BIARRITZ, watering-place, south-west France, in the depart ment of Basses-Pyrenees, on the Bay of Biscay about 5m. W.S.W. of Bayonne. Pop. (1931) 21,369. A small fishing village in the early 19th century, it rose rapidly into importance under the pat ronage of the empress Eugenie, and is to-day the most frequented seaside resort of France. The climate is admirable at all seasons, and the situation of the town, at the foot of the Pyrenees where the pine-grown Landes (q.v.) merge into the rocky Basque coast, is unsurpassed. A magnificent promenade runs from the sandy Grand Plage, facing north-west, to the Cote des Basques, south of the triple Promontoire du Halde. The adjoining Promontoire de l'Atalaye has a mediaeval fort. These small peninsulas are sur rounded by rocky islets, some of them united by jetties which en close the Port de Refuge, available only in fair weather. The Cote des Basques is never without its foaming breakers, whence the name "Cote d'Argent" applied to the whole of the French Basque coast.