living in biarritz

Biarritz voted top place to live 2025!

If you are still hesitating about choosing Biarritz as your destination for buying a home, this article should help you finalise your goal!

The boho-chic town has just been voted best town to live in France 2025 by JDD (Journal du Dimanche) toppling the town of Angers which has been first for the last three years. In fact three Basque coastal towns were in the top 10, with Bayonne and Anglet taking 4th and 9th place respectively. The small and very quaint village of Guéthary came second in the list with fewer than 2000 inhabitants.

With these results you have to admit that the Basque coast takes some beating and being a resident here for 22 years I can definitely vouch for that.

I have lived in several beautiful places but I won’t be moving from Biarritz. Aside its natural beauty, niched in a rocky coastline with pristine, endless beaches to the north and a series of coves to the south with the Pyrénées as a backdrop, there is a certain charm about its mixture of decadence one the hand and low-key, surf vibe on the other.

I personally love having the lifestyle that gives such freedom of choice. What do I mean by that?

Well for starters I can choose to wander the fishing port (St Jean de Luz), the cosmopolitan, vibrant town (Biarritz), the cathedral city with so much history (Bayonne), the small and very quaint villages of Bidart and Guéthary on the coast. I have coves to swim in, world class waves for surfing, mountains to ski on, an infinite number of roads and lanes to cycle on, a good dose of culture when I feel like it. For a change of scene I just jump over the border to Spain and savour all those pintxos and mouth-watering restaurants in the festive atmosphere of San Sébastien. Then there is rugby – AB and BO, the Basque summer festivals – a rolling sea of red and white… as you see I could go on forever. I always get carried away when people ask me why I live here!

But today is about Biarritz and its trophy. So what are the criteria for winning this accolade?

Well it is based on 9 criteria – the selection is very strict ranging from quality of life, protection of the environment, health, prosperous real estate, businesses and services, transportation, education, sports and leisure, local finance and taxes, solidarity, and this year they added natural risks.

Certainly in the last 10 years that I have been here, things have changed and for the better. Small steps which make big differences – reducing traffic in the town centres, free electric shuttle buses in the town centre and the electric trambus that links Biarritz with Anglet and Bayonne. There are cycle paths everywhere and now you can walk the coast from Biarritz to Hendaye (I definitely recommend). School children all come out with a sea rescue certificate making them doubly aware of the ways of the ocean. In fact on Wednesdays you can see the children training in the ocean in the summer months – a lovely sight tearing through the waves on their paddleboards.

Since covid, a lot of locals started working from home and co-working spaces have sprouted up everywhere. This has attracted start-ups and a young generation who are creating new businesses whether they be coffee shops, restaurants or surf shops. This makes for an energised, young vibe mixing with the good old “tonton surfeurs” (the older generation of surfers!)

With this influx, new infrastructures have not been a problem. Schools have been improved, there is no shortage of healthcare and social facilities. Our lovely avant-garde art-deco cinema has also been completely refurbished and every year hosts the Latin-American film festival, the Biarritz film festival and the FIPA (documentary festival). In fact no less than 6 major festivals take place every year in Biarritz.

Biarritz also comes under the “loi littoral” which is a coastal treaty which limits and protects. It is for this reason that construction is limited and hence real estate demand far outweighs availability. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a property in Biarritz or the Basque coast.

Substantial works are being carried out to strengthen and protect the rocky coastline from erosion and subsidence. There are sections of the coast which are bare of any construction – a rarity these days and the locals are encouraged to bring forward proposals to rewild these areas and bring sustainable development.

Well I think I have given you enough words of encouragement but I do want to end with a special word for the Basque people because without them, Pays Basque would not be the place it is…and I speak for both sides of the border!

Never have I lived around a nation of locals so proud of their territory and with such strong values. In many cases a firm handshake still replaces a contract