Among French cities with more than 2,000 inhabitants, where life would be sweetest, the three cities of the Basque Country repeat the lead, offering three of the top four places behind Angers in Pays-de-la-Loire. La Rochelle fifth in 2023, dropped to eighth in 2024. Pau is in fifteenth place, Bordeaux in 29th place, Limoges in 34th place and Brive-la-Gaillarde in 49th place.
Proof, if it were needed, that New Aquitaine is not left out when it comes to the sweetness of life. This phenomenon of the Basque Country persists, which deserves to be deciphered, while the local population demonstrates against housing problems and elected officials encounter significant difficulties in creating mobility plans that can reduce the daily traffic jams when accessing the “agglomeration”.
Here are 10 entirely subjective reasons to understand what defines these three adjacent cities, so different and yet sharing this famous sweetness.
1. Attitude towards surfing; like the Landes, the Basque Country is famous for surfing. And while indulging in a short ride on the Atlantic rollers is not within the reach of all beginners, the sport has an art and a way of captivating with its cool attitude and gorgeous images of tanned athletes battling the raging nature. . As a result, the sport has been influencing fashion and lifestyle for several years far beyond the borders of the Basque Country, which welcomed the first boards in the 1960s.
2. Controlled urbanization; the coastal towns of the Basque Country more or less escaped the concrete craze of the 1960s and 1980s. At a time when there was still the threat of attacks or terrorist acts on one side of the border or the other, this region was not very popular. The developers of Holiday Village preferred to invest elsewhere.
3. Old school tourism; in the same logic, it is not unusual to find even today near the beaches of Biarritz and Anglet villas that are still occupied (or unoccupied for many months) by wealthy families of great European or Russian wealth. People who have the means to preserve quality heritage.
5. Life outside; in the Basque country it certainly rains almost as much (in terms of quantity) as in Brest, but much less often. Even in winter, the slightest ray of sunshine is an excuse for a spot on the patio with an Instagram selfie. Shorts and flip flops are never far away.
6. San Sebastián tapas 30 minutes by car, mountain landscape less than an hour away, slopes barely two hours away, the Basque Country offers a number of more or less natural and very exotic combinations.
7. A well-equipped city; Working people who have made a living elsewhere willingly choose these cities for their retirement. The arrival of teleworking will take care of the rest. Cultural, educational or medical facilities cannot be envied by those large metropolises. It’s actually a joke we happily share on coastal walks between La Barre and La Milady: “How nice we are here!” -Yes, but don’t say it too loudly. There are enough people! »
8. Housing, the other side of the coin; For the 7 reasons above, real estate prices are skyrocketing and locals are struggling to find accommodation, with landlords finding an almost inexhaustible clientele for short-term rentals like Airbnb. No weekend or short vacation can escape the ballet of wheeled suitcases. Car traffic is congested not only in the summer months, but also throughout the years during recruitment and debauchery, many employees sometimes have to choose to live far from the three cities of the agglomeration in order to find a property within their budget.
9. The price of success? Biarritz, Anglet and Bayonne have such diverse ambassadors as Fredéric Beigbeder, Hélène Darroze, Didier Deschamps, Anne-Sophie Lapix, Joey Starr, Amélie Mauresmo and many others who do not hesitate to communicate about their happy hours spent in the Basque Country. Without forgetting the leverage effect of the Bayonne festivals, through which more than a million people pass each year, including many tourists, who are obsessed, sometimes beyond measure, with this festive, gastronomic and friendly way of life!
10. Everyday reality the resident is often more “normal”. But the 200 evaluation criteria allow these three cities to reach certainly very good averages. If they form a territorial unit of the agglomeration, Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz have each preserved a specific atmosphere and delicious provincial charm.