Espelette is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. It lies in the traditional Basque province of Labourd. …Espelette is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. It lies in the traditional Basque province of Labourd. The town is attractive, with traditional Labourd houses and a castle. The protected sixteenth-century church, Saint-Etienne, has a Baroque altarpiece, and its graveyard has many traditional Basque discoidal tombstones.