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Bayonne, the economic capital of the French Basque Country in the south-east of France, is worth a diversion for its historic pedestrian neighbourhoods, which run on both sides of the Nive, la Petit and la Grand Bayonne: here you will find a concentration of fortifications and houses with typical colourful facades.
Between its picturesque streets, its half-timbered houses, its Basque traditions and its renowned gastronomy, Bayonne, New Aquitaine ‘s emblematic city has a lot to offer: we recommend you spend two or three nights there to immerse yourself in its picturesque atmosphere.
An ideal summer destination, the city is located in the heart of the Pyrénées Atlantiques. The festive and authentic atmosphere of the Basque Country will enchant you, offering a visit full of charm. Immersed in Basque culture, the city promises a wide range of activities and exciting visits, from the Bayonne festivals to historical buildings, museums and its colourful historic centre.
The city is famous for its rich historical and cultural heritage. Its history dates back to Roman times, but it was during the Middle Ages that Bayonne really flourished as a fortified city
Bayonne is also renowned for its Taurine tradition and popular festivals. The famous Bayonne Festivals, held every year at the end of July, attract thousands of visitors. For five days, the city is transformed into a giant carnival where locals and visitors gather to dance, sing and enjoy the entertainment.
Gastronomy also plays an important role in Bayonne. The city is known for its ham, an emblematic product of the region . Local restaurants offer delicious Basque cuisine, showcasing the region’s fresh products such as sheep cheese, Espelette peppers and seafood.
Besides its rich cultural heritage, Bayonne also offers magnificent natural landscapes. The beaches of the Basque coast, such as the Chambre d’Amour beach, are popular with surfers and sun worshippers. The surrounding mountains also offer ample opportunities for hiking, climbing and other outdoor activities.
Bayonne is therefore a fascinating city that combines history, culture, gastronomy and nature.
The Cathedral of Sainte-Marie is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Its construction began in the 13th century and continued for several centuries, resulting in a harmonious fusion of Gothic, Flamboyant Gothic and Neo-Gothic styles. It is famous for its magnificent stained glass windows, some of which date back to the Middle Ages, and for its huge organ, one of the largest in Europe.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, it was built on the ruins of an ancient Romanesque cathedral destroyed by fire in 1258. The cloister, built in the 13th and 14th centuries, is one of the largest in France.
After visiting the cathedral, we recommend a stroll through the medieval streets of Grand Bayonne, the old city centre: Rue des Faures is full of small designer boutiques or craft workshops. Rue d’Espagne, not far away, offers grocery shops and famous brands. Then head to Plachotte, take the tiny Rue des Augustins, and continue on to the little-known Place Bernard de Lacarre, with its incredible charm.
Finish your walk through the centre in Rue du Pont-Neuf, one of the best known streets, full of shops and restaurants in a warm Basque atmosphere.
The city centre also continues across the Nive river, in the small neighbourhood of Petit Bayonne: more popular, more Basque in extraction than Grand Bayonne, the Petit is a lively, young and dynamic place to spend an afternoon.
The façades are colourful and activist slogans and street art graffiti are displayed on the walls. Visit the Saint-André church and then the trinquet, France’s oldest petanque court. On Thursday afternoons, you can watch a bare-knuckle game, the queen speciality of Basque pelota.
During the evening, the neighbourhood comes alive and young people invade the streets. Mingle among the crowds, grab a bite to eat at a restaurant serving Basque specialities or a dish of local cuisine and then head to the bars on rue Pannecau for a buzzing atmosphere.
Since 2017, Bayonne has established itself as a reference for street art in France, thanks to the Points de Vue festival. This annual festival, which takes place in October, transforms the city into a veritable open-air art gallery, especially the Petit.
Visit the Basque Museum to discover the local culture. Head to the Maison Dagourette, dating back to the 16th century, to learn about the history of Bayonne and the region.
From daily life to Basque traditions, explore local life through a rich ethnographic collection. This museum is spread over three floors and houses some 20 thematic rooms: from the Basque language to funeral rites, rural life and architecture. Also on display here are beautiful paintings by Ramiro Arrue, Gustave Colin and Léon Bonnat.
