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Visit France > Aquitaine > Atlantic Pyrenees > Pau
Pau, the birthplace of King Henry IV, is a mountain and ski resort just a one-hour drive from the Basque and Landaise coasts. It is the gateway to the five Béarn valleys and their hot spring resorts (Eaux-Bonnes, Eaux-Chaudes). Its unique panorama of the Pyrenees prompted Lamartine to say, "Pau has the most beautiful views of land in the world just as Naples has the most beautiful views of the sea." A former royal town and capital of Béarn, Pau has always come under major foreign influences (English, Spanish, Russian, Brazilian) and is still very open to the world.
The Château of Pau is one of the most-visited monuments in France. A true medieval fortress, a Renaissance palace, a royal residence and a renowned museum all in one site, where many visitors stop to examine the tortoise shell cradle of the good king Henri IV in the bedroom of Jeanne d'Albret.
- the neo-Gothic churches of Saint-Jacques and Saint Martin
- the art deco church of Notre-Dame crowned by a monumental statue of the Virgin with child
- Château de Pau (Musée national du Château de Pau, “National Museum of the Château de Pau”) and its two 11th-century towers
- the tour de la Monnaie (“Mint Tower”), which at first was a defensive watchtower below the château
- the Parlement de Navarre (“Parliament of Navarre”) near the château
- the courthouse and its classical façade decorated with columns surmounted by a white marble pediment
- the Eiffel-style railway station and funicular connecting it with the historic centre
- the Palais Beaumont (“Beaumont Palace”), originally called Palais d'Hiver (“Winter Palace”),
- the caserne Bernadotte (“Bernadotte Barracks”), named after a non-commissioned officer born in Pau who became king of Sweden under the name Charles XIV. His birthplace houses a museum today
- the Bosquet Centre and Palais des Pyrénées, shopping centres in an 1800 spirit
- "Les Abattoirs" (“The Slaughterhouses”), former slaughterhouses that have been turned into a modern art cultural centre in Billère
- the Musée des Beaux-Arts (“Fine Arts Museum”) and Musée de la résistance et de la deportation (“Resistance and Deportation Museum”) in the heart of Lawrence Park.
Explore the region’s many other towns such as Agen, Mont-de-Marsan, Bayonne, Dax, Biarritz, Lacanau, Arcachon.
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