Pyrenees-Oriental Tourism

	The Cathar history of the region spoken about in the Da Vinci Code has left a considerable number of hilltop castles (chateaux forts as opposed to decorative chateaux such as Versailles) such as Quéribus Castle (where the Cathars made their last stand in 1256) across the road from Mas Camps, and Peyrepertuse (right) which is a little further along. Naturally, there is a considerable degree of uphill walking from the various visitor centres to the castles themselves. There is an entrance charge to most of these of around 5€ per person.
	Cycling. The region is host to sections of numerous cycle races including the Tour de France and the Tour de Languedoc-Roussillon (which, as you can see, passed directly in front of Mas Camps). In addition to the cycle races themselves, there are innumerable routes than can be taken by mountain bike either independently or on escorted tours. The cycling season runs roughly from September to early December, restarting in early January and running to early July when it gets a little too hot for cycling. We have cycles available for hire.
	Numerous festivals in various villages around the region such as this one in Tautavel (left) with a medieval theme and the annual Amorioles wine festival (right) held in Maury each July. Most of these village festivals are very poorly publicised but you can get an idea of the range of them from our events page and details of the wine-related ones at Vitisphere.
	Opportunities to learn French, with courses offered locally by Rousillanges among others.
	The mountainous nature of the landscape gives rise to a number of attractive gorges like Gouleyrous shown here and a wide variety of others slightly further afield. Gouleyrous is a very popular area for swimming in the Summer.
	There are fantastic motorbike routes all over the Pyrenees offering snaking roads in excellent condition with little traffic and great weather. If you'd like a local biker to show you around, Alistair from Pyrenees Adventures can point you in the right direction with self-guided tours or, if you wish, show you round some of the routes that make the most of the scenery all around us. Either way, you'll come across a lot of fellow bikers from the many who pass us each day to those you'll meet along the road and with secure storage of your bike during your stay at Mas Camps.
	From a somewhat earlier historical era, the village of Tautavel is where the 450,000 year old Tautavel Man was discovered. It hosts a museum and exhibition depicting the state of the landscape in his time. You can purchase discounted tickets for the Centre Européen de Préhistoire in Mas Camps.
	The two main tourist trains in the region are the red train which takes you from Rivesaltes through the Fenouilledes to Axat in a couple of hours and the Train Jaune which takes you through the mountain passes from Villefranche to Latour de Carol in around three hours for about 30€ return. These run all year but a good deal more frequently in the summer.
	Several walking routes cross the region. The Sentier Cathare takes you on a 12 day exploration of the history of the region taking you past the two nearby hilltop castles mentioned above in addition to several others (there is also a horseback variant of this route). Mas Camps itself played its part in history, being the site of one of the Templar encampments (Mas del Camps). We can arrange professionally guided walking tours showing you some of the sights such as Caramany lake (left) if you give us two or three days notice.
	Wine tasting in countless vineyards including our own Mas Camps with Mas Amiel, Château Sainte Roch and Mas Lavail among countless others just across the road. Mas Camps is one of the few wineries to provide accommodation which makes us a popular base for the professional wine buyers.
	and, of course, the views of the Pyrenees which surround you in the other activities.

Within an hour of Mas Camps

	Abbeys such as the hilltop Abbey St Martin pictured here. It takes about an hour of uphill walking to reach this so you need to be relatively fit. The tours (only in French) cover four areas of the abbey and take a rather tedious hour, the last one starting at 5pm in the summer.
	Canet Plage (left, the closest beach to Perpignan) and numerous other beaches, all the way down to Spain in fact. You will also find the usual variety of water parks along the coastline and in summer the full range of water sports is on offer. Whilst most of the French beach resorts close down almost entirely towards the end of September, Banyul-sur-Mer always seems to have something going on right throughout the year such as the weekend long festival of the oranges in January.  The only downside of the village seems to be that it takes ages to pass through it when one of their larger festivals is in full swing.
	More castles such as this one at Salses and Fitou. Those not on hilltops are considerably more accessible as they do not require a climb to reach them. Most charge around 5€ per person and some have shops stocking an excellent range of texts on the medieval history of the region.
	The Gorges de Galamus which have the Hermitage of St Antoine built into the cliff-face. These are a short drive from St Paul de Fenouillet.
	Picturesque medieval villages such as Eus (pictured here) and Evol. In the off-season the gift shops in the smaller villages only open in the afternoon (usually from 3pm). The beautiful walled village of Castelnou which offers you a fairly complete medieval village including a small castle. The village itself is well maintained and is filled with little craftshops producing beautiful products such as these marriage and christening eggs at L'Oeuf Surprise. In contrast to the larger Villefranche, it remains quite lively out of season. There is a lively market on Tuesdays from June to September beside the church just outside the village gate. Most of the craftshops remain open in the afternoons throughout the Winter.
	Medieval monasteries such as this one at Serrabone which is on one of the compostella walking routes. It's best to visit Serrabone on a calm day because it gets very, very windy as you approach the hilltop. Serrabone has a beautiful botanical garden.
	The rock formations of Les Orgues near the lovely town of Ille-sur-Tet. There is a charge if you want to see them up close but you can get an excellent view of them from the road that runs above the town.
	Roman ruins such as this aqueduct at Ansignan and the uncovered Roman road in the centre of Narbonne.
	Perpignan, the main city in the area and capital of the Pyrenees-Oriental. Whilst not a large city per se, it is the southernmost French city on the French mainland and something of a crossroads. Salvador Dali called the railway station "the centre of the universe" in the last century but I suspect that you will wonder why when you see it. The centre is largely pedestrianised witxh a useful free bus ("Le Pet't Bus") taking in most of the central section. Throughout the summer season there are almost daily events at various venues around the city and in September Perpignan is host to Visa pour L'Image, the international festival of photo journalism.
	Prades where you can visit the Pablo Casals Museum and experience a series of festivals throughout the Summer from the Romanesque Days in early July, followed by the Film Festival and finally the Pablo Casals chamber music festival taking you up to mid-August (see our events page for more details). The ancient abbey of St Michel de Cuxa is on the edge of the town.
	The Sigean wildlife park is a short drive north along the coast from us.
	Spain. If you would like a taste of Spain, Figueres with its Dali Museum is probably your best bet, although for scenery, Port Bou via the stunning 90 minute costal route is hard to beat (you can return via Llança and the motorway in under an hour).
	The walled town of Villefranche-de-Conflent dating from 1092AD with the overlooking Castle Liberia (there is a free shuttle up to the castle which saves a steep climb). Sadly, you can't currently walk along the ramparts whilst much needed restoration work is being carried out. We can arrange guided tours if you give us three days advance notice.

