Audio Guide Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Places researched in this city

A selection of the 12 places we've researched in this city. The full set is in the Parroo app.

• Royal history
• Basque architecture
• Fishing port
• Beach & coast
• Food & market

• 01

  Church of Saint John the Baptist

  After Louis XIV walked out of this church as a married man on 9 June 1660, the side door he used was sealed shut and has never been opened since. Built from the 12th century and expanded in the 17th, the church is the finest example of Basque Labourdin Gothic in France, with a gilded wooden retable and tiered wooden galleries lining its walls.

• 02

  Louis XIV Square

  This is the square where the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees became a flesh-and-blood reality: the royal wedding that ended decades of war between France and Spain was celebrated here, and the Maison Louis XIV on its edge still stands as the house where the king slept for five weeks. In summer the square hosts the Toro de Fuego festivities, keeping the theatrical tradition alive.

• 03

  Louis XIV House (Lohobiague-enea)

  Built between 1643 and 1645 on what was then marshland near the port, this shipowner's house became the king's residence from 8 May to 16 June 1660. Its grey stone facade and Navarrese-style galleries now shelter a museum of 17th-century life, and the building's Basque name, Lohobiague-enea, predates the royal connection by a generation.

• 04

  House of the Infanta (Joanoenia)

  While the king lodged across the square, the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa stayed here from 7 to 15 June 1660, the week before the wedding. Built around 1640 by a Basque whaling merchant, the pink brick and stone facade with its Italian-influenced galleries reflects the extraordinary wealth that whale hunting and Newfoundland cod fishing brought to this small town.

• 05

  Saint-Jean-de-Luz Fishing Port

  Long before the royal wedding put this town on the map, its sailors were hunting whales in the Bay of Biscay and fishing cod on the banks of Newfoundland. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ended French claims to Newfoundland almost overnight, dealing a blow the port took generations to recover from; today around forty boats still work the same harbour mouth on the Nivelle.

• 06

  Adam House

  The macaron served at the 1660 royal wedding was made here, and Maison Adam has been making them to the same recipe for over ten generations since. Founded in 1660 at Place Louis XIV, the shop is still run by the Telleria-Adam family and remains the clearest edible link between the town's Basque pastry tradition and its royal moment.

• 07

  Paul Jovet Coastal Botanical Garden

  The 2.5-hectare garden on the Archilua cliff sits on the former site of the town's wastewater treatment plant, cleared and planted from 1985 onwards by botanist Paul Jovet and his team to rescue disappearing coastal species. Its herbarium holds 20,000 specimens, and the garden operates without artificial irrigation, relying entirely on the Atlantic climate.

• 08

  5 more places to discover

  In the Parroo app