The Tarn Gorges in 3 days
Over some fifty kilometres between Ispagnac and Le Rozier, the Tarn has cut a canyon 400 to 500 metres deep between two limestone plateaus, the Causse Méjean and the Causse de Sauveterre. At the bottom run clear green water and stone villages set on the river bends: Sainte-Enimie, Saint-Chély, La Malène, Castelbouc.
The plan, day by day
Day 1
- Morning
Sainte-Enimiefree · about 1 h 30The best-known village of the gorges, built in tiers around an old monastery and a spring, with stone-roofed houses, cobbled lanes and a pebble beach.
- Afternoon
Canoeing from Sainte-Enimie to La Malènehalf a dayThe classic 13 km paddle, three to four hours of calm water and small rapids past Saint-Chély and the Château de la Caze.
Day 2
- Morning
Saint-Chély-du-Tarnfree · about 30 minA hamlet below the Causse Méjean, reached by a single-arch bridge, with a spring pouring from a cave and a chapel cut into the cliff.
- Afternoon
The boatmen of La Malèneabout 1 hFlat-bottomed boats, steered with pole and oar, take you through the Détroits, the narrowest 8 km of the canyon, to the Cirque des Baumes.
- Late afternoon
Roc des Hourtousfree · about 30 minA viewpoint on the Causse Méjean above La Malène, looking straight down the Détroits, with griffon vultures nesting in the cliffs below.
Day 3
- Morning
Point Sublimefree · about 30 minA viewpoint on the Causse de Sauveterre, 400 metres above the Cirque des Baumes, where the river twists and vultures circle below you.
- Afternoon
Aven Armandabout 1 hA cavern 75 metres underground, first entered in 1897, big enough to hold Notre-Dame de Paris, with over 400 stalagmites up to 30 metres tall.
- Late afternoon
The Przewalski's horses of Le Villaretfree · about 30 minSince 1993 the Takh association has bred these horses, once extinct in the wild, on the windswept Causse Méjean, and returned several groups to Mongolia.
Where to sleep in the Tarn Gorges
- Hôtel Le Sully · €60 a night
- Cévenol Hôtel · €80 a night
- Hôtel des Causses · €85 a night
- Hôtel Burlatis · €95 a night
- Le Manoir de Montesquiou · €120 a night
- Hôtel Doussière · €85 a night
- Château de la Caze · €200 a night
- Château d'Ayres · €160 a night
- Château de Creissels · €155 a night
Plan this trip
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