Saint-Jean-de-Luz France
62
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Azamara Club Cruises (6 Cruises)
Crystal Cruises (1 Cruises)
Oceania Cruises (29 Cruises)
Oceania Insignia
9 Cruises
Oceania Sirena
7 Cruises
Regent Seven Seas Cruises (11 Cruises)
Seven Seas Mariner
6 Cruises
Seabourn Cruise Line (4 Cruises)
SeaDream Yacht Club (2 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
By tender, a few steps from the centre. The bay is one of the best sheltered anchorages on the French Atlantic coast, closed on one side by the Pointe Sainte-Barbe and on the other by the heights of Ciboure and Socoa. No shuttle is needed.
Yes. The Basque Country begins at the first street, with signs in Euskara. The church, the historic houses, rue Gambetta, the covered market and the main beach are all a few minutes apart on foot.
The Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, Place Louis XIV, rue Gambetta and the climb to the Pointe Sainte-Barbe. It is a full programme but entirely walkable, and it leaves nothing essential out.
Because the marriage of Louis XIV and the Spanish infanta Maria Theresa was celebrated here in 1660, sealing the Peace of the Pyrenees. Behind austere walls the interior surprises: three tiers of dark oak galleries, traditionally reserved for men, facing a gold-leafed altarpiece rising to a vault shaped like an inverted ship's hull.
That is the local tradition: the door the royal couple passed through was reportedly walled up so that no one would follow them. You can still spot it, sealed, on the side of the building.
Two shipowners' houses lining the harbour. The Lohobiague house, known as the Maison Louis XIV, hosted the young king in 1660; the Maison de l'Infante, in pink brick facing the port, housed the future queen. Both open to visitors depending on the season.
Yes, and that is rare on this swell-battered coast. The main beach, sheltered by its breakwaters, offers fine sand where families swim in calm water. The three breakwaters closing the bay date from Napoleon III.
Macarons from Maison Adam, supplier to the royal wedding since 1660 and still made to the original recipe, and the Basque cake filled with cream or black cherry. On the savoury side: striped linen woven in the nearby valleys, hand-stitched espadrilles, tinned tuna and Espelette pepper.
The whole bay, the three breakwaters that close it, and the Pyrenees dropping into the Atlantic on the Spanish side. Opposite, Ciboure, birthplace of the composer Maurice Ravel, lines the other shore of the harbour. The path climbs from the seafront.
Yes, it is worth planning for. Tide and swell can lengthen tender transfers. Allow a comfortable margin before the all-aboard time, especially if the sea builds during the day.
