Affordable Hotels in Biarritz: Best Stays on the Basque Coast Reviewed

Let’s start with what this hotel is and isn’t. It’s not in Biarritz proper — it sits in the Anglet area near the airport, which means you’re a bus or short drive from the beach and the town centre. If you came to Biarritz for the Atlantic views and the Grande Plage, you won’t find them from the window here.

What you will find is a reliable, well-maintained hotel at a sensible price. Best Western’s Sure Hotel tier consistently delivers on the basics: comfortable beds, proper Wi-Fi, air conditioning, and a breakfast that’s worth staying in for. Free parking is included, which matters more in Biarritz than people realise — town-centre parking in summer is both scarce and expensive.

For travellers arriving or departing by plane, or anyone using Biarritz as a base for exploring the wider Basque Country by car — Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Bayonne, the Spanish border — this makes a lot of practical sense. It’s not exciting, but it’s solid and fair value.

The lowest price point on this list, and the most honest about what it is. Première Classe doesn’t try to be anything other than a functional, clean place to sleep — and in a city where hotel prices can climb fast in peak season, that straightforwardness is actually valuable.

Rooms are compact, the decor is minimal, and you are not walking to the beach from the front door. But the fundamentals are in order: clean linen, a working shower, free Wi-Fi, free parking. If you’re spending your days surfing, eating pintxos in the old town, or driving down to the Spanish border, and you just need somewhere to sleep that doesn’t cost half your trip budget — this is a perfectly rational choice.

I’d be doing you a disservice if I oversold it. But I’d also be doing you a disservice if I dismissed it. For the right kind of traveller, under the right circumstances, Première Classe in Biarritz is exactly what’s needed.

The name gives it away if you know your Basque — “gamaritz” references the local landscape, and this hotel leans into that identity rather than away from it. Le Gamaritz is the kind of smaller, independent property that Biarritz does surprisingly well: not trying to be a boutique hotel in the Instagram sense, but genuinely warm, well-kept, and with a personality that the chains simply can’t replicate.

The location sits in a quieter residential part of Biarritz, which means you’re removed from the summer crowds while still being close enough to the action. Rooms are comfortable and thoughtfully put together — this is a place where someone has clearly paid attention to the details, from the bedding quality to the way the light comes in. It doesn’t have a spa or a rooftop bar, but it doesn’t need one.

At this price point in Biarritz, Le Gamaritz offers something the bigger properties can’t: the feeling of actually being somewhere rather than just staying somewhere. For couples doing a long weekend on the Basque Coast, or solo travellers who want a hotel with a bit of soul, it’s one of the most satisfying picks on this list.

Port-Vieux is one of the best addresses in Biarritz. The small sheltered cove, the old fishing quarter feel, the proximity to the town centre without the full beach-crowd chaos — it’s exactly where you want to be based if you’re doing Biarritz properly. ALFRED Hotels understood this and built something that matches the neighbourhood: confident, design-forward, and decidedly unboring.

The rooms here have a considered aesthetic that goes beyond the standard “boutique hotel” formula. There’s real thought behind the materials, the colour palette, and the layout — it feels curated without being precious. The location means the old town, the lighthouse, the Port-Vieux cove itself, and the main beach are all within easy walking distance. You won’t need a car once you’ve checked in.

Yes, ALFRED Hotels costs more than the other mid-range options on this list. But what you’re paying for is a combination of location, design, and atmosphere that’s genuinely hard to find at this price in Biarritz. For a city break where where you sleep is part of the experience, this is the most complete package on the list below the Palais.

I’ll be direct: the Hôtel du Palais is not a budget hotel. It was built in 1855 as a summer residence for Empress Eugénie — Napoleon III’s wife — and it has been one of the great palace hotels of Europe ever since. It belongs on this list not because it fits the budget brief, but because Biarritz without mentioning the Palais is like writing about Paris without mentioning the Eiffel Tower. It defines the city’s identity.

What you get here is extraordinary in a way that photographs don’t fully capture: a Belle Époque imperial palace sitting directly on the Grande Plage, with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop. The rooms face the sea, the spa is world-class, the restaurants hold their own, and the service operates at a level that reminds you why certain hotels have been drawing guests for 170 years. There is nowhere else like it on the Basque Coast.

If you’re celebrating something significant — an anniversary, a milestone birthday, a honeymoon — or if you’ve always wanted to experience what a true palace hotel feels like, the Palais is worth planning a trip around. Save elsewhere on the list if you need to. But at least once, if the occasion is right, say yes to it.