20 Best Hotels in The Basque Country, Gascony, and Hautes-Pyrenees, France

This little inn, 1 km (½ mile) from the center of Sare in one of the town's prettiest and most ancient quartiers, is a beauty—a 16th-century town house complete with exposed wood-beam framework. Breakfast and the choice of lunch or dinner can be included in the room rate if requested.

This family-run hotel and restaurant over the Nive is a vintage venue (note the 200-year-old oak staircase)—it's also the best value in town. The owners speak Basque, Spanish, French, English, and some German, so communicating is rarely a problem. The cuisine is nourishing, especially the lamb and duck breast.

Combine Jazz Age glamour, Renaissance stonework, the most luxe of guest rooms, and 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 miles) 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. In summer, dine out under the willows at the edge of the water at the grand restaurant.

A feel of traditional France in the Louis XVI furniture and the general ambience of the place makes the pretty Gallia, not far from the sanctuaries and the grotto, something of a retreat within a retreat. Guest rooms are comfortable, and the wood-paneled dining room is a handsome setting for creditable local fare.

After braving the pilgrim-packed streets, this hotel—built in 1896 by one of Bernadette's nephews—may seem like the answer to your prayers; after all, it promises comfortable rooms, attentive service, and an excellent restaurant right in the center of everything. Now owned and managed by a fashionable couple with family ties to one of Lourdes's larger group travel companies, the hotel has been renovated but maintains its Belle Époque charm with mosaic tiled floors and solid wood bannisters on the stately spiral staircase. Splurge on a master suite with 180-degree views of the nightly candlelight procession—you'll get great seats without having to join the crowds.

This 17th-century stagecoach stop is a convenient base that's frequented by a mixed bag of travelers seeking respectable lodgings at reasonable prices. Any room will do, but for ultimate coziness ask for one of the chambres mansardées (dormered bedrooms) under the eaves overlooking the Valée du Hédas.

Set on the beach, this majestic, colonnaded, redbrick hotel with an immense driveway, lawns, and a grand semicircular dining room still exudes an opulent, aristocratic air, no doubt imparted by Empress Eugénie who built it in 1855 as her Biarritz palace. Napoleonic frippery is everywhere in the public areas, but don't go looking for it in the more standard guest rooms, none of which have sea views. Still, the lobby alone may be worth the price of a stay. The three restaurants—Hippocampe (where lunch is served beside the curved pool above the Atlantic), the regal dinner spot Villa Eugénie, and La Rotonde (with its spectacular soaring columns, gilt trim, and sea views)—are all creatively directed by star chef Jean-Marie Gautier. Don't miss out on his gazpacho de homard au piment d'Espelette (lobster gazpacho with Espelette red pepper).

If you're craving efficiency and unquestionable comfort, this place has definite appeal. Intentionally overstaffed, it is a modern design hotel geared to international and business travelers who want frills without fussiness; all but nine of the sleek-chic guest rooms are superior grade with views of Parc Beaumont, the Jurançon vineyards, and les Pyrénées. On-site amenities—including a spa and heated pool—add another relaxing layer to your stay.

Built in 1902, this spacious châteaulike hotel has an imposing granite facade with steep rooflines reflecting the towering Hautes-Pyrénées to the south; sunny guest rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the rushing Gave de Gavarnie, and the breakfast terrace out front is an ideal place to start a day in the mountains. Views over the Cirque de Gavarnie and the 10,725-foot Marboré peak beyond are mesmerizing.

In the 1800s, Pau became home to a colony of elite British expats (including famed climber Henry Russell), who were drawn by the mountains and climate, and evidence of that era remains at Villa Navarre: built in the second half of the 19th century, it’s the only English manor in Pau open to overnight guests and one of only two hotels in town with views of the High Pyrénées. You can almost see Russell’s ghost (with a drink in hand) haunting the estate's grand gardens and refined common areas. Rooms are spacious with an understated English influence (picture classic plaid upholstery and stately antiques, or gray-and-black-tone furnishings). The genteel setting also comes with an on-site restaurant that offers typically French haute cuisine and a spa with a heated indoor pool.

A registered historic monument, this 17th-century, Basque-style building was once a staging post on the fabled pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela, and today it still makes a fitting resting spot if you're doing a modern version of the pilgrimage or just need a stopover on your way deeper into the mountains. Comfy bedrooms are complemented by wood beams and antique accents, and the lovely garden and outdoor pool are just right for relaxing. The rustic dining room combines inland game and fresh seafood from the Basque Coast in creative ways.

