Biarritz

Biarritz, a favourite watering-place in the French department of Basses-Pyrénées, on the Bay of Biscay, 6 miles SW. of Bayonne. Here, in 1855, Louis Napoleon built the Villa Eugénie for the empress, who already, as Countess de Téba, had been a frequent visitor. The presence of the court combined with the pleasant situation and salubrity of the place to increase greatly the fame of its baths and its caverned cliffs. During the season (July-September) the place is often visited by 6000 guests, for whose accommodation have been built several good hotels, a number of scattered villas, a casino, a large bathing establishment, an English Protestant church, &c. Pop. 7159. See, besides the guidebooks, De Lavigne, Biarritz (Paris, 1882); Connt Russell, Biarritz and the Basque Country (Lond. 1873).