Casino, Biarritz: history and visit

The Casino, in Biarritz

The municipal Casino of Biarritz is an emblematic monument of Art Deco style, erected facing the Grande Plage, a vestige of the Roaring Twenties. The Biarritz audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this establishment born in the 1920s, when the resort lived its golden age and the international youth came to have fun there, in a delightful rivalry with the former Bellevue casino.

The Art Deco casino of the Roaring Twenties

Another emblematic monument of Biarritz, here is its famous Art Deco casino. Try to put yourself back into the atmosphere of the time: we are in the 1920s, the First World War is finally over, new things are being rebuilt, and the international youth wants to live, consume, exist: these are the famous Roaring Twenties. In Biarritz, the attendance is at its peak. The city did have a somewhat old-fashioned casino, but Art Nouveau was no longer in fashion, and the municipality launched a project to build a new establishment, turned towards the sea. It also wanted, at the same time, to compete with the annoying success of the Bellevue hotel-casino, opened in 1858. But the plan did not unfold exactly as expected: after several twists, it is finally the owner of the Bellevue who found himself at the head of the new Casino. It was hardly worth wanting to compete with him. The new building was inaugurated in the 1920s, in a pure Art Deco style, with its geometric façade, its refined lines and its terrace facing the Grande Plage. Today restored, the municipal Casino shelters gaming rooms, but also a theatre, a swimming pool and restaurants, and remains a high place of Biarritz life. Its elegant silhouette, set at the edge of the ocean, is an integral part of the landscape of the Grande Plage. An Art Deco casino and a symbol of the Roaring Twenties, the Casino is a fine stop of the discovery of Biarritz.

What to see

Here you admire the famous municipal casino of Biarritz, an Art Deco monument with a geometric façade erected facing the Grande Plage, born in the 1920s in the time of the Roaring Twenties, when the resort lived its golden age; designed to compete with the former Bellevue casino, it today shelters gaming rooms, a theatre, a swimming pool and restaurants. The Casino is a symbol of Biarritz. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The municipal Casino stands facing the Grande Plage, in the heart of Biarritz, reachable on foot. You admire its Art Deco façade from the promenade; the gaming rooms, the theatre and the restaurants follow their own hours and conditions of access, which vary. It is best to enquire before coming. You discover it during a walk by the sea.

When was the Casino of Biarritz built?

In the 1920s, in the time of the Roaring Twenties, when the resort lived its golden age and the international youth came to have fun there; the city wanted a modern casino turned towards the sea to compete with the former Bellevue hotel-casino, but it is finally the owner of the latter who took the head of the new Art Deco establishment, facing the Grande Plage.