Experience the best of Bayonne

Bayonne grew where the Nive flows into the Adour, a few kilometres from the Atlantic, in the French Basque Country. The Gothic cathedral of Sainte-Marie rises over Grand Bayonne, the oldest quarter, while across the Nive the lanes of Petit Bayonne are lined with timbered houses and coloured shutters. Vauban's ramparts circle the city.

The Basque Museum explores the region's culture, and the Bonnat-Helleu museum shows a fine art collection. Biarritz's beaches and the harbour of Saint-Jean-de-Luz are a short way down the coast, Espelette's red peppers hang from the village's houses, and a cog railway climbs La Rhune mountain. San Sebastián lies across the Spanish border.

Chocolate-making is said to have arrived with Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal in the seventeenth century, and Bayonne ham, cured in the Adour basin, takes its name from the city's port. Gâteau basque, filled with cream or cherry jam, is the local cake. Each year the Fêtes de Bayonne fill the streets for five days with crowds in white and red.