Mont-de-Marsan sits at the centre of a region with good day trip options in every direction. The A65 motorway and the train line make most of them accessible without a full day of travel.
Dax (30 minutes by car or train) is the nearest significant town, a thermal spa resort on the Adour river. The hot springs have been in use since Roman times, and Dax draws visitors for thermal treatments — but it is also a pleasant place to walk, with a good market and a cathedral worth seeing. It hosts its own course landaise festival in August.
Bayonne (1 hour by car, approximately the same by train) is one of the most enjoyable cities in southwest France: a fortified old town at the meeting of the Nive and Adour rivers, famous for its ham, its chocolate, and its own summer festival which is larger and louder than even the Fêtes de la Madeleine. The Musée Basque is excellent.
Biarritz (just beyond Bayonne, about 1 hour 10 minutes from Mont-de-Marsan) is the Atlantic coast resort with a grand beach, Belle Époque architecture, and good surfing. Best in spring or early summer before the crowds arrive.
Pau (1 hour by car) is the Pyrenean foothills city with a château, a famous boulevard view of the mountains, and strong connections to Henri IV. The drive from Mont-de-Marsan through the Armagnac country and into the hills is itself part of the pleasure.
