The first major stop is CAMBO-LES-BAINS, an old spa town whose favourable microclimate made it an ideal centre for the treatment of tuberculosis in the nineteenth century; the locals also claim that camellias flower a month earlier here than elsewhere in the region. It's an attractive town, green and open, but suffers from the usual genteel stuffiness of spas. The "new" town, with its ornate houses and hotels, radiates out from the baths over the heights above the River Nive, while the old quarter, typically Basque with its whitewashed houses and galleried church, lies beside the river.The main thing to see here is the Villa Arnaga, 1.5km northwest of town on the Bayonne road (guided visits: July & Aug 10am–7pm; April, May, June & Sept 10am–12.30pm & 2.30–6.30pm; Oct 2.30–6.30pm; €5.50), built for Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac, who came here to cure his pleurisy in 1903. This larger-than-life Basque house overlooks an almost surreal formal garden with discs and rectangles of water and segments of grass punctuated by blobs, cubes and cones of box, lined by limes and blue cedars, with a distant view of green hills. Inside, it's very kitsch, with a minstrels' gallery, fake pilasters, allegorical frescoes, chandeliers, numerous portraits and various memorabilia. The tourist office is in the Parc St-Joseph in the upper town centre (mid-July to Aug Mon–Fri 8.30am–6.30pm, Sat 8.30am–noon & 2–5.30pm, Sun 10am–12.30pm; Sept to mid-July Mon–Fri 8.30am–12.30pm & 2–6.30pm, Sat 8.30am–noon & 2–5.30pm; tel 05.59.29.70.25). For an overnight stay, try the Auberge de Tante Ursule in the old quarter by the pelota court (tel 05.59.29.78.23, fax 05.59.29.28.57; €30–40), with an excellent restaurant offering menus from €14–30.50. The nearest year-round campsite is Ur-Hégia on route des Sept-Chênes (tel 05.59.29.72.03), also in Bas Cambo; Camping Bixta Eder is on the other side of town along avenue d'Espagne (tel 05.59.29.94.23; closed mid-Oct to March). Henri Breuillé (tel 05.59.29.73.10) on place de l'Église rents mountain bikes.
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