Aquitaine, France

Les Hortensias du Lac

Price per night from$259.05

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR223.14), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Les Hortensias du Lac Photos

Style

Surf spirit

Setting

Lake, Landes and sea

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Les Hortensias du Lac is a leisurely lakeside hotel in the seaspray-scented Landes region of southwest France, with tree-lined trails leading to surf-beaten beaches and sand dunes on the Atlantic coast. There’s an air of the Hamptons about the light-flooded interiors, where planks of white-painted wood meet soft neutral fabrics, and there’s a soul-soothing spa crafted from sand-coloured stone. In the gardens, you’ll find a lake-facing infinity pool nestled among the pine trees, and a fish-focused restaurant serving sustainable local produce.

Smith Extra

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A bottle of Domaine de Fontenille wine

Facilities

Photos Les Hortensias du Lac facilities

Need to know

Rooms

25, including three Junior Suites and three Suites.

Check–Out

Noon, check-in 4pm, but both are flexible, subject to availability.

More details

Rates don’t include breakfast, but for you can have your way with the buffet of hams, cheeses, eggs and freshly baked croissants for €32 (€16 for children).

Also

If you’ve got a taste for Fontenille wines, visit the terroir in person at sister-hotel Domaine de Fontenille, over in Provence.

At the hotel

Free WiFi, fitness room. In rooms: TV, minibar with free soft drinks, LA Bruket organic bath products.

Our favourite rooms

The lake views are lush – go for the Suite Lake View and you get oodles of space and peerless panoramas from the balcony.

Poolside

Palms and pine trees shelter the large, heated infinity pool (open from April to October), which is flanked by svelte sunloungers looking out to the lake.

Spa

The cavernous, 450sq m spa includes a sauna, hammam, four treatment rooms (including one for couples), an outdoor Nordic bath, a Jacuzzi bath, a cold bath (for cooling off) and a tea shop (for warming up). The organic products come from La Bruket, a coastal cosmetics brand based in Sweden.

Packing tips

A sunhat, with a strap as security against gusts of ocean breeze.

Also

There are two rooms designed for wheelchair users: a Junior Suite and one of the Superior Lake View rooms – and all the common areas are accessible, too.

Pet‐friendly

Well-behaved pooches are welcome to join you free of charge. See more pet-friendly hotels in Aquitaine.

Children

All ages welcome. Extra beds or cots can be added to all rooms.

Best for

Stronger swimmers, aged seven plus.

Recommended rooms

Pick interconnecting rooms, so you can keep your little Smiths close but not too close.

Activities

Borrow bikes (and helmets), then pedal along the lakeside trails, or take a surfboard down to the beach. The hotel concierge can hook you up with family-friendly boat trips, too.

Swimming pool

It’s heated, and has sunloungers along the side, so you can keep half an eye on in-pool antics.

Meals

There are highchairs and a healthy children’s menu in the restaurant, and free soft drinks in the minibar. You can buy baby food and snacks on-site, the staff will happily warm up milk, and there are colouring books to keep fiddly fingers busy.

Babysitting

A babysitter or nanny is €10-15 an hour. Book at least 24 hours in advance.

No need to pack

A changing mat.

Also

The beaches, forests, lakes and dunes make the local area fantastic for mini explorers, with tons of nature to ramble and investigate.

Sustainability efforts

The hotel has been renovated with an eco-friendly ethos – new buildings are constructed of local wood to blend in with the environment and the interiors maximise natural light to reduce energy use. The restaurant deals solely in local, sustainable produce.

Food and Drink

Photos Les Hortensias du Lac food and drink

Top Table

Sit outside on the terrace, where sails shelter you from the breeze.

Dress Code

Coastal cottons.

Hotel restaurant

The hotel’s restaurant is crafted entirely from wood and tucked between the pine trees on the lake shore, with sweeping views over the water. Chef Philippe Moreno earned his culinary chops in Gérald Passédat’s Michelin-starred kitchen in Marseille – expect a menu of fresh, sustainable fish, cooked on the plancha grill and served with the pick of the season’s local produce.

Hotel bar

The poolside bar shakes up signature cocktails alongside champagne and curated wines from the prestigious Fontenille estate. Listen out for live jazz, and order tapas and cured meats for a nibble on the side.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 7.30am to 10.30am; lunch in the restaurant is from noon to 1.45pm, and dinner is from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. The bar is open from 7am to 11pm, and the dining room, terrace and lounge are open 24 hours a day.

