Hendaye is a border town which plays a key role in international traffic. It therefore seeks to forge cultural and economic links with Fontarabie -its counterpart on the Spanish side of the river- and Irun. Above all, Hendaye is a seaside resort, attracting bathers, those coming for seawater therapy at the thalassotherapy institute and walkers beginning the GR10, the path that crosses the Pyrenean range from west to east.

La Baie du Figuier, shared by France and Spain

L'île des Faisans

Monts Pyrénées, where border crossings between France and Spain are indicated	In the middle of the Bidassoa river, the tiny "Ile des Faisans" (pheasant island) is the smallest condominium in the world: it belongs for six months to France and six months to Spain. It was there that the Pyrenees treaty was signed in 1659 by the very young Louis XIV under the tutelage of Mazarin, and Philippe IV of Spain. This treaty defined the border separating the two kingdoms.

Negotiations were lengthy, particularly over Cerdagne. The border was often the subject of dispute and there were aberrations such as Llivia, the Spanish enclave in Cerdagne. Two centuries past before three Border Treaties were signed (1853, 1862, 1866), defining a border that was generally accepted in the following years. 602 numbered milestones marked the definitive border between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

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