Top Reasons to Go

Biarritz, Big Sur à la Mode: Today Biarritz is Europe's surf capital, a far cry from its start as the favorite watering place of Empress Eugénie, but, face it, this is one party everyone is invited to.

Basque Chic: Ainhoa, Sare, and St-Jean-de-Luz show off quirky and colorful, irregular, and asymmetric Basque rural village architecture.

Michel Guérard's Les Prés d' Eugénie: The co-father (with Paul Bocuse) of nouvelle cuisine still creates glorious meals in tucked-away Eugénie-les-Bains.

Gorgeous Gavarnie: Victor Hugo called the 1,400-foot-high waterfall here "the greatest architect's greatest work."

Pretty Pau: Set with a panoramic view of the Pyrénées, Pau is the historic capital of Béarn (as in Béarnaise sauce)—regal monuments recall its royal past as the birthplace of King Henri IV.