Ahetze

The commune is located some 13 km southwest of Bayonne and 30 km northeast of Donostia-San-Sebastion and only 4 km from the Atlantic beaches of Bidart and Guéthary. Ahetze village is at the intersection of departmental roads D655 from Arbonne to Bidart and D855 from Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The commune can be accessed from Exit 4 (Biarritz La Négresse) and Exit 3 (Saint-Jean-de-Luz nord) from the A63 autoroute. The Biarritz–Anglet–Bayonne Airport is 15-minute drive from the village. The river Zirikolatzeko erreka, a tributary of the Uhabia, flows through the commune, as well as several of its tributaries, including the Amisolako, Uroneko, and Besaingo. Paul Raymond also stated in his Topographical dictionary of Bearn-Basque Country in 1863 that a tributary of the Alborga: the Haïstéchéhé flows through Ahetze after rising in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle. The commune name in Basque is also Ahetze. Jean-Baptiste Orpustan suggested that Ahetze comes from aiz meaning "stone" and by extension "high rock" (see also: Ahaitz).