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Searching for your next travel fix? We’ve got you covered with this selection of inspiring content taken from National Geographic Traveller (UK).


Packed full of breathtaking photography and authentic stories, it gives you the lowdown on the best places to visit and the essential kit to take with you.


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The view across the river Nive, Old Town, Bayonne Southern belles


Biarritz is the pearl of France’s Basque coast — the centre of a region where visitors go for fine dining, belle époque architecture and surf breaks. Words and photographs: Mark Parren Taylor


Te Travel Guide 3


Inside


Greece Take a road trip across the mainland’s coast Page 4


Lanzarote Discover art and wine amid volcanic mountains Page 6


Warsaw Te polish capital’s post-war museum Page 8


Cenitz beach is popular with more experienced surfers


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the border with Spain. A one-time whaling village, in the mid-18th century it gained popularity as a spa, when ‘sea baths’ were believed to ease all manner of ailments. A hundred years later, Emperor Napoleon III built a palatial villa (now the Hôtel du Palais) for his Spanish-born consort Eugenie. Te couple’s summertime sojourns made the belle époque-era seaside town popular with European royalty. But crowns and tiaras could not outshine the land’s unique Basque heritage, evident in its language, artistic expression and food culture. Basque cuisine remains popular to this day, from the traditional bakeries that serve decadent, cheesecake-like etxeko bixkotxa or Gâteau Basque to contemporary restaurants like Marloe. Here, executive chef Eric Martins serves fine pays Basque produce such as Ossau-Iraty cheese,


T


he elegant, French city of Biarritz lies on the Bay of Biscay in the Basque region just 22 miles from


best enjoyed with quince jam or local Espelette peppers. Some of Biarritz’s beaches — such


as the Plage du Port des Pêcheurs — sit in rocky coves, sheltered from the Atlantic breakers that pummel other parts of the coast, including the town’s central Grande Plage. Naturally, this makes them popular with novice surfers, who flock here during June and July to practise, when the waves are at their smallest. Te more experienced surfers prefer the beaches near the village of Guéthary, known for their big breaks. Te coast has become a place of pilgrimage for French surfers, but Biarritz and other towns on the Côte Basque witnessed another type of pilgrim centuries before: the Way of St James passes through en route to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela. Not far from Biarritz’s Halles (market hall), the cafe at Hotel Saint-James has been welcoming returning guests since the 19th century, with devout Christians and seasoned surfers no doubt among them.


Local cheese board (AOC Ossau-Iraty cheese), Marloe restaurant, Biarritz Te town of Bayonne marks the


Te more experienced surfers prefer the


beaches near the village of Guéthary, known for their big breaks


northern extent of the cross-border ‘Basque Eurocity’. Tis urban region embraces France’s Côte Basque and Spain’s Euskadi coastline around San Sebastián. Bayonne is just five miles inland from Biarritz and is famed for its medieval old town, which sits on 130 medieval cellars, used by the town’s merchants to store their goods. Te railway reached Bayonne in 1855, a few years before the line extended to Biarritz. Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie rode the ‘iron horse’ all the way from Paris to the elegant station here, before a real horse and carriage transported them to their new villa in the dunes. Nowadays, guests might enjoy a simple breakfast of coffee and croissants at the Hôtel du Palais, perhaps not dissimilar to one enjoyed by the imperial couple all those years ago.


First published in the June 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). Read the feature in full at nationalgeographic.com/travel


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