Eco-tours France [L&M]

Tour Highlights

Key Facts

• Four-night tour, with arrivals any day from April to late October.
• Self-guided, light [L] or moderate [M] walking trails, with options to suit.
  
• All-inclusive transport tour, which commences and finishes in Alès near Nimes;
• Responsible travel in France using the Cévenol train
• Independent walking, with full and discreet support.
• Alternative access from Avignon, Montpellier or Marseille airports.

Please click the headings below or scroll down.

1. Theme
2. Model 4-night Eco-tours France
3. Accommodation
4. What's Included
5. Prices 2010
6. Booking

1. Theme

Eco-walking in France is a fascinating criss-cross journey across valleys and over viaducts on the "line of 100 tunnels." This is your chance to enjoy an eco-friendly walking holiday complemented by stimulating short train-rides along a mountain railway line. This standard-setting experience in responsible travel in France offers a multitude of hiking options that can be customised to your needs and interests once booked.

Le Cévenol is a diesel train linking Nîmes to Clermont-Ferrand. For those that want to get away from the car, there isn’t a better way to enjoy your walking than to participate in an eco-tour of a lifetime. Enjoy the picturesque scenery from your modern and comfortable SNCF seat, delight in the changing Cevennes landscape and get a sense of what you are about to experience upon arrival at your next destination - and with hiking options to suit!

Built over a century-and-a-half ago to facilitate the transport of wine and coal to Paris, the line bears testimony to man's engineering ingenuity as it wends its way up its course from Alès to Villefort to La Bastide, through innumerable tunnels and across some breathtaking viaducts. Eco-walking in France brings you memorable hiking in and around the land linked together by Le Cévenol.

The Cévenol is under threat from the axe of economic rationality, but has recently won a reprieve. So enjoy this national treasure now while it's still around, cherish the memories for ever and assist the future of eco-tours France!

Read our article on Le Cévenol.

Read our article on The Cévennes.

For a 7-night walking tour in France with the same theme, see Walks in France by Train

For an alternative approach to hiking the Cevennes, see Walking the Cevennes.

Day 1. Ales.

Arrival and hotel check-in. Explore the picturesque market town and enjoy a pre-tour welcome briefing at your hotel. Night in Ales.

Day 2. The Road to Pradelles.15 kms-10 miles.

Take the morning train to Langogne, check in and enjoy an historic hike to the fascinating medieval fortified town of Pradelles. Night in Langogne.

Day 3. Tour de l'Ardèche. Walk options from 6 kms-4 miles to 14 kms-9 miles.

Short morning train ride to La Bastide and hike to Notre Dame de Neige Abbey, celebrated for its liquor, or a section of the RL Stevenson trail.Night in La Bastide.

Day 4. Lake Villefort.Walk options from 7 kms-4 miles to 14 kms-9 miles.

Short morning train ride to Villefort. Today you enjoy a hike round the lake with optional extensions to the medieval village of Garde Guerin, Castanet castle or along the Mont Lozere trail. Night in Villefort.

Day 5. End of your responsible travel in France.

Transfer to train station after breakfast and train to Ales. Post hiking tour de-briefing followed by departure.

These locations are:
1. Ales;
2. Langogne;
3. La Bastide Puylaurent;
4. Villefort.

Click to go to Booking and Costs

For more fine photos of Le Cevenol Railway, please visit:

1. Train Cévenol
and
2. Edouard Paris' site
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