Loop hikes

4km / 11km / 11,2km / 14km / 15,5km / 16,3km / 19km / 21,5km / 23,2km / 24km

La Bastide-Puylaurent is a unique village ideal for small, medium, and large hikes. Just 300 meters from L'Etoile Guesthouse, you'll find yourself immersed in nature on trails that can lead you to the other end of France or on a loop of just a few kilometers. The landscapes surrounding the village vary distinctly between Ardèche, Lozère, Haute-Loire, and the Cévennes National Park.

To the North, toward the plateaus of Haute-Loire, the scenery is more rural: small farms, green lentil fields from Le Puy-en-Velay, livestock, Mount Mézenc, ancient volcanoes, lakes, the sources of the Loire River, and the gorges of the Allier.

To the South, heading to the Cévennes and Mont Lozère, nature becomes more authentic with less human influence: typical granite farmhouses with stone-slab roofs, honey production, terraced farming, small hamlets lost in the wilderness, and French history of the religious wars between Protestants and Catholics in places like Florac, Le Pont-de-Montvert, and Génolhac.

To the East, toward Ardèche, nature surprises with its wild side: magnificent landscapes, paradisiacal rivers perfect for swimming, small trails through chestnut groves, old typical hamlets like Montselgues, Loubaresse, or Thines, the gorges of the Borne and Chassezac rivers, the peaks of the Ardèche mountains, and the Tanargue massif. Enjoy thermal treatments at Saint-Laurent-les-Bains, visit the typical Saturday morning market in Les Vans, and explore the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Abbey just 3 km from La Bastide-Puylaurent.

To the West, toward Lozère, the landscapes are less steep but at higher altitudes, featuring small valleys ideal for trout fishing in rivers like the Allier, Lot, Chassezac, or Altier. The trails are wider with gentler slopes, offering less strenuous hikes compared to the Ardèche side. Numerous small and medium hikes are accessible thanks to the small train connecting La Bastide-Puylaurent to Mende.

From its privileged vantage point on the upper tier of a grand amphitheater overlooking the Mediterranean, Lozère receives the warm rays of the Occitan sun. Here, hikers feel the intense yet serene excitement of approaching the sky while traversing the rounded peaks of Mont Lozère, Margeride, Gévaudan, Aubrac, or the Cévennes. There, one can enjoy the gentle landscapes and spring waters of the Tarn and Jonte gorges, some of the most beautiful natural sites shaped by nature in Europe. Lozère is rich in the diversity of its natural regions and landscapes sculpted by geology.

Using limestone from the great Causses of Sauveterre and Méjean, people built farms with exceptional proportions and vaults. With the volcanic basalt of Aubrac, they constructed burons to shelter shepherds and milk livestock when the burle wind whistles. Evidence of our ancestor builders is everywhere: from Gallo-Roman ruins now showcased, to the Gothic cathedral of Mende, from the Romanesque churches of Margeride to Cévenol temples, from simple bread ovens to the crosses in our villages—the human imprint continually marks the evolution of this country.

Lozère, and its original province of Gévaudan, was never isolated until the mid-19th century and can even be considered a significant hub of major routes, confluences, and paths where kings, peddlers, monks, knights, merchants, herds, and carts intensely crossed paths. The motives for such movement were varied and intertwined: religious, economic, military, pastoral. Above all, it was an essential and privileged contact zone between Mediterranean civilizations (whether Greek, Roman, or Arab) and the Nordic world—the mysterious lands of tin and dark forests governed by Celto-Germanic peoples.

Among the countless roads, paths, or drover's trails that still cross our province, one is particularly close to us: the Voie Régordane, a trail that linked Nîmes to Le Puy-en-Velay and the Arverne region; connecting the Mediterranean to the barbarian world of Gaul, and even to the strange lands of Brittany and Ireland.