Hotel Villa KOEGUI, the gateway to Bayonne and the Basque Country
Bayonne. The city is magnificent and joyful, and the locals love it. Once you've tasted it, you'll return endlessly, for this love is intoxicating and somewhat addictive.
One man understood it from his first strolls through the colorful streets and alleys of the city. This man, Guy Néplaz, made this love his own.
In 2012, after the 'Writers of the Sea' arrived on the quays of the Adour and Nive rivers, Guy Néplaz was distraught to see them leave the city by nightfall. Could Bayonne be lacking respectable hotels to host these litterary men? A question that might have taken six years to find its answer, but instead took a mere six days. The idea was planted, and nothing could divert it from its course. Bayonne would have a hotel worthy of its heritage, architecture, and way of life.
And this hotel would be the Villa KOEGUI.
For centuries, Bayonne lived enclosed within its ramparts. Its heart beats at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers; its pulse quickens between Petit and Grand Bayonne. Here we are at 7 and 9 Frédéric Bastiat Street, just a stone’s throw from the Basque Museum and Bayonne History Museum, and a mere steps away from the Bonnat-Helleu Museum.
Behind a fence, next to this Museum, a deserted place, Le Carré Bonnat, once an emblematic place for Bayonne residents, now abandoned due to the restructuring of the Bonnat-Helleu Museum and the creation of DIDAM.
Here will stand Hotel Villa KOEGUI.
The neighborhood beats to the sound of its bars, restaurants, and festivals, bringing together those who enjoy gathering for an hour or a night, to the beat of a song or a band. To offer Bayonne residents and visitors a place to live, share, and eat, the name 'Le Carré' became an obvious choice, keeping its original location on the ground floor of the future Villa KOEGUI.
This is where the story of Hotel Villa KOEGUI and Le Carré begins.