Saturday morning is a special time in Bayonne. The market concentrates all the social life of the city around the Halles.
In addition to the twenty shops located inside the Halles, the covered market, there are around sixty stalls offering vegetables, cheese, fish, as well as dishes to be enjoyed on the spot.
Let yourself be carried away by the informal atmosphere and do as the locals do: sit down, order a beer or coffee and enjoy the moment.
A nice walk awaits you along the ramparts surrounding the city. It was the Romans who built the first city walls, when it was still a Roman castrum called Lapurdum. But it was obviously Vauban, sent to Bayonne by Louis XIV, who supervised the most important modernisation of these ramparts from 1680 to 1685.
We invite you to stroll through the garden of La Poterne, enter the old town through the Porte d’Espagne, then follow the ramparts by walking along Boulevard Lachepaillet and possibly take a guided tour to enter the casemates located inside the ramparts.
Nestled between the historic ramparts and Sainte-Marie Cathedral, the Bayonne Botanical Garden is perfect for a rejuvenating break. As you stroll among colourful and original perennial flowers, you will gradually enter a Japanese-style garden.
A body of water occupies part of this beautiful garden, while small bridges allow you to cross it: you will find pretty walkways and a waterfall that add an extra exotic touch.
During your walk through the city, you will have the opportunity to visit the Saint-Esprit district, whose rue Sainte-Catherine has become the heart of Bayonne’s street art: almost every street has its own fresco. Guided tours offering an in-depth exploration of urban art through their street artist circuits are possible.
The Bonnat-Helleu Museum in Bayonne is located in the city centre of Bayonne and is mainly dedicated to painting, with a varied collection of works ranging from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
The museum is named after Léon Bonnat, a famous 19th century French painter born in Bayonne. Bonnat was renowned for his portraits and the museum houses a large collection of his works, as well as personal memorabilia and art objects that belonged to him.
Besides Bonnat’s works, the museum also exhibits paintings by other renowned artists such as El Greco, Francisco de Goya, Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt. There are also paintings by 19th century French painters such as Gustave Courbet, Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet and Auguste Renoir.
The Bonnat-Helleu Museum also has a section devoted to Spanish painting, highlighting artists such as Francisco de Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez and Francisco Goya. This collection is considered one of the most important outside Spain.
Located on the banks of the Nive, La Plaine, classified as a ‘sensitive natural area of the department’, is part of the Natura 2000 network.
Your visit will take you to discover the Maison des Barthes, which houses the temporary exhibitions of the Natural History Museum organised in 3 cultural buildings. In addition, an observatory will enable you to better observe the local fauna, flora and especially birds.
Already very interesting to admire from the outside, the arenas of Bayonne invite you to attend the numerous shows and festivals organised throughout the year. These are mainly concerts, but also more traditional bullfighting events.
We recommend that you monitor the city’s programme and, if necessary, schedule a guided tour on days when there is no show.
In the following map you can see the location of the main places of interest mentioned in this article.
At the end of July, time stands still in Bayonne. The city’s inhabitants bring out their white dresses and their red scarves and belts, carefully stowed away from the previous year. Visitors arrive in droves and Bayonne becomes the party capital for five days and five nights out of time, where the young mingle with the old, the rich with the modest. The common thread is conviviality and the pleasure of being together.
On the programme there are always walks, concerts, pelota games, but also a flowery car race and a car elegance contest on the Allée Paulmy. The highlight of the show is undoubtedly the cow race through the streets of Petit Bayonne.
Over the years, the dress code of the festayre has evolved: in the 1970s, the sailor suit and top gave way to a white dress decorated with a scarf and a red belt, as in Pamplona: in this way, all festayres are on an equal footing and social differences are abolished.
The emphasis is on Basque and Gascon festive and musical traditions: live music, male choirs, bands, traditional music groups, but also contemporary music.
However, bullfighting remains an unmissable event on the programme: there is a bullfight on foot and another on horseback in the Lachepaillet arenas, as well as the performance of Bayonne bullfighter Mika Romero.
