Stretching 400km from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, the Pyrenees form the natural border between France and Spain. Vignemale, at 3,298 metres, is the range’s crowning peak, but look out too for the Pic de Néouvielle (3,091m), Mont Valier (2,838m) and the Pic du Midi (2,877m), topped by an astronomical observatory and an unmissable museum of astronomy.
Up here, golden eagles and vultures soar, looking down on a unique habitat that has produced fauna found nowhere else in the world, such as the Pyrenean desman – a type of shrew – and brook salamander. There are even bears.
Humans have made their home in this area since time immemorial, leaving an exceptional prehistoric heritage. The cave drawings at Niaux and Mas d’Azil provide evidence of complex human societies from millennia ago, and if you want to “meet” your ancestors, there’s no better place to start the journey than in the Pyrenees, at the Prehistoric Park in Tarascon-sur-Ariège.
Sites of huge cultural and religious significance include Lourdes, which has been one the world’s key places of pilgrimage since the mid-19th century, when the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl. On the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela, the tiny village of St Bertrand de Comminges is dwarfed by its magnificent ancient cathedral, which houses an organ with 2,600 pipes and is the centrepiece of an internationally renowned classical music festival (July-August). Further east, the castle that sits on the hill at Montségur was the last stronghold of the Cathars, a breakaway group that sought to return Christianity to its simple roots and wrest power away from Rome.
The Pyrenees are also an adventurers’ paradise. In the warmer months, visitors can go canoeing, rafting or wild swimming in the beautiful mountain rivers, streams and lakes. The Tour de France has included a Pyrenees stage every year since 1910, and cyclists come here from all over the world to try their luck on the famous cols of Tourmalet, Soulor, Peyresourde and Agnès.
For shorter journeys on foot, try the short, easy hiking trails (known as PR paths) that link the pretty villages and their ancient Romanesque churches via forests, summer pastures and valleys.
GR routes, notably the east-west GR10, provide the greater challenge. The Pyrenees rewards the serious walker like few other places in the world, and sights such as the gorgeous Lac d’Oô, the Cirque de Gavarnie and the Pont d’Espagne – all accessible via the GR10 – are well worth the time and effort invested in reaching them.
After all this activity, you’ll be in need of some serious relaxation. Perhaps a bath, a massage – or both? The Pyrenees have led the way in the use of hot springs for medicine and relaxation since Roman times, and resorts such as Cauterets, Barèges, Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Ax-les-Thermes fuse spa traditions with the most modern pampering methods.
One visit is never enough to see or do it all.
