France / New Aquitaine
Biarritz
Biarritz is a coastal resort area in New Aquitaine, France on the North Atlantic Ocean. Its longest mapped beach (Plage de la Petite Chambre d'Amour) stretches about 667 m and has a sand surface. The sea averages 22.1 °C in August, its warmest month, and 12.0 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in July–August.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The mapped beach is tagged dog = “yes”.
The beach is tagged as supervised.
Services in the resort
- 240Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 18Public toilets
- –Showers
- 11Drinking water
- 28Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 78Hotels & guesthouses
- 29Grocery shops
- 2Water-sports spots
- 1Marinas & slipways
- 132Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 8Pharmacies & clinics
- 9Cash machines
- 12Viewpoints
- 4Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 177 restaurants, 17 cafés, 40 bars and 6 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 78 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Grande Plage Sud (Casino)”, 190 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 10 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Good
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Biarritz
Beach-day index 4.9/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 12.6 °C | 12.0 °C | 12.4 °C | 13.6 °C | 15.9 °C | 18.9 °C | 21.2 °C | 22.1 °C | 20.7 °C | 18.3 °C | 15.7 °C | 13.7 °C |
| High °C | 10° | 11° | 14° | 16° | 19° | 24° | 26° | 27° | 24° | 20° | 14° | 11° |
| Low °C | 4° | 4° | 6° | 8° | 11° | 14° | 16° | 16° | 14° | 11° | 7° | 5° |
| Rain mm | 121 | 90 | 89 | 88 | 89 | 73 | 51 | 53 | 65 | 93 | 144 | 112 |
| Cloud % | 79 | 73 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 68 | 64 | 64 | 63 | 69 | 76 | 77 |
| Wind m/s | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 19°/-5° | 23°/-7° | 23°/-5° | 29°/2° | 31°/4° | 38°/6° | 38°/11° | 42°/10° | 38°/6° | 31°/-1° | 24°/-2° | 19°/-5° |
| Beach index | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 6.8 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 4.9 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–August; August scores 8.7/10 with highs of 27 °C, sea at 22.1 °C and 53 mm of rain.
In August that is 0.7 points above the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 16.4 °C, cooler than 67% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (144 mm) and July the driest (51 mm); the yearly total is about 1,070 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:10 and sets at 21:11 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-west (310°). Open water fills about 42% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 21:48 local time on a bearing of 304°.
Straight out to the north-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 9 m deep and 24 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 48 m above sea level 500 m inland and 57 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 77% built-up land, 14% tree cover and 5% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 37% of that circle.
- Built 77%
- Tree 14%
- Grass 5%
- Bare 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biarritz Pays Basque airport Biarritz | BIQ | 3.3 km | south-east |
| San Sebastián Airport Hondarribia | EAS | 23.4 km | south-west |
| Pamplona Airport Pamplona | PNA | 79.6 km | south |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 132 bus stops within 1.5 km and 28 mapped car parks within 1 km.
12 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 148.4K residents); within 30 km there are 54 (about 378.6K).
Photos
From above
Around the beach
Viewpoints
- Vue sur le port de Biarritz 490 m W
- Rocher de la Vierge 950 m W
Attractions & museums
- Musee Bellevue museum 190 m W
- Musée Historique de Biarritz museum 310 m SW
- Museo del Mar - Aquarium de Biarritz attraction 380 m W
- C.E.R.S museum 520 m W
- Iraty Parc attraction 600 m W
- Musée Asiatica museum 650 m SE
Historic sites
- Passerelle du rocher de la Vierge à Biarritz monument 380 m W
- La Chapelle Impériale monument 400 m NE
- Le Port des Pêcheurs monument 450 m W
- Cloche du Plateau de l'Atalaye monument 580 m W
Islands in view
- l'Artillerie 360 m W
- Chaning 380 m NW
- le Jarzin 470 m W
- Arroque Praoube 480 m NW
- Labardin 540 m W
- Gamaritz (la Cafetière) 600 m W
Marinas
- Port de Plaisance de Biarritz 450 m W
Diving & boat hire
- Bike Basque 610 m NE
- Sobilo 650 m SW
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 16.6 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w23635506; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_30TXP_20260914_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRI1564122M064045).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 5.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.