Things to do in Dax
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Dax
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, warm enough for outdoor pools, lake and coast, with everything open and calmer golf.
Feria month, with peak heat, peak prices and the town at its most festive and most crowded.
Autumn cure and gastronomy season, game and mushrooms, wild coast walks and golf in excellent condition.
Worst months for a first visit, short rainy days and annual closures at some thermes, but the cheapest soaks.
Spring restart, asparagus season and the Sarrat garden waking up, with a real chance of Landes rain.
Full summer outside the Feria, outdoor pools and coast at their best and busiest, sightseeing best early.
What's on
- Feria de Dax Usually mid August, five days
Five days in red and white with corridas, the Grand Concours Landais, bandas and a children's day. Book months ahead.
- Grand Concours Landais During the Feria, mid August
The prestigious course landaise contest in the Arènes, where dodgers and leapers face cows that are not killed.
- Toros y Salsa Second weekend of September
Afternoon arena programmes paired with night time salsa concerts, smaller and more musical than the Feria.
Best things to do in Dax
La Fontaine Chaude de la Nèhe
A steaming Roman spring in a portico in the middle of town, and the symbol of Dax thermal life since antiquity.
Thermes Borda
The in town leisure thermal spa, with indoor and outdoor pools in warm thermal water by the Adour banks.
Sourcéo
A large leisure thermal centre by Lac de Christus, with four warm pools, hammams, saunas and massage jets.
Arènes de Dax
The graceful 8000 seat bullring in its own park, home to corridas and the non lethal course landaise.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Dax
A calm classical cathedral saved by its carved 13th century Portal of the Apostles on the north side.
Musée de Borda
The town museum in a 1523 chapel, telling the Roman, natural history and thermal story of Dax in an hour.
Musée de l'ALAT et de l'hélicoptère
France's army helicopter museum by the airfield, with a hall of rotary wing aircraft and a film in English.
Parc du Sarrat
A remarkable listed garden south of the centre, shaded and contemplative, open only on afternoons.
Where to stay in Dax
Centre-ville
first trip, car free and food focused stays
The pedestrian core by the Fontaine Chaude, cathedral and Halles, walkable to almost every sight and dinner.
Adour riverfront
grand hotel and cure with comfort stays
The river facing edge by the Splendid, casino and Arènes park, greener and quieter while still walkable.
Saint-Paul-lès-Dax
quiet, lake and value stays with a car
The lakeside twin town by Lac de Christus and Sourcéo, calmer and often cheaper, five minutes from the centre.
Think twice about
- Gare de Dax station perimeter
Functional and traffic heavy with few evening restaurants. Use it for trains, sleep in the centre.
- Grand Mail commercial zone, Saint-Paul-lès-Dax
A car oriented retail strip of supermarkets and chain hotels, dead at night. Fine for a road stop, wrong for a holiday.
- Arènes and Fontaine Chaude streets in Feria week
In mid August the festival party runs through the night at your window. Light sleepers should base a few streets back.
Best restaurants in Dax
Complices
Dax's gastronomic table, a small open kitchen room cooking fresh seasonal produce with real finesse.
Le Bistrot des Vignes
A dinner only wine bistrot by the cathedral, and the default recommendation for one good dinner in Dax.
El Piquero
A French Spanish crowd favourite that suits families and mixed tables better than any room in town.
Le Ramuntcho
The high volume local institution for a group meal, French cooking with popular Mexican touches.
Mojo
A modern dining bar near the cathedral with vegetarian friendly cooking and a younger, lighter energy.
Chez Babeth
Cheap French Spanish home cooking near the cathedral, at its best and best value at lunch.
El Txupinazo
Pintxos and drinks on a terrace facing the steaming Fontaine Chaude, the best aperitif hour in Dax.
Maison Cazelle
Maker of the Dax madeleine, slightly lemony and tender inside, and the correct edible souvenir of the town.
