Hendaye (Pyrénées-Atlantiques)

Hendaye (Hendaia in Basque) is a commune in the French Basque Country (not to be confused with the Basque community), in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is located at the southwestern tip of France and the last coastal city before Spain.

It is part of the Hendaye catchment area and the Bayonne urban area, the second largest urban area in Nouvelle-Aquitaine after Bordeaux. It is bordered to the west by Txingudi Bay (Bidasoa estuary), which separates it from Spain (Irun and Hondarribia).

Tourism

The fort was built in 1618 on the orders of Louis XIII to calm the ardor of the people of Hondarribia, who reigned supreme over both banks of the Bidasoa River. After various incidents, Louis XIV decided to build a larger fort, a task he entrusted to Vauban. On April 23, 1793, the fort, the church, and a large part of the village were completely destroyed by the Spanish. Only a few ruins of the fort remain today.

Abbadia Castle, once owned by Antoine d’Abbadie, and its estate of several dozen hectares are located in the territory of Hendaye. It houses a collection of art objects brought back by Antoine d’Abbadie d’Arrast from his travels around the world, a large part of which is listed in the inventory of the Ministry of Culture.

The Maison Rouge villa (Edmond Durandeau), on Rue des Citronniers, is a listed historic monument.

The Moorish villa and its garden, as well as Pierre Loti’s Bakhar Etchea villa, were all listed as historic monuments in 2010.

The new Hendaye casino was built in 1988 as part of the seaside resort’s development project. It is currently operated by the Sokoburu group, which opened it in 1994. The Sokoburu complex was built in the neo-Basque style.

The Church of Saint Anne, in Hendaye-Plage, was built on the foundations of the old chapel of Santa Ana.

The Church of Saint Vincent (known as Bixintxo), in Hendaye-Ville, is the main church (17th century), destroyed several times (war, fire, lightning), and rebuilt from the early 19th century. It has three floors, a beautiful organ, and a crucifix dating from the 13th century.

With water temperatures reaching 23°C in summer, Hendaye is the southernmost resort on the Basque coast and the French Atlantic coast.

Hendaye Beach has offered quality A bathing waters for several years. In addition to being vast, it is also the longest on the Basque coast, stretching over 3.5 km of fine sand.

Transport

Hendaye station is a French railway station on the Bordeaux to Irun line. It is an SNCF station, served by trains from the TGV inOui, Intercités, and TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine networks.

The station is an international station (or border station). Due to the difference in track gauge between the French (1,435 mm) and Spanish (1,668 mm) networks, all trains stop at the border complex to change the axles of the cars, or to widen or narrow them (as was the case with Talgo trains until 2015).

San Sebastian Airport (IATA code: EAS; ICAO code: LESO) is a Spanish airport located less than 5 km from the city of Hendaye (the runway directly overlooks the Bidasoa River and forms the border with France).