Your Holidays

We provide an excellent base for exploring this fascinating area. The magnificent medieval walled city of Carcassonne is only 30 minutes away and the smaller but very beautiful medieval town of Mirepoix is only 5 minutes away. There is an excellent market at Mirepoix every Monday.

Towards the mountains near Tarascon, there are several interesting caves to visit, including Lombrive which is the largest in all of Europe and the cave at Niaux, made famous by it's prehistoric wall art.

The whole area is obviously steeped in history and recent bestselling books including the Davinci Code and Labyrinth have put the ancient Cathars and Knights Templar in the spotlight. There are many Cathar castles within an hours drive. Perhaps the most famous is Montsegur, where the Cathars made their last stand in 1244. The ruins of the cliff top castle can be seen from the hotel on clear days, framed by the larger mountais of the Pyrenees. Other Cathar castles to visit are Peyreperteuse, Puivert, Lastours and Queribus.

The departmental capital of Ariège, Foix, also has a very good market and an excellent and beautifully restored castle to visit.

The nearest ski resort, les Monts D'Olmes, is 45 minutes away and the larger resort of Ax les Thermes, where there are also thermal baths and a casino, is about an hours drive. A further 30 minutes is the duty free principality of Andorra, where there is a very large skiable area, with several resorts being linked together.

For water sports enthusiasts, we are 20 minutes from the large reservoir at Montbel and just over one hour from the Mediterranean coast.

Other local attractions are an International karting circuit, a parachute centre, canoeing and white water rafting, rock climbing, horse riding, cycling and mountain biking, low or high level walking (in fact the long distance footpath the GR7 The Way of Saint James, passes right past the hotel). The list is practically endless.