Discover the best luxury spa hotels in Aquitaine, France

Straddling the French-Spanish border and pierced by the Pyrenees, the Pays Basque is a wild and rugged coastal land, whose people share a rich and proud cultural tradition with their Iberian neighbours (largely centred on food). The wild waves of the Atlantic crash into the cliffs and coves of the Bay of Biscay, making the region a surfers’ paradise, and cute spa-dotted seaside towns such as St Jean de Luz offer beachy thrills by the bucket- (and spade-) load. In the cities (from Bayonne and Biarritz across the border to Bilbao and San Sebastián), travellers will find welcoming close-knit communities, as well as unforgettable food, much of it in the form of pintxos – tiny plates of tapas – all washed down with a tot of hearty local red.