Hossegor Hotels

Les Chenes (The Oaks): Great food, shelter and rip-roaring good time!

Just outside Hossegor, Les Chenes (The Oaks) is a 150-year-old Basque guesthouse that’s more like a home-away-from-home – if your house is always tidy, bedecked with exotic bibelots, and never short of great food and good cheer, that is.

We stayed here at the end of a long tour of the surf coast, and were stoked to find Lara and Martin, the couple who run this guesthouse, to be the perfect hosts in a very handy location.

A big communal table sets the scene for uproarious evening meals, with the adjoining common room decked out with couches perfect for a post-prandial flop. Did I mention the food? Very tasty, lots of it, and dangerously bottomless carafes of wine.

Unique Quality: Your stay here can be as catered as you like - all meals, no meals etc, and Lara or Martin will even pick you up from the airport if need be.

Working closely with one of the local surf schools, Lara and Martin can hook you up with basic surf training, or a customized surfari to some of the wilder west coast breaks.

Make no mistake – this is big wave country. Riding the sort of waves that might send most of us scurrying for the safety of the nearest brasserie, the world’s premier wave-tamers rip it up here annually at the Quiksilver Pro. But don’t let the size of the waves put you off. The beaches are gorgeous – and as painstakingly groomed as the local inhabitants...