Getting guests to the Basque coast

Most wedding guests reach Biarritz or San Sebastián through one of three airports: Biarritz-Pays Basque (BIQ), San Sebastián (EAS) in Hondarribia, or Bilbao (BIO). The drive between the two centres is about 48 km and 35 minutes without traffic, up to 70 minutes on a summer Saturday, and the train takes about 1 hour 35 minutes with a change at Hendaye.

Put the airport on the invitation. A guest who books the wrong one spends the rehearsal in a car. The two-town map is in Biarritz vs San Sebastián. Routes below are as of October 2026. Airlines change them. Tell guests to check before they buy.

The three airports

Biarritz-Pays Basque (BIQ) is 10 to 15 minutes from Biarritz centre and about 15 to 20 minutes from Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The airport’s 2026-2027 programme, published September 2026, keeps year-round flights to Paris CDG, Paris Orly, Lyon, London Stansted, Brussels-Charleroi and Marrakech. Summer routes through 24 October 2026 included London Gatwick, Dublin, Edinburgh, Milan, Geneva, Basel-Mulhouse, Nice, Marseille and Amsterdam. From 25 October 2026 the winter sheet thins. The drive from Biarritz to San Sebastián is about 48 km and 35 minutes without traffic, up to 70 minutes on a summer Saturday. This is the default for a French-side wedding.

San Sebastián airport (EAS) sits in Hondarribia, 20 kilometres and 25 to 30 minutes from San Sebastián centre. Iberia flies to Madrid. Vueling flies to Barcelona. Aena’s destination list as of October 2026 also names London City, Florence, Málaga, Seville and the Canaries. Those extra routes move by season. Use Madrid and Barcelona as the invitation line, then tell Spanish guests to check Aena before they buy. Biarritz centre is about 48 km and 35 minutes without traffic, up to 70 minutes on a summer Saturday. San Sebastián tourism lists airport bus E21 year-round into the city. Some Hondarribia venues are ten minutes from the terminal.

Bilbao (BIO) is about 100 to 105 kilometres from San Sebastián, 75 to 90 minutes by car. The PESA Lurraldebus coach from the terminal to Donostia takes about 75 minutes, with a summer timetable of roughly every 30 minutes in July and August, and closer to hourly in winter. Check pesa.net before you print a pickup time. The drive on to Biarritz is about 90 to 105 minutes in ordinary traffic. BIO is the useful international gateway: more long-haul and connecting flights than BIQ or EAS. Budget a coach if a block of guests arrive together.

Bordeaux (BOD) is about two hours by car from Biarritz. It opens long-haul connections the Basque airports do not. Treat it as a fallback for a handful of guests. Keep it off the invitation as the default airport.

Arriving by train

SNCF Connect, checked October 2026, lists direct TGV INOUI services from Paris Montparnasse to Biarritz from 4 hours 6 minutes, averaging about 4 hours 23 minutes. The same trains continue to Saint-Jean-de-Luz-Ciboure, then Hendaye, in about 4 hours 42 to 4 hours 55 minutes. Hendaye is the French border station.

From the forecourt of Hendaye SNCF, Euskotren’s Topo (line E2) crosses to Irun and on to Donostia’s Amara station in about 35 minutes. Tickets are sold on site, 2.90 euros one way as of October 2026, with no reservation. Door to door, Biarritz to San Sebastián by train takes about 1 hour 35 minutes with the change at Hendaye. Biarritz to Hendaye on the same TGV is about 25 to 30 minutes.

Biarritz station sits about 3 kilometres from the centre, in La Négresse, not on the Grande Plage. Destination Biarritz points guests to the Txik Txak bus, taxis, or a cycle path for that last stretch.

Tell Paris guests which station to book: Biarritz for the French towns, Hendaye for a Spanish-side weekend. Do not send them to Irun without a note on the walk or the local train across the river.

Crossing the border

France and Spain are in the Schengen area. There are no routine immigration checks on the A63 and the AP-8. Guests still carry a passport or national ID card. Hire cars need to be allowed on both sides of the border. August Saturdays clog the motorway. A coach from a Biarritz hotel to a Hondarribia lunch needs slack in the timetable. The civil-paperwork version of the same border is in marrying on both sides of the border.

Getting around on the day

A shuttle or coach, booked early, does more for the Saturday than a fleet of taxis. Local taxis operate in both towns. Destination Biarritz lists Atlantic Taxis on 05 59 03 18 18. Uber lists both Biarritz and San Sebastián. Bolt lists Biarritz. Uber’s own city page says pickup times in Biarritz may run longer than in a larger city, and that advance reserve is the workaround. That is still not a plan you can print on a card for 80 people at 23:00 in August.

Seafront venues have little parking. Estate venues inland have more, and still fill on a 120-person Saturday.

Car hire at BIQ, EAS and BIO is straightforward. The problem is the last mile: a one-way hire dumped at a château, or a guest who drinks and drives the bay road at midnight. If the rooms are on site, say so, and drop the hire cars after arrival. Overflow hotels and shuttles are in Biarritz wedding venues where guests can stay.

What to put in the invitation

A short logistics note prevents most of the emails. Which airport to book, and which station if they come by train. The arrival day, as well as the Saturday. Shuttle times, with a buffer. The room-block deadline. A dress line that mentions evening Atlantic temperatures, even in August. Where to park, or that they should not. The fact that a Basque restaurant at 8pm is early. For a split-country weekend, name the border crossing and the extra minutes in August.

Dates that jam the coast

The Fêtes de Bayonne run from 14 to 18 July 2027, about 7 kilometres from Biarritz. Hotels fill and roads slow for five days. San Sebastián’s Semana Grande, Aste Nagusia, runs 14 to 21 August 2027, from the Saturday before 15 August to the Saturday after, with nightly fireworks over the bay. Saint-Jean-de-Luz has its own Fêtes de la Saint-Jean in late June, 24 to 27 June 2027. The weather and crowd calendar behind those weeks is in best months for a Basque coast wedding.

Once you have a year, tell us where the list is flying from and which town they sleep in.

Sources

• Aena, San Sebastián airport destinations, checked October 2026.
• SNCF Connect, Paris to Biarritz and Hendaye, checked October 2026.
• pesa.net, Bilbao coach, checked 2026.
• San Sebastián tourism, airport bus E21.