Trains to Hendaye

Hendaye is a last touch of France before crossing the frontier into Spain. A five-minute walk from the station will bring you to the River Bidassoa which defines the border. Hendaye is a town with strong links to Basque communities across the river. But it’s more than merely a jumping-off point for journeys into Spain. Hendaye is a pleasant seaside resort and a good base for excursions up the coast to Saint-Jean-de-Luz (just eight minutes away on a local train) and into nearby areas of the French Pyrenees.

The railway station at Hendaye is forever associated with a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Spain’s General Franco which took place there in autumn 1940. The two leaders lingered for several hours. Most travellers today rush through in just a few minutes. There are occasional TGVs to Paris. With the opening of a new high-speed line north of Bordeaux, the journey time to the French capital was trimmed in July 2017 to under five hours. Hendaye has regular direct services to Biarritz and Bordeaux. Pau, Lourdes and Toulouse are also within striking distance.

Local tram L10 (run as part of the Basque Euskotren /en-us/ Metro Donostialdea network) shuttles across the border bridge to Irun in Spain. The international journey takes just four minutes. In Irun you can join trains bound for Barcelona, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, Lisbon and many other cities across Iberia. Just be aware that throughout 2019 and on into 2020, there's a festival of engineering work taking place on the railway tracks that lead from Hendaye into Spain. It is worth checking connections carefully.