La Rhune (Larrun), Ascain (Azkaine), Sare (Sara) and Ainhoa
France > Pyrénées > Pays Basque > Labourd > La Rhune
The 900-metre cone of La Rhune, straddling the frontier with Spain, is the last skyward thrust of the Pyrenees before they decline into the Atlantic. As the landmark of Labourd, in spite of its unsightly TV mast, and duly equipped with a rack-and-pinion rail service, it is predictably popular as a vantage point, offering fine vistas way up the Basque coast and east to the rising Pyrenees. Two or three buses a day (July & Aug Mon–Sat; Sept–June Mon–Fri), run by Le Basque Bondissant, ply the thirty-minute route from the gare SNCF in St-Jean-de-Luz, stopping at Ascain, Col de St-Ignace and Sare.ASCAIN, where Pierre Loti wrote his romantic novel Ramuntcho, is like so many Labourdan villages – pretty as a picture and in danger of caricaturing itself, with its galleried church, fronton and half-timbered houses. Loti's house is now one of several hotel-restaurants in town, the De la Rhune (tel 05.59.54.00.04, fax 05.59.54.41.67; €40–55) with a garden at the back. To shake off this sweetness you could walk up La Rhune from here in about two and a half hours, or take the little tourist train from Col de St-Ignace (daily: mid-March to June & Oct to mid-Nov 9am–3pm, according to demand and weather conditions; July–Sept about every 35min from 9am; book on 05.59.54.20.26, www.rhune.com; return €9.91). The ascent takes thirty minutes, but you need to allow up to two hours for the round trip. Be warned: it's massively popular in high season, with long waits and two snack bars near the base station taking advantage of a captive clientele. With or without the bus, it's worth going on to SARE, another perfectly proportioned Basque hilltop village ringed by satellite hamlets. You can either walk on the GR10 from the intermediate station below the summit of La Rhune in about an hour and a quarter or follow the 3km of road from St-Ignace in rather less time. If you plan to continue further east, you can make an overnight stop at one of the village's hotels: the Pikassaria, 1km southwest in Lehenbiscay hamlet (tel 05.59.54.21.51, fax 05.59.54.27.40; €40–55) or the three-star Arraya on the village square (tel 05.59.54.20.46, www.arraya.com; €55–70) a former hospice on the Santiago pilgrimage route. Alternatively, try the campsites just south of the village: La Petite Rhune (tel 05.59.54.23.97; closed Oct–May) or Telletchea (tel 05.59.54.20.12; June–Sept). Instead of going back to St-Jean-de-Luz from Sare, an easy three-to-four-hour stint on the GR10 would take you on to AINHOA to link up with the valley of the Nive. Another gem of a village, once patronized by the Duke of Windsor and busy in season, it consists of little more than a single street lined with substantial, mainly seventeenth-century houses, whose lintel plaques offer mini-genealogies as well as foundation dates. Take a look at the bulky towered church with its extravagant Baroque altarpiece of prophets and apostles in niches, framed by Corinthian columns. For accommodation, try the comfortable Hôtel Oppoca (tel 05.59.29.90.72, fax 05.59.29.81.03; €30–40) with a good restaurant (four menus €15–28). Campers should head for Camping Harazpy near the village centre (tel 05.59.29.89.38; closed Oct to mid-June).
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