Regina Experimental Biarritz

The first golden age of Biarritz came before the advent of air travel, and it’s during this era that the original Regina was constructed. And now, just in time for this splendid seaside town’s second golden age, this spectacular Belle Époque grand hotel has returned to service. Its gleaming white façade remains familiar, as does its towering central atrium; but in its new incarnation as the Regina Experimental Biarritz, its interior spaces have been reborn in the signature Experimental style at the hands of the brand’s design auteur, Dorothée Meilichzon.

In short, the Regina as it stands now is a grand hotel for the 21st century — one with the aesthetic originality of a great boutique hotel, and the first-rate comforts of a proper luxury hotel. Meilichzon’s rooms and suites weave together nautical inspirations and Basque references in a cocktail that’s somehow both unique and recognizably Experimental. There’s an ultra-stylish spa in partnership with Susanne Kaufmann and Alaena. And as you’d expect from this brand, the hotel’s restaurant and bar are as carefully crafted as anything else in the hotel; Frenchie is a modern brasserie with a Basque accent, and the atrium cocktail bar is an homage to the modernist architect Eileen Gray and to the piano-bar culture of the 1920s.