Every summer, the trendy crowd flocks to France’s southeastern coast, lured by the glamorous promise of the French Riviera, sipping overpriced cocktails at high-end resorts lining the sands like straight Take a photo from Slim Aarons. Historically, Biarritz – a small seaside village on France’s southwest coast – has competed fiercely with its eastern neighbor on the Mediterranean coast. Both stretches of coastline were holiday hotspots for royalty in the mid-century and again for French high society in the years after World War II resort. While Biarritz’s royal influence has disintegrated, due in large part to the wilder and more unpredictable nature of the Atlantic Ocean (and thus harder to exploit), Biarritz’s prime location in the Basque Country The appeal never wanes. What Biarritz lacks in glitz, it makes up for in soul.
Photography by Paloma Saint Léger
From the picturesque beaches that earned it the title of Surf Capital of Europe, to the rolling hills that run through the Pyrenees and Basque Country, close to cultural centers like Bordeaux and Madrid , Biarritz has always been a well-kept secret. Over the years, Basque Country daytrippers, well-informed surfers and French locals have visited, and Biarritz is now enjoying a moment: with experienced French chefs, leading The hotel group joins well-known gallerists to make their mark on the unassuming seaside town in this tiny corner of southwest France.
Here’s a guide to Biarritz and why it’s the hottest European beach destination this summer.
Where to stay
Former summer residence of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie in
reopened as the now iconic Hotel du Palais Biarritz; quickly becoming a haven for celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Coco Chanel, and remains the jewel of South West France to this day. Still, a flurry of new-age boutique hotels has popped up on the seaside town’s west coast over the past five years, signaling a new awakening for an often-overlooked stretch of the French coastline.
In 27, the French hotel brand Experimental Group took over two historic buildings and transformed them, starting in the sunny seaside city Root them into a contemporary boutique hotel. The first, the legendary Le Régina Hotel & Spa, now renamed Regina Experimental Biarritz, will open in June in a Belle Époque building overlooking the Gulf of Biarritz. With the help of French designer Dorothée Meilichzon, the hotel will reopen as a boutique hotel, restaurant and spa with stylish 27 rooms. The Regina is located next to another Experimental hotel, Le Garage, a 27 boutique hotel in the former classic of in the garage).
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