Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Saint-Jean-de-Luz sits in the only well-sheltered bay on this coast, protected further by three breakwaters built after storms destroyed part of the town, and its beach is consequently calm where the rest of the Basque shore is surf. It was a whaling and corsair port. In 1660 Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain in the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, sealing the Treaty of the Pyrenees, and by tradition the door they left through was walled up afterwards so no one else would use it; the blocked doorway is visible. The church inside has tiered wooden galleries, a Basque arrangement, and a gilded altarpiece.

History

The Basque name, Donibane Lohizune, means "Saint John of the marsh", after the floods that long afflicted the site, and the town grew rich from its port, its fishing and its Basque corsairs, whose raids led English sailors to call it the "Viper's Nest"; in its 17th-century golden age it had some 12,000 people, second in the Labourd only to Bayonne. In 1659 Cardinal Mazarin spent months here while negotiating the Treaty of the Pyrenees on Pheasant Island in the Bidassoa, and on 9 June 1660 Louis XIV married the Infanta Maria Theresa in its church, whose main door was later walled up. Wellington made his winter headquarters here in 1813-14, and at the end of the 19th century the town became a fashionable resort for the French and Spanish aristocracy, where the composer Maurice Ravel, born in neighbouring Ciboure, often spent his holidays (Wikipedia, Saint-Jean-de-Luz).

Highlights

• The walled-up door - the church doorway blocked after the royal wedding.
• The tiered galleries - wooden balconies inside the Basque church.
• The sheltered bay - a calm beach behind three breakwaters.
• The Maison Louis XIV - the merchant house where the king stayed.

When to go

May to June and September to October; the bay is one of the few safe swimming beaches on this coast. Summer is crowded. Tuna and hake landings still come into the port.

Practical notes

The town is expensive in season and parking is hard. The church interior is dark. Beach space is limited at high tide.

Nearby

Biarritz lies north; the Spanish border is a few kilometres south.

Key facts