BIREMON FRANCK

Amazingly done museum. Definitely worth visiting. They have a book guide in English, and I honestly liked it better than reading the walls. Great order of exhibits, was never boring. I love Basque culture, and this was a great place to learn. Free for under 26.

Very informative place. I highly recommend visiting the museum if you come to Bayonne. You learn how the city was constructed and how people cultivated the culture throughout the exhibition. The former city scale model was impressive. Though the explanation isn’t written in English (French, Spanish and Basque only, I believe), the staff will give you English guide book that explains all exhibitions. Japanese one was also available but it covers partially. It took 1.5 hours for me to check all works. The locker is available too. You may leave your luggage and come back before the museum closes so that you can explore the city.

A great museum with a little bit of everything:- Basque geography, history, culture and society displayed through art, objects, furniture... Very clearly laid out over 3 floors and lovely staff. If you are an English speaker, there is a guide booklet you can borrow from the desk to walk around with and also QR codes on certain objects which link to webpages in French, Spanish, Basque and English. Video and audio exhibits and interactive/ tactile/ sensory stations for children. Plus a costume dress up area on the ground floor. I learnt so much about Basque culture from giant wooden wine presses to how they made clogs and espadrilles and 'makhila' (a wooden walking stick with a hidden spike) and the game of pelota (hard to describe but like a mixture of squash, rackets, hand ball and hurling!). When I visited there was a great temporary photography exhibition of early 20th century colourised photographs of the region (on until January 2024). Bayonne is a great little city and this museum right on the side of the river, close to the indoor Market (Les Halles) and near lots of lovely cafes, bistros and restaurants is a great place to visit. Highly recommended. Cost 8 euros (adults). Also free lockers for bags, umbrella 'lockers' and clean toilets.

Fantastic museum with so much to see and learn about the wonderful Basque culture. Recommended

There's a lot to see, but not a lot of information on what you're looking at and it's not very coherent. It's the kind of museum where they have a lot of stuff to look at and it's up to you to figure out why it's there. For me that's not why I go to a museum, I'd like to understand what I'm looking at, how it relates to the area, history, developments in society, etc.

I’d thought it was going to be just a small exhibition and it turned out to be a big one. Very interesting! It nicely supplemented all the books I’ve been reading about the Basque culture and history. Moreover, to my surprise I found there a traditional Lajkonik from my home city Kraków!

Beautiful local museum about the basque history, very well organized, very interactive and interesting. Worth a visit! Just make a reservation online, you must setup a time for your visit, kids are free. There’s a great exhibition on poterie de ciboure! don’t miss it

Great museum! It's much bigger and diversified than in Guernika. And very friendly staff.