Things to do in Southwestern France
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La Mamounia
The extravagant North African décor, the centrepiece a ridiculously huge Moroccan teapot, makes this a suitable place to tuck into delicious tagine and couscous.
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Crêperie l'Île Mystérieuse
Jules Verne's legacy lives on at this lovely little place in the town centre serving crêpes with local cheeses and cured hams amid décor like a hot-air balloon, old-fashioned maps and books lining uneven stone walls glittering with coins.
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Le Corsaire
The service may be excruciatingly slow at peak times, but you can savour the delightful harbourside setting from the terrace. It's all about seafood here at the water's edge, with dishes including dorado à l'espagnole and grilled cod with chorizo.
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La Petite Épicerie
One half of this petite shopfront is stocked high with homemade jams and preserves and glass jars of sugared hearts; the other half has a clutch of wooden tables. If you're easing into the day, it's a great place for a late breakfast; at lunch it serves fabulous fresh fish.
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Grande Plage
Biarritz’ raison d’être is its fashionable beaches. The central Grande Plage is lined end to end with sunbathing bodies on hot summer days. Stripy 1920s-style beach tents can be hired for €9.50 per day.
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Museums
Bordeaux has a healthy collection of museums and galleries. Gallo-Roman statues and relics dating back 25,000 years are among the highlights at the impressive Musée d'Aquitaine. Ask to borrow an English-language catalogue.
Built in 1824 as a warehouse for French colonial produce like coffee, cocoa, peanuts and vanilla, the cavernous Entrepôts Lainé creates a dramatic backdrop for cutting-edge modern art at the CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain.
The evolution of Occidental art from the Renaissance to the mid-20th century is on view at Bordeaux' Musée des Beaux-Arts. Occupying two wings of the 1770s-built Hôtel de Ville, either side of the Jardin de la Mairie (an elegant…
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Plage de la Côte des Basques
To the south, is the long and exposed Plage de la Côte des Basques.
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Plage de la Milady
Plage de la Milady is about 500m south of Port Vieux.
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Plage de Marbella
Plage de Marbella is about 500m south of Port Vieux.
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Plage du Port Vieux
A central Biarritz beach is the tiny cove of Plage du Port Vieux which, thanks to its lack of swell, is the best one for young children to splash about on.
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Plage Miramar
Biarritz’ raison d’être is its fashionable beaches. The central Plage Miramar is lined end to end with sunbathing bodies on hot summer days. Stripy 1920s-style beach tents can be hired for €9.50 per day.
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Cazenave
Bayonne’s long association with chocolate stems from the Spanish Inquisition, when Jews who fled Spain set up their trade in the St-Esprit neighbourhood. By 1870 Bayonne boasted 130 chocolatiers (specialist makers of chocolate), more than in all of Switzerland. The 19th-century Cazenave, which is still in business, does a sublime chocolat mousseaux (rich hot chocolate; €5.50).
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Bordeaux Excursions
Bordeaux Excursions customises private wine-country tours, starting from €190 for one to five people (excluding châteaux fees) for a half-day trip.
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Château Lanessan
One of the easiest châteaux to visit is Château Lanessan, which offers daily hour-long tours throughout the year including ones tailored to children and hard-to-please teenagers; advance reservations required.
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Château Lestage
This is one of the favourite wine producers to taste and buy. It's 35km north of Bordeaux in Listrac.
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Château Mayne Lalande
This is one of the favourite wine producers to taste and buy. It's 35km north of Bordeaux in Listrac.
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La Winery
Don’t miss Philippe Raoux’ La Winery, a first for France, this vast glass-and-steel wine centre mounts concerts and contemporary-art exhibits alongside various fee-based tastings, including innovative tastings that determine your signe œnologique (‘wine sign’) costing from €16 (booking required), and stocks over 1000 different wines.
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Médoc 1855 Tour
On Wednesdays the Pauillac's tourist office runs a day-long Médoc 1855 tour, which takes in three of the best known châteaux (the actual châteaux visited vary).
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Réserve Naturelle Marais d’Yves
An easy 15km drive south of La Rochelle, the Réserve Naturelle Marais d’Yves has a free nature centre, where you can pop in and peer through telescopes to watch some of the 192-hectare reserve’s 250 bird species amid the wetlands. Depending on the season, you might see flocks of over 20,000 birds fill the sky on their migratory path. The website lists various guided walks and cycle rides through the wetlands (available in English), where you’ll also learn about the area’s 750 species of frogs, flowers and insects.
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Bar Basque
This rustic-chic newcomer serves bite-size Basque tapas washed down with a fantastic selection of wines.
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Bar Jean
The most original, and delicious, selection of tapas in the city is served up with a flamenco soundtrack and a backdrop of blue and white Andalucian tiles. Try the calamari rings wrapped around a stack of lardons and drizzled in olive oil – simply divine. Jean also does raciones (plates) for around €6 to €7.
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La Santa María
This place, balanced haphazardly on the rocks at the far end of our favourite Biarritz beach, the cute Plage du Port Vieux, is a fantastic place for a sunset drink and a plate of tapas (€12), but sadly they know the positioning is worth gold and so they charge likewise!
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L’Atelier du Chocolat
Bayonne’s long association with chocolate stems from the Spanish Inquisition, when Jews who fled Spain set up their trade in the St-Esprit neighbourhood. By 1870 Bayonne boasted 130 chocolatiers (specialist makers of chocolate), more than in all of Switzerland. You can see chocolate being made at L’Atelier du Chocolat, including a historical overview of chocolate in Bayonne and, of course, tastings.
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Le Comptoir du Foie Gras/Maison Pujol
This quirky place morphs from a shop selling jars of outstanding foie gras in the day to a tapas bar in the evening. Needless to say the tapas are foie gras heavy, but they also have more vegetarian-suitable options such as those made with guacamole. It’s so small that you’ll probably end up standing outside shouting your order through the bar window.
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Arty Art Deco
From art deco mansions to Russian Orthodox churches and 1970s tower-block disasters, Biarritz has a fantastic potpourri of architectural styles. If the swell's big, you might get a drenching as you cross the footbridge at the end of Pointe Atalaye to Rocher de la Vierge (Rock of the Virgin), named after its white statue of the Virgin and child. Views from this impressive outcrop extend to the mountains of the Spanish Basque Country.
The tiny fishing port of Port des Pêcheurs is an atmospheric place for a drink or a meal. Above it, the neo-Gothic Église Ste-Eugénie was built in the late 1800s for – who else? – Empress Eugénie.
Dominating the northern end of the…
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