Also unmissable is the presence of Léon, the King of Bayonne, the festival mascot who appears every year on the balcony of the city hall, on a Wednesday evening in July, at 10 p.m. sharp, to inaugurate the Festival: a veritable white tide gathers at the foot of the city hall waiting for the ten strokes, the chimes that mark the opening. From that moment on, every day at midday, Léon rises up singing to the delight of the little ones, before going back to bed for a whole year, on Sunday at midnight.
Not everyone knows that the existence of bullfighting traditions in Bayonne is very old and has been going on since 1289. Theaficion remains alive and well in the city, with no less than five bullfighting clubs.
You can watch bullfights in the Arènes de Lachepaillet, during the Bayonne Festivals that honour this tradition, but especially during the Feria de l’Atlantique, the first weekend in September.
For three days, fans gather in the heart of the arenas, where the casetas are set up, to celebrate bullfighting and watch the shows.
Another attraction of Bayonneis the carnival, which has been celebrated here since 1480.
The inhabitants of Bayonne come to judge San Patzar, a vile character who symbolises human greed. You can witness the condemnation of this character, central to Basque and Gascon carnivals: he will end up at the stake, on the Roland Barthes esplanade.
Every year, since 1462, the Bayonne Ham Fair has been held with pride.
On Thursday morning, when the fair opens, you can watch the competition for the best ham from the Bayonne farm: the jury, made up of professionals, sniffs and tastes the hams brought in by private individuals, and designates the big winner, whose ham will then be sold at auction.
Afterwards, you can taste the best artisan hams under the Roland Barts marquee. Finally, on Saturday morning, you will cheer on the peñas as they compete in a ham omelette contest. All this, of course, takes place in a very lively atmosphere, to the rhythm of traditional bands and songs, in perfect Basque tradition.
At the foot of the Pyrenees, on the Atlantic coast, Bayonne offers visitors a privileged geographical location: situated at the confluence of the Adour and the Nive, 6 km from the Atlantic Ocean, it is part of the Basque province of Labourd. A city of 50,000 inhabitants and the economic capital of the Adour basin, it is famous for the beauty of its typical houses dating back several centuries and its historical centre full of museums and historical monuments.
We recommend that you book your accommodation well in advance if you plan to visit Bayonne in the summer and especially in July, during the city’s numerous festivals: the city is in high demand during this period and accommodation fills up quickly.
Divided in two by the Nive, the old city centre is simply the soul of Bayonne: the narrow streets winding through the city and the legendary good humour of the Bayonnese give the city centre a unique charm.
Sleeping in the heart of the city means visiting its main attractions on foot, experiencing its atmosphere and its lively evenings full of life.
The Arènes neighbourhood, a stone’s throw from the city centre, is a residential area frequented by young people and has numerous relaxation areas where residents like to hang out after work or study hours.
Noisy and lively, it is perfect for younger travellers, for those who enjoy an urban and trendy atmosphere and who are looking for nightlife. In addition, the area has a wealth of hotels and accommodations, making it easy for you to choose from.
Situated further south, Limpou is a rather lively residential area with many trendy restaurants and sophisticated accommodation.
The area is perfect for anyone travelling with the family, thanks to the presence of parks to have fun in the hot afternoon hours and the banks of the Nive to stroll along while enjoying an ice cream.
Bayonne is easy to reach with a rental car as it is only 1 hour and 30 minutes from Lourdes airport, 2 hours from Bordeaux airport, 2.5 hours from Toulouse airport. You can also arrive from Bilbao airport in less than 2 hours and from San Sebastian airport in 45 minutes.
Alternatively, you can comfortably arrive in Bayonne by train: the train will take you to the heart of Saint-Esprit, a popular district. Calculate about 4 hours from Paris, 3.5 hours from Toulouse, 2 hours from Bordeaux. The city can also be reached from the Southern Basque Country by Topo/EuskoTren in Hendaye, where you will take an SNCF train for an additional half-hour journey.
Bayonne can also be reached by bus. At least four bus companies stop in Bayonne: Flixbus, Alsa, BlaBlaBus and Euroscoach By Cm Tours and connect the city with Dax, Pau, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Paris, San Sebastian and Bilbao. Bayonne’s bus station is located on Quai de Lesseps.
What's the weather at Bayonne? Below are the temperatures and the weather forecast at Bayonne for the next few days.
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