Within two hours of Mas Camps

	Barcelona, well worth a trip, though do it by train as the city runs on for quite a bit if you're arriving by car. The city offers excellent shopping and a fantastic old city at the centre. Among the major shopping centres are Baricentro (pictured here) and Glòries. If you are heading for the airport, you need to look very, very carefully for the road signs as most are immediately before the various junctions, further complicated by the need to get from one side to the other of a five lane highway with virtually no notice (it's also very, very difficult to get back on track once you miss a turnoff).
	Beziers with it's impressive series of locks on the Canal du Midi. It's possible to go on short (or long) cruises along the canal (thoroughly recommended for a very different view of the countryside at a much slower pace).
	Cadaqués, the former home of Salvador Dali and numerous other artists. Parking is a nightmare in the height of Summer but the village is still lively out of the main tourist seasons when you have more opportunity to enjoy the narrow cobbled streets and numerous restaurants.
	The walled city of Carcassonne. This looks much better from a distance than it does close-up as they overdid the renovation in the 1800s so inside you'd think you're in Disneyland rather than a real walled city. As you can see, most of the streets are filled with souvenir shops and restaurants along with a number of museums and, of course, you can visit the castle at the centre of the city.
	Various sites of the Da Vinci Trail such as Montségur and Rennes-le-Chateau (left).
	Foix, a very charming and picturesque medieval town is about 90 minutes from Mas Camps.
	Montpellier, supposedly the city most French people would like to live in. It's a bit like a warmer version of Paris with an equally confusing road layout.
	If you want a taste of Spain, Figueres with the Dali Museum is probably your best bet. However, for scenery, the stunning 90 minute coastal route to Port Bou is hard to beat.
	Ski resorts, including Capcir, Espace Cambre d'Aze, Font-Romeu and Les Angeles (pictured) among many others. Mas Camps is close enough to make a ski break a practical proposition and one that is cheaper than staying in accommodation within the ski resorts.
	Toulouse, home of Airbus. If you want to tour the aircraft factory, you will need to book about a week ahead. Make sure you book the English language tour unless you are brilliant at numbers in French.
	The walled military town of Mont Louis (still used by the commandoes over 300 years after its construction!) is a good deal larger than the medieval villages but rather more modern inside (other than the walls there isn't a great deal of medieval nature to see). The solar oven (just visible over the wall to the left of the photo) is an example of how little the medieval structures have been maintained here.
	Not to mention such sights such as this unusual group of skiers at Saillagouse.

Within three hours of Mas Camps

	Andorra, the ski-ing and shoppers paradise. Since Andorra isn't in the European Union, there are customs posts on the way out (or rather on the into France and Spain) although they appear to totally ignore all cars except, sometimes, those with a French or Spanish number plate.
	The Millau Bridge, on the A75 Paris to Barcelona highway, the quickest way to reach us by car from northern Europe and is tollfree, aside from the bridge itself (€4.50 and €2 more in summer). Millau is a nice town but not really worth the 3 hours that it can take to get to it via the valley that the bridge spans.

Climate

When should you come to the Pyrenees Oriental? That depends on what you would like to do here as the range of activities on offer make it an almost year-round holiday destination.

January through to March is primarily the time for winter sports and most accommodation outside the ski resorts is closed over that period.

Late February is the start of the rambling season with some quite extended sunny periods although you should be prepared for sudden downpours if you are coming early in the year.

From May through to September we get the typical Mediterranean weather. The grape harvest is in September.

Although it does get cooler, it is often t-shirt weather right up until November.

