Seasonal Workers on the BAB: Where to Store Between Contracts?

When you move from one season to the next on the BAB, there's always that floating moment. Your contract at the Anglet beach ends, the staff housing has to be cleared by the 30th, and your next job in hospitality doesn't start until mid-November. In between, it's just you, a car packed to the roof, and one nagging question: where do you put your belongings while you look for a new place to live? Plenty of young, mobile workers in the Basque Country go through this twice a year. Here's how to breathe a little easier.

Between two seasons, the housing leaves with the contract

Surf instructor in Anglet in summer, waiter on the Biarritz terraces, shop assistant during the Fêtes de Bayonne, hotel staff in winter: seasonal work sets the rhythm all along the Basque coast. The catch is that the housing provided with the job often ends the very same day as the contract. And that's where things get complicated. In a few months, you've gathered a surfboard, gear, kitchen kit, boxes of clothes for both seasons — and suddenly nowhere to put any of it.

Crashing at a colleague's place, sleeping on a friend's couch in Bayonne, driving 300 km back to your parents': the quick fixes exist, but they don't solve the box problem. Nobody wants to haul their whole life around in a car boot for three weeks, or pay for an empty flat just to leave a bed and two suitcases in it.

• Seasonal housing often frees up overnight, with no transition period.
• You accumulate more than you think: sports gear, work equipment, personal effects from both seasons.
• Keeping a flat "just in case" is expensive when all you're storing is a few boxes.
• Piling your belongings up at friends' and family's places eventually strains the relationship — and your morale.
• Cramming everything into the car means risking breakage, theft in the car park, and driving half-blind.
• Heading far away with all your stuff makes the return trip for the next season a headache.

One fixed point while everything else moves

The idea fits in a sentence: you move, your belongings stay put. A self-storage unit becomes the buffer between two contracts, an extra room outside your home where you drop off whatever doesn't fit in a suitcase. You keep your hands free to look for your next place, without the weight of boxes on your back.

• Flexible and short-term: you take the unit for a few weeks or a few months, with no long commitment. Booking is simple — you don't even need to get your card out.
• A base between two addresses: your belongings always wait for you in the same place, whether you head back to Biarritz, Bayonne, or further afield.
• From small to large: a small 1 to 3 m² unit is enough for a few boxes and a board; a roomier size absorbs the furniture of a whole studio flat.
• Clean, dry and secure: a ventilated building under video surveillance, a private space you access without sharing. Your wetsuit won't go mouldy at the bottom of a damp boot.
• Parking right by the unit: you load and unload in minutes, with no driving round to find a spot.
• A local team: people who know the rhythm of the seasons and actually pick up the phone.

Maïa's story: surf instructor in Anglet

Maïa spends her summers teaching at the Cavaliers spot in Anglet. At the end of September, her shared studio had to be vacated and her winter contract in Biarritz didn't start until December. Rather than sending everything back to her parents in the Gers, she rented a small storage unit for her two boards, her wetsuit, her boxes of clothes and a few pieces of furniture. Three months later, she picked it all up in a single morning, ten minutes from her new home. "At least I knew my things weren't going anywhere," she says.

Getting organised between contracts, step by step

• Plan around the deadline: as soon as you know when your seasonal housing ends, line up a unit a few days ahead so you're not caught short.
• Sort first: separate what you're taking with you (the transition suitcase) from what you're storing. Less volume, less cost.
• Pick the right size: no need to overpay. A few boxes and some sports gear fit in a small unit; if in doubt, the team will point you in the right direction.
• Protect the sensitive gear: a cover for the board, sealed boxes for textiles, a bit of padding for anything fragile. A dry space does the rest.
• Aim for a centre on your route: between the coast and the inland, a well-placed unit loads and empties without a detour.
• Stay in touch: a short-term arrangement is easy to extend if the next season takes a little longer to kick off.

To spot the handiest location depending on where you work, take a look at our storage centres on the map. If you work on the Bayonne side, our Bayonne Les Pontots centre, set on the outskirts along the main roads, loads and empties without diving into the city-centre traffic.

Related reading

• Work out the size of your storage unit in a few clicks before you book.
• All our tips for smart storage in the Basque Country.
• Our Bayonne Les Pontots centre, easy to reach between two jobs.

• The unit acts as a buffer between the end of one seasonal contract and the next.
• Short-term, flexible format, with no long commitment and no card needed to book.
• From a small 1 to 3 m² unit to a large size for a whole studio flat.
• A clean, dry, ventilated and secure private space for your boards and belongings.
• Centres well placed across the BAB, minutes from both the coast and the inland.
• A local team that knows the rhythm of the seasons and stays reachable.

Between two contracts, don't let your belongings make life harder. Book a flexible storage unit in minutes, or call our local team to find the size and centre that fit your season.