Biarritz

Once a favorite resort of Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel, and exiled Russian royals, Biarritz first rose to prominence when rich and royal Carlist exiles from Spain set up shop here in 1838. Unable to visit San Sebastián just across the border on the Basque coast, they sought a summer watering spot as close as possible to their old stomping ground. Among the exiles was Eugénie de Montijo, soon destined to become empress of France. As a child, she vacationed here with her family, fell in love with the place, and then set about building her own palace once she married Napoléon III. During the 14 summers she spent here, half the crowned heads of Europe—including Queen Victoria and Edward VII—were her guests in Eugénie's villa, a gigantic wedding-cake edifice, now the Hôtel du Palais, set on the main sea promenade of town, the Quai de la Grande Plage, where the fashionable set used to stroll in Worth gowns and picture hats. Whether you consider Napoléon III's bombastic architectural legacies an eyesore or an eyeful, they at least have the courage of their convictions. Biarritz may no longer lay claim to the title "the resort of kings and the king of resorts"; however, today there's no shortage of deluxe hotel rooms or bow-tie gamblers ambling over to the casino. The old, down-to-earth charm of the former fishing village has been thoroughly trumped by Biarritz's glitzy Second Empire aura, and you won't find the bathing beauties and high-rollers here complaining.

Though nowhere near as drop-dead stylish as it once was, the town is making a comeback as a swank surfing capital with its new casino and convention center. If you want to rediscover yesteryear Biarritz, start by exploring the narrow streets around the cozy 16th-century church of St-Martin. Adjacent to the Grand Plage are the set-pieces of the Hôtel du Palais and the Eglise Orthodoxe Russe, a Byzantine-style church built by the White Russian community that considered Biarritz their 19th-century Yalta-by-the-Atlantic. The duchesses often repaired to the terraced restaurants of the festive Place Ste-Eugénie, still considered the social center of town. A lorgnette view away is the harbor of the Port des Pêcheurs (Fishing Port), which provides a tantalizing glimpse of the Biarritz of old. Biarritz's beaches attract crowds—particularly the fine, sandy beaches of La Grande Plage and the neighboring Plage Miramar, both set amid craggy natural beauty. A walk along the beach promenades gives a view of the foaming breakers that beat constantly upon the sands, giving the name Côte d'Argent (Silver Coast) to the length of this part of the French Basque coast.