Bazas (France)

Bazas (Vasats in Gascon) is a French commune located in the Gironde department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

The capital of the Bazadais region and episcopal see until the French Revolution, it preserves a significant monumental heritage, partly inherited from the Middle Ages, the main feature of which is the Cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

The commune of Bazas is located in the southeast of the department, 59 km southeast of the capital, Bordeaux, and 16 km south of Langon, the capital of the arrondissement. It is also 75 km north of Mont-de-Marsan, the capital of the Landes department.

The neighboring communes are Cazats to the north, Brouqueyran to the north-northeast, Lados and Gans to the northeast, Gajac to the east-northeast, Saint-Côme to the east (with which it forms an urban unit), Sauviac to the southeast, Cudos to the south, Marimbault to the southwest, Lignan-de-Bazas to the west, Le Nizan to the northwest and Aubiac to the north-northwest.

The town is located on slight hills at the entrance to the Landes forest of Gascogne.

Tourism

Jardin du Sultan and its rose garden.
Gisquet Gate and various remains of the Bazas city walls.
Town Hall, which was listed as a historic monument in 1965.
The Cathedral of Saint-Jean-Baptiste is an 83-meter-long building and has been listed as a historic monument since 1840. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Routes of Santiago. It was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, modeled after the great Gothic cathedrals of northern France.
Former Notre-Dame-du-Mercadil church, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, has been listed as a historic monument in its entirety since 2008.
Former Saint-Antoine Hospice, listed as a historic monument in 2003, which houses the largest and most complete apothecary in France.

La Psalette mansion, 16th century. Noble house of the Canon of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Cathedral of Bazas, which housed the choir school; the distinctive feature of this building is its corner mullioned window on each floor, visible from the street. It is a rectangular building with a crenellated tower (building) located in the middle of the structure. It is one of the few buildings on this street to have a large courtyard (architecture).
Ursulines convent (17th century).
19th-century courthouse, formerly a district court, closed since 2010, following the reform of the judicial map. Today, the courthouse building houses the city’s library and media center, the Polyèdre.
19th-century racecourse.

Transport

No railway line serves the town. The nearest train station, 16 km away, is Langon Station, on the Bordeaux–Sète line, served by TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine trains.

The town is served by bus route 552 (Langon-Captieux) with a frequency of 5 times a day.

By car

From Bordeaux: 58 min (67.8 km) via A62

From Andorra: 4 hr 19 min (390 km) via A62

From Barcelona: 5 hr 32 min (599 km) via A62

From Paris: 6 hr 16 min (643 km) via A10