Labourd · Iparralde

Cambo-les-Bains

Kanbo

A spa town in the Basque Country with around 6,800 inhabitants, on the banks of the Nive. Edmond Rostand settled here in 1900 and had Villa Arnaga built, now a museum. About twenty kilometres from Bayonne and Biarritz.

Cambo-les-Bains in 30 seconds

Around 6,800 inhabitants (6,760 in 2023), about twenty kilometres from Bayonne (Baiona) and Biarritz, on the Nive. Two districts: Haut-Cambo (upper Cambo, residential villas with views over the valley) and Bas-Cambo (lower Cambo, old houses), each with its own festival committee.

Known since Antiquity, its waters drew Empress Eugénie, Napoleon III and King Edward VII in the 19th century. Long called Sansa or Sance, the municipality only took the name Cambo-les-Bains in 1897. Today it is the only spa town in the Basque Country.

Unmissable sights

Villa Arnaga

THE landmark. Home of Edmond Rostand (author of Cyrano de Bergerac), built between 1903 and 1906 in neo-Basque style by the architect Albert Tournaire. It is one of the earliest examples of the style. The villa, its outbuildings and its gardens — both French formal and English landscape — are listed historic monuments (classés monument historique); the museum holds the Museum of France label (Musée de France) and the gardens are a Remarkable Garden (Jardin remarquable). It has been the Edmond Rostand Museum since the town bought it in 1960. Allow at least an hour and a half for the visit.

The thermal baths of Cambo

An Art Deco spa establishment (Thermes de Cambo), set in a 12-hectare park on the banks of the Nive. The sulphurous water gushes out at 22°C from the Honorine spring. Treatments: rheumatology, respiratory conditions, aftercare following breast cancer, tinnitus.

The Pas de Roland (Roland’s Pass)

A natural site a few kilometres away, in the municipality of Itxassou (Itsasu), on the banks of the Nive: a pierced rock that legend associates with Roland, Charlemagne’s nephew, who died at Roncesvalles (778).

The Church of Saint-Laurent

A 16th-century church remodelled in the 17th century. A triple wooden gallery (1609) and a 17th-century baroque altarpiece in gilded wood (a listed historic monument), with an anonymous 17th-century painting of the martyrdom of St Lawrence. The bell tower dates from 1875. You can also see a statue of St Leo given in 1728 by Maria Anna of Neuburg, Dowager Queen of Spain, two stained-glass windows given by the Harispe family in 1868 and a glazed terracotta Virgin and Child given by Edmond Rostand in 1906. Discoidal gravestones (stèles discoïdales) stand in the old cemetery around the church.

The old upper town

Haut-Cambo — a residential district of villas, with views over the valley.

Where to eat

Local specialities

  • Black cherries from Itxassou (the neighbouring municipality)
  • Ossau-Iraty PDO (AOP) — sheep’s milk cheese
  • Piperade, axoa

Getting there

  • Car: the D932 from Bayonne (about 20 km)
  • Train: Cambo-les-Bains station on the Bayonne–Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port line

Ideal 1-day itinerary

  • Morning: Villa Arnaga
  • Afternoon: the Pas de Roland, then a stroll around Haut-Cambo
  • Early evening: a walk along the Nive

Famous people linked to Cambo-les-Bains

  • Edmond Rostand (1868–1918) — author of Cyrano de Bergerac and L’Aiglon. He came to Cambo around 1900 to recover from pleurisy and had Villa Arnaga built (1903–1906), where he lived from 1906 to 1918. Today it is the Rostand museum.
  • Rosemonde Gérard — poet, Edmond Rostand’s wife.
  • Maurice Rostand (born in 1891) and Jean Rostand (1894–1977) — the couple’s sons. Jean, a biologist and writer, was elected to the Académie française in 1959.

My favourite photo

The gardens of Villa Arnaga in June, when the roses burst into vivid colour. Or the Nive at sunset from the bridge at Bas-Cambo, with the hills turning golden.

Sources

Ongi jin Kanbora — Welcome to Cambo.

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