Walking and Walks in Languedoc Roussillon, South France

Languedoc has more walks than you can shake a walking stick at

Long-distance walking:

You'll find no shortage of walks and rambling in Languedoc Roussillon, South France. There a quite a few 'official' long-distance walks that criss-cross the Languedoc region, so we've picked out what we feel are probably the 2 most famous.

The first is the Sentier Cathar (the Cathar Trail) - which begins at the sea and goes west in 12 stages, along the foothills of the Pyrenees, past cathar castles, to Foix in neighbouring Midi-Pyrénées region. This route is also popular with horse-riders.

The second Languedoc walking route is the official European long-distance footpath 'E4' which crosses into Languedoc in the south over the Pyrénées, and winds its way through the Black Mountains around St Pons, up through the Cevennes and then on across the Rhone river into Provence.

The French take their walking pretty seriously, and have marked out literally thousands of walks across the Languedoc, most between 1 and 3 hours in length. Painted markings on trees and rocks help to make sure you don't get lost. All of these walks are listed in the 'Topo Guides' ('Topo-guide des Sentiers de Randonee) - available at most tourist offices in villages.

We'd recommend you stay inside the 'foothills' areas (see our Geography page to see these areas on a map) as they offer really beautiful rolling hills and vineyards - rather than the flat coastal areas or steep mountain areas.

Find good walking routes:

There are walking maps available which have in-depth information about great walking routes in the Languedoc. Browse through them in our bookstore.