Pau and the Béarn Pyrenees: 9 experiences to live

When the mountain wakes up

Following the shepherds up to the estives

In the valleys of the Pyrenees, late spring wakes the mountain. Blooming trails, swollen streams, the last frosts: the mountain speaks to every sense.

Ten days or so before leading their ewes up to the estives, shepherds climb up to reopen the cujalas, stone shepherd’s huts tucked into the high pastures. Cross paths with them, and you might hear them tell of a life set to the rhythm of cowbells and estive cheesemaking.

Shepherds aren’t the only ones re-emerging. Marmots leave their burrows, still groggy from winter, the first isard (Pyrenean chamois) kids take their first steps on the slopes, and young bearded vultures born in the depths of winter take their first flight over the Pyrenees National Park.

Pyrène’s fiery red hair*

Salute the Cirque de Lescun

As autumn arrives, the beech trees of the Cirque de Lescun turn red and gold beneath the limestone spires of the Table des Trois Rois. An easy walk leads to the village belvedere, opening onto one of Béarn’s finest natural amphitheatres. Look up: a golden eagle glides above, while below, the flocks head back down from the estives.

The Aspe valley takes on the same palette: along the Chemin de la Mâture, cut into the cliff face for the Royal Navy, the Gorges de l’Enfer turn copper. In the neighbouring Ossau valley, it’s prime time for the Lacs d’Ayous loop, quieter than in summer — with the Pic du Midi d’Ossau, this time, mirrored in Lake Gentau.

* See the mythological origin of the Pyrenees.

Here, a king was born in a tortoise shell

Pau, from Henri IV to the English Belle Époque

Step into a room in the Château de Pau: a tortoise shell, mounted on velvet embroidered with fleurs-de-lis, said to be baby Henri’s cradle, born here one December evening in 1553. True or legendary, the story has travelled down the centuries to this room hung with Gobelins tapestries.

Back out in the light, wander through the Halles market for local produce, then reach the Boulevard des Pyrénées. Belle Époque villas tell of the English colony that settled here from 1872, coming for fresh air, a round of golf on the nearby green (the oldest on the continent) and an afternoon at the racecourse.

And you’ll find traces of all these stories again through the rooms of the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Medieval towns full of charm

Navarrenx, Sauveterre-de-Béarn and Salies

Walk the ramparts of Navarrenx, nearly two kilometres of walls looking out over the Gave d’Oloron and the Béarnaise countryside. Below, a few anglers watch for salmon — well worth tasting.

In Sauveterre-de-Béarn, walk down to the old fortified bridge, half-collapsed into the river, still known as the Pont de la Légende (Legend Bridge)… and find out why. In Salies, another legend tells how, back in Gallo-Roman times, “white gold” was discovered. This salt built the town’s fortune, still flavours Bayonne ham, and now looks after spa-goers in the newly renovated thermal baths.

Four objects still made entirely by hand

Béarn’s craftsmanship, from berets to mountain boots

In Oloron-Sainte-Marie, pick out your beret with advice from Laulhère, who’s been making them since 1840 — even though Napoleon III once mistakenly called it “Basque”. On Rue Montpensier in Pau, push open the door of the Pando workshop, France’s last maker of shepherd’s umbrellas since 1896, and walk out with a one-of-a-kind object — even if you’re not off to lead a flock.

In Garlin, watch a Villacampa ski take shape under a craftsman’s hands, a solid wood plank shaped as it was in the early days of Pyreneism. And in Pontacq, take a seat in the Le Soulor workshop for a made-to-measure fitting: the flagship model is named, fittingly, Ossau.