Bordeaux is the undisputed capital of this region, a grand 18th-century port city built on wine money and recently transformed by an ambitious urban renewal that cleaned its limestone facades and added a stunning riverside promenade. The surrounding vineyards -- Saint-Emilion, Medoc, Graves, Pauillac -- produce some of the most celebrated wines in the world, and visiting the chateaux is easy as a day trip or a week-long obsession. Further north, Cognac does the same for brandy, with centuries-old distilleries open for tours along the Charente river.
The Atlantic coast here is nothing like the Mediterranean. Long, straight beaches backed by pine forests stretch for hundreds of kilometres, with powerful surf rolling in from the open ocean. Biarritz pioneered European surfing in the 1950s and remains the continent's surf capital, while Arcachon sits beside the enormous Dune of Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe. La Rochelle is one of France's most attractive port towns, its 17th-century arcaded streets built on fortunes from the New World trade, and the nearby Ile d'Oleron offers quieter sandy beaches and oyster farms.
Inland, the landscape turns to rolling green valleys and deep limestone gorges. The Dordogne is famous for its prehistoric painted caves -- Les Eyzies alone has more Paleolithic sites than anywhere else on earth -- and for honey-coloured medieval villages perched above the river. In the south, the Basque country brings a different culture entirely: the Basque people speak Euskara, a language unrelated to any other in the world, and their towns have a distinct character with red-and-white timbered houses, pelota courts, and some of the best food in France.
