St Jean de Luz Beaches
France

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St Jean de Luz with its stunning beachside houses and sea wall.

Twenty minutes drive south of Biarritz is the ultra quiet Basque town of St Jean de Luz, a large and working port but with gorgeous 17thC and 18thC houses and a fine, sandy, protected beach.
Apart from the old and well-preserved architecture St Jean is pedestrian friendly, with an attractive, car-free shopping street on which the extravagant wedding of King Louis and Maria Theresa took place, in the unusual church of St Jean Baptiste.

St Jean's sand - in this case La Grande Plage - is soft too and there's plenty of it though the climate is not up to France's Cote d'Azur standards, with occasional chilly Atlantic breezes even in summer and sea mists drifting over on occasion, but the sand is sensational, the ambience is relaxed, the kid's beach club does it's stuff reliably and life guards watch over the happy throng.

And a charming, walkable port town too, loaded with bars and restaurants offering superb sea food, frequently not at silly prices. St Jean is an easy 8 mile drive from Biarritz or its airport, or get there via TGV which stops at St Jean's station. Click for pictures of Arcachon beaches.

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Photos of St Jean de Luz © Loader