowned for its thalassotherapy, a fancy way of describing spa treatments revolving around salt water. Thalmar and Thalassa Biarritz are where you go for the best of the best.
For more info, go to tourisme.biarritz.fr/en or contact Steele Luxury Travel to make a booking at 646-688-2274