The Hautes-Pyrénées are the land of great cirques, high-altitude lakes, legendary passes and peaks. The landscapes are spectacular, but mountain conditions call for caution and preparation.
This itinerary spreads the best-rated sites in the catalogue over three days. Check the weather and road conditions before you go: some passes and access roads are closed in winter.
The map shows the numbered stops in visiting order, with one colour per day. The line follows the roads where available; otherwise it joins the stops as the crow flies. Distances and times are approximate (by car, without traffic).
This day brings together 3 sites close to each other: caves, religious sites and waterfalls. It passes through Lourdes. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
The Bétharram caves are among the most beautiful that exist, and certainly the most curious to visit, because in the variety of their aspects they give the key to the formation of almost all caves, dead or fully active.
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Built on the site of the Marian apparitions of 1858, this sanctuary is one of the most visited places of pilgrimage in the world, welcoming about 6 million people every year.
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The Magenta waterfall was formerly called the Aspi or La Truite waterfall; it is a fine fall on 3 levels.
View full page →This day brings together 5 sites close to each other: waterfalls, natural wonders and lakes. It passes through La Mongie. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
This exceptional mountain landscape, which spreads on both sides of the present national borders of France and Spain, is centred on the Mont Perdu peak, a limestone massif that peaks at 3,352 metres.
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Upstream of the Héas gave valley, the Troumouse cirque is the largest glacial cirque in the Pyrenees.
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The highest road pass in the French Pyrenees at 2,115 metres, the Tourmalet is the legendary arbiter of the Tour de France, immortalised by the statue of the cycling giant Octave Lapize.
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From Bagnères, take the road of the passes. Follow this road to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, where you turn right towards the Col du Tourmalet.
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This middle-mountain Pyrenean lake: 47 ha, 120 m deep, shows a beautiful intense blue colour in fine weather.
View full page →This day brings together 4 sites close to each other: natural wonders, lakes and waterfalls. It passes through Cauterets. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
Driving for the day: about 117.4 km, or 3 h 56 behind the wheel in total (excluding visits).
The Pyrenees National Park, also called the Western Pyrenees National Park, is one of the ten national parks of France in the south of the country in the western part of the Pyrenees mountain range, straddling the Hautes-Pyrénées (Midi-Pyrénées region) and the…
View full page →↓ 117.3 km · about 3 h 56 by car to the next stop
Nestled at the foot of the Vignemale, this Pyrenean glacial lake is reached from Cauterets by a hiking path or a chairlift. Its clear waters, framed by steep walls, make it one of the most visited mountain lakes in the French Pyrenees.
View full page →↓ 0.1 km · about 0 min by car to the next stop
Here is the kingdom of granite and water; its impressive waterfalls and its many lakes make it a natural paradise where Empress Eugénie came to dream in the last century.
View full page →↓ 0.0 km · about 0 min by car to the next stop
At 1,500 metres' altitude, this Pyrenean natural site brings together waterfalls and torrents at the confluence of several glacial valleys. Gateway to the Pyrenees National Park, it is the classic starting point for Lac de Gaube.
View full page →From June to September, passes and mountain trails are generally accessible. Summer is high season: there are crowds at the best-known sites, and storms are frequent at the end of the day. In winter, many mountain roads are closed or difficult, and high-altitude lakes are frozen.
A car allows you to reach most sites, but mountain roads are slow and sometimes closed outside summer. Some visits involve walking, even a full day's hike. Check road conditions before you go.
A discreet neighbour of the famous cirques of Gavarnie and Troumouse, the Estaubé cirque closes the valley of the same name on the Spanish border. Included in the Pyrénées – Mont Perdu UNESCO property, it appeals to hikers seeking tranquillity.
The Pic du Midi de Bigorre is in the Hautes-Pyrénées, and reaches an altitude of 2,877 metres.
This path will take you from La Raillère to the Pont d'Espagne. The route follows the Gave de Jéret, on the left bank.
A few kilometres from the basilica of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, the Gargas cave is famous for its walls decorated with enigmatic hand paintings.
The Médous caves are divided into two parts: a lower gallery, the "dry gallery", and an upper one, the "Gallery of Marvels".
This fortress, first restored in 1906 and again under restoration, belonged to the counts of Bigorre, the king of France, the Black Prince, Gaston Phoebus, Henry IV.