Guided trek in hotels and refuges / Grade 4: Challenging+
- 11 days, guided 120km point-to-point trek with qualified International Mountain Leader
- GR10, GR11: French and Spanish Pyrenees
- Cirque de Gavarnie, Lakes of Néouvielle National Reserve, Ordesa Canyon
- 6 nights 2-3 star hotels
- 1 auberge, 3 mountain refuges
- 5 dinners and 8 picnics included
- All transfers: starts and ends at Toulouse Airport
Group size: 6-14
The spine of the Pyrenees marks the border between France and Spain and offers some wonderful trekking along relatively quiet trails. Our trek takes us along the middle section of the mountain range from east to west. We hike along the French GR10 and then cross into Spain and on to the Spanish GR11 leading into the spectacular Ordesa Canyon. The people are proud Pyreneans living in pretty towns and hamlets with ancient churches. The trekking is challenging with varied scenery, rivers and lakes, thick deciduous forests and high arid mountains.
We trek in September as the trails are quieter and the weather is normally more stable than July and August when it is hot, humid and storms frequent.
For seven nights we stay mostly at family-run 3* hotels. For three nights we stay at mountain refuges in spectacular locations offering classic dormitory sleeping arrangements and hot showers. For the nights at the refuges we do not have access to our main luggage and so there will be light backpacking.
The trip starts and ends at Toulouse Airport which is a great place to continue your travels in France to nearby places such as Carcassonne, Lourdes and the villages of the Tarn Valley. Or you can head south to Barcelona and beyond.
Flights are mostly via European hubs such as Paris, London, Amsterdam etc, but there is a direct flight from Montreal 3-4 times per week.