Our family is heading to St. Jean de Luz next June. We have already booked an Airbnb. This will be our first trip to take our boys (9 and 13) to another country. We will be there for four days and then to Barcelona for four days.
Any families traveled here and have tips? We are considering a day trip to San Sebastián but don’t have many other plans.
We love food, history, and the outdoors.
Thanks for your help!
Petit Train de la Rhune - excellent day out. Keep your eyes open for the vultures! You can prebook online, but leave plenty of time for parking, etc. https://www.rhune.com/en/
The Garage (if it is open) is great for atmosphere and interesting food. Sheeps cheese and piment d'espelette are local specialities, visit some producers.
Visit Biarritz.
If you're going st San Sebatian, catch the bus (route 3, 2euros) and the Euskotren - a local metro train that travel from France to Spain.
Will you have a car? There's rail service to Bayonne and bus (or rail+bus) service to Biarritz. You can also get across to Spain by rail, though I think finding the information online may be a bit tricky. I haven't done that border crossing myself.
In terms of sightseeing I have a hot tip for you: In Bayonne (bus from the center then walk, or hop in a taxi) is the Atelier du Chocolate. It's a combination of museum--with English explanatory signage, short videos, and equipment--and tasting room. The tasting is extraordinarily generous--so much so that you'll probably need to monitor the children's consumption to avoid stomach upsets. The chocolate is good, but don't expect $50/lb. quality. This place should earn you massive brownie points from your children.
I think there's also some sort of chocolate museum in Biarritz, but it doesn't get very good reviews, and I much preferred Bayonne to Biarritz. Bayonne has a large historic area along the river, just made for strolling. Biarritz didn't have as pleasant a feeling, though in fairness I had rain the day I tried to see Biarritz. (This area does tend to be overcast if not actually raining.) The one thing I really enjoyed in Biarritz was the Musée Asiatica, but I don't think that would appeal to the children.
I haven't been into the interior of the French Basque Country; if you have a car, I think that would be worth seeing.
San Sebastian is a very pretty, clean town set on a magnificent beach. The problem I have with it is that the core of the historic area (west of the river) is rather small and utterly thronged with tourists. I was annoyed that I couldn't find a place to sit down at lunchtime. I am not a barhopper, so wandering from spot to spot, nibbling on pintxos, was not for me; I'm sure that's a lot more fun if you aren't a solo traveler, but the crowds may not be terribly appealing to your children, either.
But many people just love San Sebastian; certainly it is a mecca for foodies. With respect to the beach, be aware that there is no guarantee the weather will be what you consider suitable for swimming. There were few people in the water during my June 2016 visit, and they were mostly wearing wetsuits.
I much preferred Bilbao to San Sebastian: much less touristy once you're a block or two away from the Guggenheim, and with a larger historic district. But it's farther away than San Sebastian, so I don't recommend it unless you have a burning need to see the Guggenheim (in which case you should plan to spend at least a full day in Bilbao).
Closer to San-Juan-de-Luz than even San Sebastian is the Spanish town of Hondarribia, which I thought was very appealing. There's a fishermen's district down along the waterfront, full of restarurants. The medieval district is on the nearby hill. It was unusually quiet the day I was there (maybe a Monday??), but I think the hilltop area would be interesting to explore even on busier days. I'll best most visitors just hit the waterfront area.
I saw some very nice countryside on the Spanish side of the border. If you're driving, I'd consider making a loop rather than following the same route out and back. If you go to ViaMichelin.com it will present one or more routes. Zoom way in and you'll see any especially scenic stretches of road highlighted in green.
Amber - While in Saint Jean De Luz for the 4 days, why not do an Electric bike tour with the kids to nearby towns like Biarritz. It is a lot of fun and a great way to see the area.
https://www.lesrouesdelilou.com/
https://www.ultimatefrance.com/holidays/france-atlantic-coast/saint-jean-de-luz
