Hendaye is the most south-westerly town and commune in France, lying in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and located in the traditional province Lapurdi (Labourd) of the French Basque Country. The town is a popular seaside tourist resort by the Atlantic coast, the "Côte Basque", lying at the same time on the right bank of the Bidassoa, which marks the border with Irún, Spain. It is currently the fifth largest commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and fourth urban area.

The town is arranged in two distinguishable parts: on the one side, the primal nucleus stretching from the church Saint Vincent to the area around the SNCF terminus and, on the other, the quarter developed next to the beach by the ocean, with a clear tourist vocation. The latest development (Sokoburu) has taken place in the most westerly sand spit located by the mouth of the river Bidassoa.

On 22 October 1863 the railway arrived in Hendaye, as the track on the Spanish side also approached the Bidassoa borderline. On 15 August 1864 the first Madrid-Paris train arrived in Hendaye, forever re-shaping the human and urban landscape of the village and prompting rapid development. Hendaye started to stand out as an international hub and a seaside resort for the elites after the model of Biarritz (1854), halfway between Donostia (San Sebastián) and Biarritz. In 1913, the Spanish Basque railway serving the coastline all the way to Donostia (later known as "topo", the 'mole') arrived at Hendaye Gare.

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