Biarritz is a former Victorian resort that boasts 3.7 miles (6 kilometres) of beaches and a wonderful sweeping promenade. It has been an incredibly popular destination for over a century, whose former regular visitors included Queen Victoria, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Hemingway. Biarritz came to fame in the mid-19th Century, when Empress Eugenie (the wife of Napoleon III) fell in love with this part of the Basque country and built a Palace on the beach at Biarritz (which is now the world-class Hotel du Palais).