A (relatively) low-cost, low-calorie alternative to famed Les Prés d'Eugénie, Michel and Christine Guérard's "Pink House" spa beckons with a renovated, super-stylish, 18th-century farmhouse adorned with old paintings, rustic antiques, and Pays Basque handicrafts. It's the kind of retreat that would have delighted Louis XIV's sober Madame de Maintenon, assuming she had wanted to lose weight. This is, indeed, a serious spa, complete with slimming cures and the most stylish relaxation room in France. There's no room service—everyone eats in the main dining room, a two-story, wood-beam-ceiling delight. The kitchen's touch remains an inventive benediction to local produce.

Built in the 1920s and traditionally considered to be St-Jean-de-Luz's premier hotel, Le Grand offers ocean views, intimacy, plus a general sense of being where the action is. Rooms done up in pastels, wood, and marble and an unbeatable location at the northern end of the St-Jean-de-Luz beach seal the deal. Frequented by high rollers and the well-to-do from around the globe, it's the place to stay in this colorful beach town.

Just down the street from the Château-Vieux, this reasonably priced Mercure property offers an old-world feel in a great location. Refurbished guest rooms in the 1835 building come in a variety of styles and sizes and feature contemporary perks like air-conditioning and Wi-Fi.

With four superb suites for the lucky first-comers, the Guérards' delightfully re-created old coaching inn, set at one end of their Prés d'Eugénie fiefdom, is meant to be a more rustic alternative to their main flagship. At the inn's restaurant, La Ferme aux Grives, grandmother's cooking is given a nouvelle spin, and nearly everything is authentique—even the suckling pig turns on a spit in the fireplace. Nature's bounty and la cuisine du terroir are the central themes. Inside, your eyes feast on the decor, too: a banquet table is laid out with vegetables and breads, darkened beams cast romantic shadows, and hunting paintings cover the walls.

Ever since Michel Guérard's restaurant fired the first shots of the nouvelle revolution in the late 1970s, the excellence of this suave hotel and culinary landmark has been a given (so much so that breakfast here outdoes dinner at most other places); hence a stay at (or at least a visit to) Les Prés d'Eugénie remains an important notch on any gourmand's belt. Thanks to Guérard's signature flair, cuisine minceur—the slimmer's dream—collides with the lusty fare of the Landes region (langoustines garnished with foie gras and mesclun greens, lobster with confetti-ed calf's head). In the lovely Second Empire–style hotel, set in a fine garden, grandeur prevails and rooms are formal. However, rooms in the "annex"—the former 18th-century convent Le Couvent des Herbes—have an understated luxe and look out over the herb garden. To top it all off, the complex includes an excellent spa, dance studio, two pools, and a 9-hole golf course, while "theme" weeks are devoted to cooking, perfumes, wines, or gardening.

This Basque town house not too far from the beach is a handy and comfortable family operation that makes you feel more like a guest in a private home than a hotel patron. The main drawing room, replete with comfy chairs, yellow drapes, and a fine fireplace, sweetly overlooks the lush patio, which makes a fine breakfast spot in summer. Guest rooms are efficient and well-appointed.

This 17th-century relais, or stagecoach relay station, on Ainhoa's main square and pelota court is one of the loveliest Basque houses in town, with small but adequate guest rooms. The convivial owners are always ready to share their knowledge about the locals and the locale, and the restaurant serves creative interpretations of traditional Basque specialties.

Alain Ducasse may no longer be here, but his taste and touch are palpable in the style, the ultracontemporary equipment and accoutrements, and, especially, in the regional Basque cuisine with international accents at this hotel in a 100-acre park around a 17th-century farmhouse. Although some of the complex is modern and cold, various rooms and suites remain lovely settings for Basque woodwork, regional textiles, and sleek sculptures. The landscape is superlatively Basque and the nearby Iparla Ridge hike, one of the greatest in the Pyrénées, will keep appetites primed for fine dining. As an optional extra, you can be brought here from Biarritz airport by helicopter. Ostapé also has a private museum of Porsche cars.

Built in the 1920s, close to the casino and overlooking the Grand Plage, this service-oriented hotel has crisp, contemporary accommodations with light walls and linens offset by bright splashes of color. Rooms with sea views cost about twice as much as the larger ones facing the inner courtyard and street. The restaurant, Chez Eugénie, serves fine food (try the terrine de foie gras with Armagnac or the crab-stuffed ravioli) and delivers panoramic views of the beach.