French Pyrenees in October

Later this month we’re off to France for a few weeks, ferry from Poole to Cherbourg then slowly making our way down the west coast via La Rochelle and Bayonne on to San Sebastian. Then towards the end of October we’re meeting up with my family in Toulon which gives us a couple of weeks or so to make our way from San Sebastian to Toulon. We’ve been to Narbonne, Marseille and Aix before so keen to explore a bit further west.

I quite fancy seeing some of the Pyrenees, potentially hire a road bike for a few days and check out some of the climbs out there, but we’re fairly easy.

Main aim is to find somewhere nice to hole up and chill for a bit with our 8 month old. Not a big city, more a town or village with decent amenities and some nice places to go and visit nearby.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Looking at the map, Arreau looks really well located but possibly a bit too small. So potentially somewhere nearish there. Unless, of course, there are other nice places between San Sebastian and Perpignan we should be looking at?

I’ve never been, so I can’t really comment on the area – but a friend who used to live in Hereford now runs a Gite near St Gaudens. It’s on facebook  ‘pyrenees view holiday gites’  Apparently a good area for cycling and walking and the town decent too.

Been meaning to get down there, but haven’t made it yet.

I’ve lived in Pau for 32 years. If the weather is bad the plain is a nicer place to be than the mountains. I suggest a number of stops rather than one.

You don’t say where you are staying, many campsites will be shut. Anyhow I’ll add two stops and see what others add: Laruns, road bike rental from Locaski (make sure everything works and the tyres are correctly inflated before you leave the shop, I had to tinker with one a mate hired). Ride the Aubisque and col de Marie Blanque. Luz st Sauveur, plenty of bike hire places, ride the Tourmalet and Col des Tentes above Gavarnie.

I’m just back from a week in a Chambres D’Hotes in Salechan, about 12 miles north of Luchon. Well placed fpor some deserted foothills, Col Des Ares and Col de Mente (probably not a foothill) as well as on a great loop up to Port de Bales (epic and deserted) and then down to Luchon for coffee before the valley run back. Options to extend, additional rides over Portillon into Spain, Peyresourde and SuperBagneres all in striking distance. Been in October for a weekend before and it’s a lovely place to be

Thanks all, will take a look at those suggestions. Will be staying in apartments rather than camping, as you say sites will be closed/closing down and would like something a bit more solid for a base with the little one, especially if the weather is a bit crap.

We had a great couple of weeks in Prats de Mollo. Very chilled.

If the weather is bad in France the Spanish side is often better, especially if the bad weather is coming from the French side. There’s also an enormous difference between the wet west and the dry east. Pau gets more than double the rainfall of Pepignan and about 50% more than Ainsa. If you  really like rain the Basque mountains are your go to. 😉

It’s possibly a bit quiet for a stay of much more than a long weekend, but a few years ago I had a great stay in Saint Lary Soulan in October. Great location with many of the famous cols on your doorstep, including my personal favourite the climb up to Lac Oredon and Lac Aumar. Obviously weather is getting unpredictable then. We had two days of rain and two of clear blue. Otherwise Luchon is a good base with a bit going on. Was there on a Marmot tour earlier in the year and had a week riding the area a number of years ago.

Arreau certainly is lovely. Well worth a stop for lunch at the very least.

Argeles Bazost is a nice base .
Loads of tdf climbs within easy reach , tourmalet , preyosaud, souloir , luz arddiden , pont de espagne , circular du gavarnia .
We took bikes in September and it was perfect . There is a bike shop in town , but I don’t know if they hired bikes .

I’ve lived in Pau for 32 years

We went to Pau a couple of years ago (and obviously pronounced it wrong until we were put right). It’s so beautiful.

If you really like rain the Basque mountains are your go to. 😉

I love the Basque mountains and I bet they’re nice in Autumn but never been in October… (Just back from a rather wet Galicia and Asturias.) You takes your chances, basically. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is nice and also the start of the Camino de Santiago which probably keeps the season going a bit.

We tend to stay closer to the coast, rain not being that big of a deal when surfing.  Personally I’d be taking note of advice above on where’s going to be dry.

2nd Luz St Sauveur. And most of what Edukator said.

Luz st Sauveur is much nicer than Bagneres de Luchon (it’s got a run down vibe to it).

Weather will be variable at best but you could get lucky. We had a great week in Luz in 2018 when it only  rained in the evenings.

Not the best year weatherwise this year, ariege is super steep and wet, jungle like, central is absolutely beautiful with neouvielle and such, west is more accessible with splendid culture and food but often rainy, east is more populated and but sunnier and drier, southern Pyrénées on the spanish side are absolutely splendid and much much drier, you can find a few very interesting  deserts not too far southern too.

If the weather is aweful, i’d say stay down and visit town and hilly countries, Mediterranean sea side with beautiful wild swamps, big town like toulouse and the mid sized cities following the Pyrénées : carcassonne, pau tarbes, bayonne. and montpellier, and montpellier backcountry (haut languedoc and grands causses, cevennes but beware the climate there also) is definitely worth it too

To say it simply, Pyrénées stop clouds coming from north west which will then burst on the north side, stay away from that high altitude line and south west wet vector and weather should be much nicer.

I can’t advise small places as i moved in the alps and it’s been way too long but it’s a place with plenty of small medieval villages full of charm, just avoid the big flat empty agricultural plains above  below toulouse (strongly advise you to visit that city, best town i lived in but it’s been more than 15years now…)

Enjoy !

Our friends own this place near Carcassonne, not sure if it’s anywhere near where you’re heading?

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1141298296133704347?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1154976136115528874?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

Thanks again all, some great suggestions and v much appreciate you taking the time to send a reply.

Liking the sound of Luz Saint Sauveur so will search for some accommodation there. We may hedge our bets and book some stuff a bit further east too. I love cities and would happily mooch round them all day so would be keen to explore Toulouse, my partner a bit less so but will see.

Colp – thanks for the links, that place looks great. Google maps’ suggested route from Luz to Toulon goes past both Toulouse and Carcassonne so could be an option. We stayed in a really nice BnB in Raissac just outside Narbonne last year and visited Carcassonne on the way up to Dieulivol where we stayed for another week, but it was absolutely roasting (mid July) and my wife had really bad morning sickness so we didn’t get to explore loads. Found a great ice cream place up by the castle with a really nice garden out the back, so holed up there for a bit which was pretty ace. So may stay in that BnB again, but a bit of time to explore Carcassonne could be good.