Ariège: what to see and do
32 sites listed in the département. On the edge of the Pyrenees, the Ariège holds an exceptional prehistoric heritage in its decorated caves, between Cathar castles perched on rocky peaks and still-wild valleys. Less visited than its Pyrenean neighbours, this mountain département keeps an authentic, unspoilt charm.
Château de Montségur
Before setting off to assault the "Pog", the path passes close to the stele erected in 1960 "to the martyrs of pure Christian love".
Cascade d'Ars
Three falls that leap down 110 metres. The impressive Ars waterfall is well worth 5 kilometres of walking!
Grotte de Bédeilhac
The Bédeilhac cave is in the basin of Tarascon-sur-Ariège, a few kilometres from Niaux and Fontanet.
Grotte de lombrives
The largest cave in the European Community developed for the public, a vast underground world with rich isolated concretions among long galleries of fairy-tale appearance: the mammoth, the tomb of Pyrene, the throne of Bébrix, the hall of a thousand columns...
Grotte du Mas-d'Azil
The Mas d'Azil cave: carved in the heart of the Plantaurel range, it offers an underground complex unique in Europe.
La fontaine de Fontestorbes
Very often after a visit to the castle, many people stop near the village of Bélesta, or more exactly at Fontestorbes.
AKROBRANCH d'Orlu
Ax les Thermes
Camon
In the Middle Ages, the site was chosen by a Benedictine community to set up an abbey, which became a priory in the early eleventh century.
Cascade d'Alzen
A fall of about 43 metres in the Arize massif, reached by a marked path.
Cascade d'Arcouzan
A high waterfall of about 55 metres, in the Mont-Valier massif, little known but much appreciated by hikers.
Cascade d'Aubert
A waterfall in the centre of a wooded canyon, in the Sourroque massif, near Saint-Girons.
Château d'Usson
Château de Foix
The castle of the counts of Foix, with its high walls and three towers, stands at the confluence of the Arget and the Ariège on an imposing rocky peak that overlooks the medieval town of Foix and offers a fine panoramic view of the Pyrenean landscape.
Château de Lagarde
Château de Lordat
Château de Miglos
Château de Quérigut
Château de Roquefixade
Grotte de Niaux
The Niaux cave, universally known, rivals Lascaux for the high quality and excellent conservation of its cave paintings; for nearly 13,000 years the cave has consisted of several moderately concreted galleries with splendid colours.
Grotte de la Vache
Guzet
La Ferme des Reptiles
La Maison des Loups
La ferme aux bisons
Le Pont du Diable (Ariège)
This thirteenth-century structure belonging to the commune of Montoulieu lies between Foix and Mirepoix. It is a fortified two-arch bridge, built to span the Ariège that separates the villages of Ginabat and Montoulieu.
Rivière souterraine de Labouiche
Saint-Lizier
Set in the Salat valley, St Lizier appears, dominated by the imposing silhouette of the fourteenth-century Bishops' Palace, facing the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees.
Xploria
Cascades de la Turasse
Mirepoix
Parc de la Préhistoire (ex-Parc pyrénéen de l'art préhistorique)
Facing the decorated caves of Niaux and Mas-d'Azil, this park-museum brings to life, through reconstructions and facsimiles, the art and way of life of prehistoric Pyrenean hunter-gatherers.