Sunday in Biarritz: your first wave and tapas at Les Halles.

The Côte des Basques is Biarritz's learner beach: at low and mid tide a wide strip of sand opens up and the wave breaks in soft foam, good for standing up the first few times. This plan is for trying surfing without giving up a whole weekend. You take an hour-and-a-half introductory lesson in the morning, eat at the bar of the covered market and in the afternoon see the aquarium's seals. It is a Sunday designed for going with teenagers or among friends, from April to November.

The day, hour by hour

9:00 · Departure. From San Sebastián, the AP-8 and A-63 to the Biarritz exit, about 45 minutes. The start time depends on the lesson: the school sets it by each day's low tide, so it may be at nine or at three. If yours is in the afternoon, turn the plan round.

10:00 · Surf lesson. Biarritz Surf Training has its hut on the same beach, on Boulevard du Prince de Galles, with changing rooms and showers. The introductory lesson lasts an hour and a half: warm-up and technique on the sand and then into the water with the instructor beside you, in groups of eight at most. It costs from €45 per person with soft board, wetsuit and insurance. Arrive fifteen minutes early to change. You need to be able to swim.

12:30 · Les Halles. Biarritz's covered market opens every morning, until two. Inside you buy Bayonne ham, sheep's cheese and fish; around it, the tapas bars fill their counters with people coming out of the shopping. It is a meal standing up or at a high table, good value and quick. Arrive before one: at two the stalls pack up.

14:30 · Biarritz Aquarium. In the former Musée de la Mer, the Art Deco building at the Atalaye, a quarter of an hour's walk from the market. You tour the Bay of Biscay from the coast to the depths, with turtles, sharks and the seal tank, which you see from above and from below the water. Allow an hour and a half. Buy the ticket on its website to avoid queuing.

17:00 · Return. On leaving, the Rocher de la Vierge is five minutes away. In San Sebastián around six.

What to eat at Les Halles

Basque produce from both sides of the border: Bayonne ham, Ossau-Iraty sheep's cheese, Espelette pepper and the fish of the day. At the bars around the market you eat portions and tapas. If you prefer a table and tablecloth, book somewhere else in the centre: on Sunday at midday everything fills up.

If you do not fancy the water or the sea is big

The lesson is cancelled in too big a sea; the school lets you know. That day swap the surf for the old town and harbour of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, twenty minutes away, or walk the coastal path from Bidart, with the cliffs above the water. With children under 10, surfing is left for the French school-holiday courses: the aquarium and the shore of the Côte des Basques at low tide, in the supervised area, are plan enough.