Room service

You can order from the full restaurant menu whenever the kitchen is open. Out of hours, you pick from plates of cheese and charcuterie.

Location

Photos Les Hortensias du Lac location
Address
Les Hortensias du Lac
1578 Avenue du Tour du Lac
Soorts-Hossegor
40150
France

The hotel is on the shore of Lake Hossegor, 20km north of Biarritz on France’s Atlantic coast.

Planes

Fly into Biarritz airport with Easyjet or Ryanair from Stansted, Gatwick or Luton – it takes around an hour and 45 minutes. The hotel is a half-hour drive away; private transfers can be arranged for €100 each way.

Trains

The nearest train station is Dax, 30 minutes from the hotel. The high-speed TGV from Paris covers the 685km journey in just three and a half hours; add on the Eurostar from London and a no-fly itinerary is absolutely feasible. Transfers from Dax to the hotel cost €90.

Automobiles

A car is handy for cruising up and down the Atlantic seaboard; you can be in San Sebastián in an hour, and Bordeaux in two. Hire from the airport, and park up for free at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Do some circuits at the spa – soaking in the whirlpool, Nordic and c-c-cold baths, with an occasional pitstop in the massage rooms. If you’re activity-inclined, join Pilates classes, swim in the pool, hit the fitness room, or work out en plein air with jogs along the beach. There’s excellent golf nearby, too – Hossegor and Seignosse are just 10 minutes away. Catch up on the catch of the day at the lakeside restaurant, or sip champagne cocktails at the bar. Beyond the hotel itself, watersports are top of the menu. Whet your appetite with gentle paddleboarding on Lake Hossegor, then catch the sea breeze with windsurfing and surf the Atlantic breakers at La Gravière beach. It’s a short walk to La Plage Blanche, a sheltered strip of sand lapped by shallow water – to venture further, rent bikes (either conventional or electric) and pedal off through the pines. In the history-stuffed town of Dax, you’ll find hot springs, Roman ruins and one of France’s only remaining bull rings. Further afield, you’ve got surf-centric Biarritz, the high-society getaway of choice in the 19th century, still sprinkled with belle époque glamour and art deco villas.

 

Local restaurants

At Le Cœur Joie in Hossegor, seasonal southwest produce meets quietly inventive cooking in a warm, unpretentious space. Nearby, at La Nord, sea views set the tone for relaxed, ocean-inspired plates served just above the shore. The cream of Capbreton is La Petite Table, delivering Japanese-inspired fine dining in a tucked-away spot by the quay.

 

Local cafés

At Pacific Coast Café, California meets the Côte Basque with bright, healthy plates and speciality brews. Volt keeps things sleek, serving up caffeine fixes alongside polished brunches in a minimalist setting. Green Cantine takes a plant-led approach with nourishing bowls and vibrant flavours in a scenic spot, just minutes from the beach.

Local bars

You won’t get fancy cosmopolitans or masterfully made martinis at L’Île du Malt (51 Avenue des Tisserands), but after a day in the surf you won’t want them. What you will want is a craft brew from their cavernous beer room, and maybe a platter of charcuterie. Each evening, take your seat at Cabane des Estagnots for a sundowner at sundown.

Reviews

Photos Les Hortensias du Lac reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this lakeside hotel in Aquitaine and unpacked their seashells and surfshorts, a full account of their southwest France break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Les Hortensias du Lac in Hossegor…

It’s hard to pinpoint what makes Les Hortensias du Lac so special, because it can be many things to different people. Its headline attraction is the water – surfers salivate at the prospect of ocean breakers on the Atlantic coast, while paddleboarders purr at the sight of Lake Hossegor outside their hotel window. But there’s plenty here for landlubbers, too – cycle paths and walking trails wind through the pines, leading to untrodden coves and soaring sand dunes. Culture fiends can delve into the Basque Country, buzzing Biarritz or Roman-era Dax, and foodies can feast on some of Europe’s most sumptuous seafood. And if all that’s sounding altogether too energetic, you can hole up at the spa, working your way through the massage menu and dipping in and out of the numerous pools. Les Hortensias, you see, is a multi-talented kind of place, a specialist in several fields.

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Price per night from $255.40

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