Espelette
Espelette is a delightful village built in the traditional Basque style with white houses and red or occasionally green shutters. Espelette is famous for its chilli peppers, those grown in this region even have an ‘appellation controlee’ to vouch for their authenticity. After the harvest the houses are strung with strings of the ‘piments’ and the effect is wonderfully colourful. If you can, visit during the ‘Fete aux piments’ in October.
Visiting in September/October and you see the strings of bright red chilli peppers. Visit later in the year and some are still there (many are sold) but turn a deeper shade of red as they dry.
Walking round the village many of the shops are dedicated to the Espelette piments. You can buy the strings to take home for cooking or buy olive oil which has piment and garlic inside. Perfect to pour on pizza (French restaurants always have a bottle of spicy oil to pour on pizzas) or to spice up your salads and they make great presents. There are many other products too. In a neighbouring village they even had macaroons with piments in, quite tasty too!
The church at Espelette has the typical Basque interior with wooden galleries going round the wall. It is a very attractive style for a church interior make sure you wander inside some of the churches in this region.
See more pictures of Espelette
Visit Espelette (Aquitaine, Pyrenees-Atlantiques) travel, gites and hotels
Best Prices on Hotels in Espelette - Guaranteed
(see guarantee details) Reserve online, pay at the hotel
The Espelette hotels listed feature descriptions, guest reviews, ratings, location maps, online booking etc. as well as the 'best-price' guarantee. The search for hotels in Espelette is provided by booking.com. General holiday / vacation options- See Aquitaine gites for Espelette holiday rentals - Holiday villages in Aquitaine Holidays nearbyLooking for something close by? See a wide choice of hotels, holiday villages and holiday rentals at: VisitSee Visit Espelette for places to visit near Espelette including: a detailed map, villages in bloom and most beautiful villages DiscussAsk questions or leave a comment about Espelette in our Aquitaine forum Airports near EspeletteBiarritz airport at 16 km Pau airport at 113 km Espelette property for saleSee Aquitaine property for sale
|
|
||||||||||||
Places to visit near Espelette, France
Explore places of interest within about 70 kilometres on a map at places near Espelette.
Some places to visit within 30 km: 
7 km: Ainhoa (Most beautiful village) 18 km: Anglet (town) 17 km: Bayonne (Important town) 20 km: Biarritz (Atlantic resort and surf capital) 16 km: Biarritz airport (airport) 5 km: Cambo-les-Bains (attractive town and gardens) 25 km: Ciboure (Atlantic town and resort) 5 km: Itxassou (pretty village) 23 km: La Bastide-Clairence (Most beautiful village) 21 km: La Rhune (Basque mountain) 24 km: Saint Jean de Luz (Coastal town and resort) 30 km: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Attractive town) 15 km: Sare (Most beautiful village)
See also Espelette (version Francais)
