The Pyrenees National Park

The Pyrenees National Park is also, of course, a haven for lovers of wide-open spaces, people who want to discover, observe or contemplate this exceptional natural heritage.

Rangers responsible for running the park on a daily basis, observing and listing the fauna and flora, receive the public and provide commentaries for the exhibitions at the Maisons du Parc in Etsaut and Laruns. They also act as guides on certain hikes.

Walking is indeed the best way of seeing these fantastic sites, cirques, cliffs, gorges, and lakes… Access to the central zone of the park is prohibited for vehicles.

However, there is another way of seeing the Pyrenean views: climb aboard the little train of Artouste. From the peak of La Sagette, it takes you on a 10-kilometre ride at an altitude of 2000 metres to the shores of the Lake of Artouste. Sublime.

Created in 1963, the Pyrenees National Park is one of the seven French national parks. Its central zone of 457 km2 is subject to particular protection, but the peripheral zone - 2063 km2, 86 villages and 40,000 inhabitants – also falls under its responsibility as regards local life.

It is in this peripheral zone that you will find the Ossau Nature Reserve, whose name is synonymous for many people with the flavour of its ewe’s cheese. You can visit vulture cliff, the Arudy Museum, or the Borce animal centre in the Aspe Valley. Without forgetting, of course, the wide range of mountain activities: pony riding, mountain biking, fishing, tree climbing…