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Surf spot guide · Basque Country, France
Bidart's largest beach: a river-shaped sandbank a-frame that stays surfable when the open coast is maxed out.
Uhabia is the largest beach in Bidart, a long run of sand southwest of the town centre where the little Uhabia river reaches the ocean. The river keeps shifting the sandbanks, and they build an a-frame peak with lefts and rights, while rock shelves mark the northern end toward Les Embruns. Its real value is as a fallback: on days when the open beaches farther up the coast are maxed out, Uhabia still holds a rideable shape, up to roughly 2.5m. The tide sorts the lineup. Low tide softens the waves for beginners, the rising and falling push gives intermediates steeper walls, and on a solid swell from mid to high tide there is serious power for advanced surfers, with a hollow shorebreak on the south side at high water. Getting out is a plain paddle off the sand, and Guéthary's reefs start a few hundred metres to the southwest. Summer brings surf lessons and a busy lineup, and after heavy rain the river decides whether the water is clean enough to surf.
When the coast is maxed out, Uhabia still has a wave.
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Busy through summer, when surf lessons run on the beach and learners fill the inside. On big days it also draws surfers from beaches that are maxed out.
Easygoing big-swell fallback
Basque Country
Guéthary's big-wave reef right: a deep-water bombora that holds massive NW swells and rewards those on the right equipment.
Basque Country
Mixed reef-and-sand a-frame at Bidart's central beach, best on clean NW swell with SE winds.
Basque Country
Short, hollow left reef beside Guéthary harbour that barrels hard over a shallow shelf on N and NW swells.
+9 MORE →Check here when the open beaches to the north are too big: it often still has a clean, surfable peak
Beginners get the gentlest waves at low tide on the sandbanks away from the northern rocks
Intermediates find the most shape on the rising and falling tide
After heavy rain, look for the lifeguards' flags and the town's water-quality notices before paddling out
HAZARDS · KNOW BEFORE YOU PADDLE
Large car parks sit right behind the beach, paid from mid-June to mid-September. Buses stop about 100 m away, and the Vélodyssée and the riverside greenway reach the beach by bike. Lifeguards watch the beach from mid-June to the end of October, with showers and toilets on site.
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