How do I explain this one? A sixth sense for cacao? An exquisitely attuned nose that enables me to detect almond paste from over 400 miles away? Faith that any place in France is going to have to-die-for bonbons?When I booked my trip to Biarritz, I knew rugby, pelote and thalassotherapy spa treatments were big. But I had no idea that the region had a storied chocolate history. I swear .It was only on the TGV from Paris, furiously cramming to create my two-day itinerary, that my eyes came across this info and my heart skipped a beat: a chocolate museum? Vraiment ?? And when I was searching for my hotel and passed three chocolatiers within 100 yards of each another, well, it was only then that I believed my beach weekend was taking a delicious detour (bikini be damned!).The chocolate museum, Planete Muse du Chocolat , is (no pun intended) a sweet little place. It starts you off with a film about where and how chocolate is produced and then offers a handful of galleries devoted to chocolate molds and sculptures (created by Serge Couzigou), vintage advertising and packaging, and tools and machines from around the world and through the eras. At the end of the visit, youre rewarded for your attentiveness with a cup of rich hot cocoa. And, of course, youre spit out into the museum shop, where you can buy the house chocolate bars, bonbons, cocoa and cakes.I skipped the shop to do my chocolate shopping at the local chocolatiers.Henriet and Adam are located across the street from each other, reminding me of separated loversHenriet, traditional and decorated in pretty blue. And Maison Adam, dark, sleek and contemporary. Both have similar selectionschocolate bars, bonbons and bouches; marzipan molds and bricks, and pastries including the regional specialty, Gateau Basque. The Gateau Basque comes in several variations. One, a drier, circular shortbread cake is filled with cherry preserves. The other is also made with shortbread pastry, but its a flatter, denser square slice that sandwiches a lemony custard filling. The former is from Maison Adam, the former from Henriet.At both chocolatiers, the pates damandesone of my favorite thingscame in a spectacular array of flavors and varieties: raspberry, lemon, pistachio, pine nut, vanilla, chocolate Sometimes it was sliced and packaged like a chocolate bar, sometimes smaller bite-sized pieces were rolled in sugar and sold like a bag of suckers. It was delicious both ways. And the chocolate bonbons were equally adventurous and divine: milk chocolate with passionfruit ganache, dark chocolate with African tea, praline with lemon and coriander, salty, floral, spicy really, had I known I was training straight into chocolate paradise, I would have stayed for more than a weekend. There was no time for La Maison de Kanouga or Daranatz (with those cheerily wrapped chocolate bars). But, now that I know Biarritzs sweet secrets, Ill make sure the next visit is for an entire week.