Outdoor things to do in Dax
Golf de Seignosse
The championship Landes golf test, a demanding forest and lakes course above Hossegor near the ocean.
Golf de Moliets
27 Trent Jones holes from pine forest to ocean links, plus a short forest course for a mixed group day.
Golf de Pinsolle
A friendly and cheap 9 hole course by the marine lake at Port d'Albret, ideal for beginners and families.
Chipiron Surfschool
A Hossegor surf school for a tide timed lesson at La Sud, the sheltered break for beginners and improvers.
Lac de Christus
A flat lake loop for walking, jogging and cycling, with picnic spots, play areas and herons on the water.
La Scandibérique
The EuroVelo 3 towpath ride beside the Adour from Dax toward the old river port village of Saubusse.
Cathédrale Sainte-Marie de Bayonne
The Gothic heart of a car free Bayonne day trip by train, with cloister, old town, chocolate and ham.
Grande Plage
Biarritz's grand central resort beach for a swim, a promenade and a glamorous contrast to cure town Dax.
Best hotels in Dax
Hôtel & Spa Le Splendid
The 1929 Art Deco grand hotel on the Adour, with spacious rooms, a famed dining room and a thermal spa.
The Originals City, Hôtel Les Thermes de l'Avenue
A classic hotel thermes with direct spa access and a fresh local restaurant, built for a wellness break.
ibis Styles Dax Centre
A bright modern hotel by the river and casino, with a pool, praised breakfast and a reliable standard.
Best Western Hôtel Sourcéo
A quiet lakeside hotel attached to the Sourcéo thermal centre, with robes in the room and parking on site.
Hôtel Le Relais
A small family run cheap hotel with a terrace and famously helpful owners, a short walk from the centre.
Is Dax expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €110 a person |
| Splurge | €230 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Thermes Borda: a few days ahead
- Arènes de Dax: weeks ahead
- Golf de Seignosse: weeks ahead
- Golf de Moliets: weeks ahead
- Golf de Pinsolle: a few days ahead
- Chipiron Surfschool: a few days ahead
- Hôtel & Spa Le Splendid: weeks ahead
- The Originals City, Hôtel Les Thermes de l'Avenue: weeks ahead
- For the Feria in mid August, book the room months ahead, arena tickets weeks ahead, restaurants after that.
- Book Complices days to weeks ahead. It serves only Wednesday to Saturday in current listings.
- Book Seignosse and Moliets tee times weeks ahead in summer, and treatments at Sourcéo and Borda days ahead.
- Book Le Splendid and Hôtel Le Relais early for Feria, Toros y Salsa and cure changeover weekends.
Is Dax safe?
- Standard French precautions suffice, with extra care for bags in Feria crowds and valuables in coast car parks.
- Swim at supervised beaches and respect Hossegor currents. Beginners should not enter at La Nord or La Gravière.
- After heavy rain the Adour banks and towpaths flood and barthes paths close. Check before a river ride.
- Emergency number in France is 112.
Dax travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Dax is inland, not a beach town. The ocean is a 30 to 40 minute day trip, not a stroll.
- Most Dax thermes are medical cure centres, not leisure spas. Walk in leisure is Borda, Sourcéo and hotel spas.
- Do not schedule Dax like Bordeaux. Each day works as soak, long lunch, one sight and one escape.
- Check which arena spectacle a ticket is for. A corrida is not the non lethal course landaise.
Getting around Dax: public transport and more
- Walk the centre. Fontaine Chaude to cathedral to Halles to Arènes is a fifteen minute web, flat throughout.
- Dax station is a TGV stop, about 3 hours 28 minutes from Paris, about 1 hour 20 from Bordeaux and 30 minutes from Bayonne.
- Couralin buses link the centre, station, Saint-Paul-lès-Dax and Lac de Christus, but evening and Sunday services thin out.
- Rent a car for golf, Hossegor surf and Biarritz. Take the train to Bayonne and lunch properly.
Who Dax suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Dax your trip
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