Surf the Basque coast

Beach breaks in the Landes, the point at Mundaka, and pintxos at the end of every day.

A surf & coast trip through Spain and France — 6 days and about 243 km. It is built around 4 places the trip exists to include: Hossegor (in France), Biarritz (in France), Zarautz (in Spain) and Mundaka (in Spain). Those are kept whatever else you change; the nights, the meals and the stops in between are chosen for the road you actually end up on.

From the pine forests of the Landes to the green cliffs of Bizkaia, the Atlantic coast bends round the corner of Europe and picks up the whole ocean's swell. Hossegor's beach breaks are where the world tour comes in October; Biarritz is where surfing in Europe started, on the Grande Plage under the casino; and Mundaka, across the border, is a river-mouth left that people fly in for. The road follows the coast the whole way and changes country halfway without anyone noticing, except that the food gets better. Zarautz has the longest beach in the Basque Country and a school on it for anyone starting out. San Sebastián has the Zurriola beach in the middle of the city and the old town's pintxos bars three streets behind it — surf until the wind turns, then eat standing up. Autumn brings the swell and empties the campsites; summer is small, warm and crowded. Boards go on the roof, wetsuits go in a bin bag, and the campsites along the Landes coast are among the best in France for exactly this trip.

The places this trip exists for

Pinned, not suggested — the planner is required to include every one of them.

Hossegor
🇫🇷 France
La Gravière — the beach break the world tour comes for, and the town built around surfing.
Biarritz
🇫🇷 France
The Grande Plage, where European surfing began in the fifties, with the old town on the rocks above.
Zarautz
🇪🇸 Spain
The longest beach on the Basque coast, gentle enough to learn on, a promenade of bars behind it.
Mundaka
🇪🇸 Spain
The river-mouth left, on its day one of the best waves in Europe; on any other day a lovely fishing village.

These are kept whatever you change. Everything else the planner picks is chosen for the road you end up on, and can be swapped.

Zarautz — Jean Michel Etchecolonea · CC BY-SA 3.0

Soorts-Hossegor — Zyonig at English Wikipedia · Public domain

One way it works out

From Bordeaux · 6 days · about €396

A real plan, priced the way every trip here is: fuel per country you cross, tolls and vignettes from published tariffs, beds and food from derived local rates. It is one example, not an average — from another town it is a different trip, which is the point of the button below.

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All 4 pinned places are kept — you set the start, the days and who's coming, and the road and the figures are worked out for your door.

The figures above were measured from Bordeaux — yours will differ.