Hôtel du Palais

The Hôtel du Palais is the grand architectural statement of Biarritz, anchoring the northern end of the Grande Plage in a pile of red brick, white stone, and imperial grandeur. It was built on the site of Empress Eugénie's summer palace and has operated as a luxury hotel since 1905, accumulating a guest list that includes several crowned heads of Europe, multiple American presidents, and anyone else who needed a sufficiently theatrical seaside address.

The building is worth approaching even if you are not staying or dining here — the cliff-side terrace bar is open to non-guests and gives fine views over the Grande Plage. The facade alone, with its Second Empire mansard roofs and imperial eagles, tells the story of how this fishing village became one of the great European resort towns.

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A story
The building began as Empress Eugénie's private summer villa, the Villa Eugénie, built in 1855. It burned down in 1903 and was rebuilt as a luxury hotel, which it has been ever since. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia stayed here — the last tsar, who would be shot in a cellar in Siberia fourteen years later — as part of the long Russian aristocratic love affair with Biarritz.