Château de Brindos

Château de Brindos Review

Take Jazz Age glamour, Renaissance stonework, and the most luxe of guest rooms, add fine dining, and you have this Pays Basque Xanadu—a large, rambling, white-stone manor topped with a Spanish belvedere tower set 4 km (2½ mi) east of Biarritz in Anglet. This was originally the home of Sir Reginald Wright, a host-with-the-most, whose great soirées held here in the 1920s and '30s are conjured up in the main salon. In recent years, interiors have been lovingly restored by Serge Blanco, who has managed to honor the mansion's history while installing state-of-the-art technology and comfort. Tapestries, wrought-iron Spanish wall sconces, Louis XIV-style armchairs, and dramatic stone fireplaces all dazzle the eye, as do views of the estate's private lake from guest rooms rife with quilted fabrics and overstuffed chaise longues. In summer dine out under the willows at the edge of the water at the grand restaurant (closed Monday, no dinner Sunday).