Some bars hold on. Not because they’re fashionable, but because they’ve spent decades being what they are and have decided not to change. In Biarritz, a handful of bodégas survive from before the tourist boom of the 2000s.
The Basque bodéga, a specific type
The bodéga isn’t an imported Spanish bar. It’s a neighbourhood local, with a zinc or wooden counter, wine by the carafe or small glass, simple tapas. Conversation is the main product on offer.
El Callejon
El Callejon, open since 1990, is Biarritz’s oldest Basque bodéga. Wooden counter, Basque Country wines, authentic pintxos. Thursdays: Whisky & Braises evening from 7pm. An address woven into the city’s social fabric.
What makes them last
Regular customers who come back every year. Reasonable prices that haven’t trebled through successive high seasons. An owner who knows the names. And an unpretentious kitchen that keeps doing well what it has always done well.