 

Guides

Pyrenees Tourism have quite a reasonable website though the English is very flakey.

Depending on exactly where you're going you'll find either the Rough Guide to the Pyrenees or their Languedoc & Roussillon guide the best.

If you're travelling further afield in France, Lonely Planet France, is an excellent reference-book style guide. The Rough Guide France is less encyclopaedic and you may find it easier to use.

In terms of activity guides there is a wide choice: Lonely Planet Cycling France, Independent Walker's Guide to France and Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees to name but a few. Watersports don't have a specialised guide but are on offer on the Mediterranean coast in the Summer.

For maps, you could go for the Michelin Tourist & Motoring Atlas but unless you're going well off the beaten track, you'll probably find that their Mini Atlas is much more practical (if you're flying, the larger version is far too big to bring anyway). In terms of online maps, www.mappy.com seems to give the best coverage of France and it also gives reasonable driving directions.

How to get here...

... is described in our transport section, but briefly you can fly to Perpignan (15 minutes away), Carcassonne, Girona or Toulouse (about 90 minutes distant), Barcelona (2 hours), take the TGV to Perpignan, or, of course, drive here.

 

 

Practical tips

Buying a house. If you are intending a purchasing trip, ask us about our experiences and we'll try not to put you off. Prices are starting to rise but it's still possible to buy a reasonable village house here for 50,000€. If you're hoping to buy a house or live here, checkout our living in France pages. There are several estate agents in Estagel; First Immo is the only one on the internet. If you'd like an English estate agent, you could try Med and Mountain  who are about 30 minutes away. We bought our place through Beautiful South; Eve is French but speaks very good English. Although you can just turn up at their offices, we recommend that you make appointments before you come to make the most of your time. We also recommend that you prepare a short description of the type of house you want and what sort of area it would be in; we found that to be very useful (you can see it at www.mascamps.com/ideal.htm ).

Car Rental. If you want away in a hurry in a rented car either run from the plane, or use someone other than Avis, Europcar or Hertz (this isn't a slight on their speed of processing, just that they're very popular and have big queues at Perpignan when a flight lands). However, if you want the cheapest car rental that we could find in Perpignan (and we checked them all), click on the link on our transport page.

Credit/Charge cards. Even if you have a PIN enabled card (ie a credit/debit card with a chip on it), it will usually not work in automated services in France, notably in train/metro stations and 24 hour petrol stations (the autoroutes are the only notable exception to this rule). Often you will need to show your passport in addition to your credit card in shops. If a machine says that it only accepts Carte Bleue without having a Visa/Mastercard sign as well then if it's a cash machine it will probably accept Visa/Mastercard but if it's some kind of purchasing machine then it probably requires a French card. This situation is slowly changing as the global chip standard is rolled out in France and sometimes a PIN is required for foreign cards. American Express and Diners Club aren't widely accepted.

Debit cards. It's best not to rely totally on a debit card (ie Maestro or Visa Electron) as they don't always work in shops. We've yet to come across an Australian Maestro card that works reliably. Neither Maestro nor Visa Electron work in the toll booths.

Discover cards. As far as I can tell, these don't work at all in Europe.

Diesel/petrol. Diesel is the same as Gasole. It's definitely not the same thing as Sans Plomb (unleaded)! As noted above, unless you've got a French debit card, your credit/debit card definitely won't work in a 24 hour automated petrol station so bear in mind that almost all petrol stations in France shut on Sundays (except on the motorways).

Euros. It's cheaper to get euros in France than convert it before you go. There's a cash machine about 100 yards to your right as you leave the airport building in Perpignan and there is at least one machine in the airports of Barcelona, Carcassonne, Girona and Toulouse. Almost all UK banks change about 1.5% to 2% charge with a minimum of £1.50 or £2 for each cash advance plus 2.25% to 2.75% charge to convert the currency, therefore it's better to withdraw €100 or more at a time. The exceptions are Nationwide (no charges for currency conversion and on their debit card withdrawals are free) and Global Alliance banks (no withdrawal charges from BNP machines for customers of Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Westpac). There's no additional charge to use your credit/debit card in shops (they usually have a minimum credit card purchase of 10€). Personally, I never bother with travellers cheques but if you do, the Post Office don't charge any commission (although they do charge, via the exchange rate they offer).

French. Don't make your first question "Parlez-vous Anglais?". This seriously annoys some French people. They don't mind if your French is rubbish so long as you give it a go. In fact, the worse you are, the more likely it is that they will try their english. If you're intending to become fluent, try out your local Alliance Française for conversation courses and the Open University to get your French grammar sorted out (the OU literature claims that a GCSE/O-level in French is the entry requirement for their L120 course but in reality A-level conversation is required). In practice you will find that most French in cities speak at least some English; this isn't always the case in the country.

 

Mas Camps, Route de Maury, 66460 Maury Tel: 04 68 29 10 77 (UK: 0871 919 6551; USA/Canada: 1-800-571-6392; International: 00 33 468 29 1077). Fax: 04 68 29 16 28. e-mail: web@mascamps.com

Last revised: November 09, 2005. Copyright 2003-2005 John Arnold Stewart

website design by