©Randonneurs à Vassivière / Marco Polo- CRTNA
You shoulder your pack, and the horizon suddenly widens. Here, in the heart of the Limousin, nature has kept every inch of its space: heathland, peat bogs and forests stretch as far as the eye can see, criss-crossed by over 400 walking trails, a dozen horseback routes and around 80 cycling paths. You follow the shores of Lake Vassivière, then head for Aubusson and its tapestry workshops, or for Ussel, where a river invites a cool-down break once summer hits.
This regional nature park is just one of five across Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Landes de Gascogne, Périgord-Limousin, Marais Poitevin, Médoc: each has its own scenery, forests, marshes, dunes, ready to extend the adventure elsewhere in the region.
Worth a try: a night under the stars. Millevaches is a certified International Dark Sky Reserve, and several bivouac spots let you watch the sky far from any light pollution.
We leave the ocean behind at Hendaye. The trail climbs, and the green Basque hills slowly give way to bare Pyrenean rock. The GR10 carries us to the Holzarte footbridge, suspended 180 metres above the gorge, before we duck under the canopy of Iraty Forest, Europe’s largest beech forest. Further along, the Lescun cirque signals the start of the Aspe Valley, then its neighbour, where Pic du Midi d’Ossau, standing at 2,884 metres, watches over the Ayous lakes below.
Plenty of other trails cross this same landscape. In Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, a citadel town and famous stop on the Camino de Santiago, pilgrims and hikers cross paths before a well-earned break among the Irouléguy vineyards, clinging to the mountainside.
©OT Cambo les Bains – CRTNA
©Réserve Naturelle Nationale de l’Etang des Landes / CB-Creuse Confluence Tourisme
Under the pines (and plenty of other trees, too) of the Landes de Gascogne, micro-adventures lose nothing in the way of thrills — they simply fit into half a day. You paddle a canoe down the Leyre, gliding beneath a gallery forest so dense it’s nicknamed the Little Amazon, all the way to the delta where the river dissolves into the vastness of Arcachon Bay. At Arjuzanx, a former mining site turned national nature reserve, winter brings thousands of common cranes to watch, seemingly without end.
Other micro-adventures, just as generous, dot the park: cycling through the Contemporary Art Forest, riding a donkey near Moustey, wandering the trail of the so-called healing springs.
Good to know: the Mexico and Testarouman leisure centres both rent out canoes. In Pissos, you can also try tree-top adventure courses and archery.
An epic tale turned European cultural route, crossing 6 countries and 15 regions.
The horse finds its rhythm, and Dampierre-sur-Boutonne fades behind us, its Renaissance château and remarkable gardens receding into the background. The Route des Cardinaux winds through the vineyards and valleys of Saintonge, up to the Pirelonge tower: a Gallo-Roman tomb standing amid the vines. In Saint-Savinien-sur-Charente, hooves find cobblestones again, all the way to Barbara’s fountain and wash-house, right by the water.
This Route des Cardinaux is one of six legs making up the European d’Artagnan Route, a 4,000 km ribbon on horseback linking Lupiac, in the Gers, where the musketeer was born, to the Dutch city of Maastricht, where he died. Four centuries later, we still ride in his footsteps.
Good to know: the Musketeer’s Passport gets stamped at every stage; ride 100 km and you earn the Dartagnane, the diploma of an accomplished rider.
©Autour de Monflanquin / Teddy Verneuil Lezbroz
©Chemin d’Amadour, la Sauve-majeure / Loïc Lagarde
We set off by the ocean, in Soulac, in salty air and low morning light. The trail soon follows the Gironde estuary, past the silhouettes of carrelets, fishing huts on stilts, standing out against the flat water. Then vineyards take over, row after row, until a city rises up ahead, dense and alive, its honey-coloured stone warmed by the sun and its streets humming with life.
We keep walking, past sleepy bastide towns and villages clinging to cliffs, a river never far away, sometimes protected as a Unesco biosphere reserve. More vines, more forests, more heritage gems and more local flavours to savour along the way, until the dry, sunlit Causses plateau finally announces Rocamadour, close enough now to taste.
Good to know: eight train stations punctuate the route (500 km, 21 stages), so you needn’t walk it all in one go.
Lift your paddle and slow down for a better look at a cave dwelling in the Vézère valley, or the silhouette of the fortress at Angles-sur-l’Anglin. Whisper, so you can hear every rustle of wildlife along the Huchet stream as you paddle it by kayak. Burst out laughing when you fall off your windsurf or surfboard, yet again. Feel the sand skim under the runners of a sand yacht on a beach on Île d’Oléron. Pedal happily around the hidden corners of a lake in the Médoc or the Limousin.
Every water sport, every river pastime is possible here. Because the Atlantic coast runs from La Rochelle to Hendaye, and lakes (small or vast) and rivers dot every destination, all the way up into the mountains.
©Château de Castelnaud / CRTNA – Clara Ferrand
©Via Ferrata aux jardins de Marqueyssac / CRTNA – Clara Ferrand
Fingers search for the next hold, eyes fixed on the limestone wall, chalk dusting the palms. The Arguibelle cliff, in the Haute-Soule hills, looks down over the Barlanès valley, on the border between Basque Country and Béarn. An 800-metre ridge, 300 possible routes, grades from 3c to 8.
250 km away as the crow flies (or maybe a buzzard, out here), the Rapaces via ferrata, built into the cliffside in the gardens of Marqueyssac, takes over. Cables, ladders and a suspension bridge, a hundred metres above the river, for a whole new way to discover the Dordogne valley.
You’ll find spots in unexpected places too, like the Lède valley near Villeréal in Lot-et-Garonne. And of course, the mighty Pyrenees.
Set off to explore our destinations: from the foothills of the Pyrenees to hidden villages, from surfing sessions on the coast to hikes in the wide open spaces of the Limousin. You’re bound to find a holiday that takes your fancy.
To find out more about the destination or the experiences on offer there, here are a few pages that invite you to continue your exploration, either online or in person.
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