The Rough Guide to the Pyrenees is the only guidebook available to the entire region, covering both the French and Spanish sides of this spectacular region, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. A full-colour section introduces the author''s pick of the attractions, from relaxing in the picturesque spa towns to watching the Tour de France wind up the mountains. There are detailed listings of the best places to eat, drink and stay, from boutique hotels in Biarritz to the most remote mountain refuges. For the outdoor enthusiast there are exhaustive accounts of the walking and climbing routes available and information on the host of other activities available, including skiing, paragliding, rafting, cycling and horse riding. There is also expansive coverage of all the cultural highlights including the prehistoric cave art at Ariege and an accesible history of the region from prehistory to the current day.

Written by expert travel-writers with more than 40 titles to their name, Bradt’s Gascony & the Pyrenees is the only current English-language guide to the entirety of this fascinating, relatively under-visited and consequently affordable region of southwest France. Offering advice on where to stay and eat with what to do and see, this new guide provides everything you need for an enjoyable, fulfilling visit. In Gascony, everyone can find their own adventure. Surfers can ride Atlantic waves at Hossegor and Mimizan. Sun-seekers can loll on the Landes’ beaches, then stretch their legs by climbing Europe’s tallest sand dune, the Dune du Pilat. Hikers can trek high into the Pyrenees to gawp at majestic cirques, while those less energetic can go on a donkey-backl. Families can bike along numerous backways, while cycling buffs cheer on the professionals during the Pyrenees stage of the Tour de France. Activity enthusiasts aside, the region will delight anyone who craves a slower-paced holiday in beautiful natural landscapes. Culture buffs can linger in the coastal art havens of Collioure, Port- Vendres and Céret, or discover Palaeolithic cave art at Niaux and Le Mas-d’Azil. Pilgrims can follow the path to Lourdes. Fans of the bizarre can visit Salvador Dali’s ‘centre of the universe’ (Perpignan train station) or La Pourcailhade, the pig festival of Tri-sur-Baïse. Urbanites can enjoy the splendours of Perpignan, Bayonne, Biarritz and Auch, or take it down a notch at medieval Catalan villages. For quirky retail therapy, shopaholics can browse the espadrilles for which Mauléon is famed or the berets synonymous with Oloron-Sainte-Marie. Gourmets will delight in the quality of local cuisine, from cèpe mushrooms and poulet au pot to a flock of duck-based dishes. Cocooned within quiet, natural settings, yoga practitioners can calm mind and body with various wellness therapies. And whatever floats your boat, everyone can relax in some of the hundreds of personally recommended places to stay – from charming inns and spas to restored medieval stables, and even the astronomers’ dormitories at the Pic du Midi. All conveyed through the intimate expert insights that characterise Bradt’s Gascony & the Pyrenees.

This original study examines different incarnations of the Pyrenees, beginning with the assumptions of 18th-century geologists, who treated the mountains like a laboratory, and romantic 19th-century tourists and habitués of the spa resorts, who went in search of the picturesque and the sublime. The book analyses the individual visions of the heroic Pyrenees which in turn fascinated 19th-century mountaineers and the racing cyclists of the early Tour de France. Martyn Lyons also investigates the role of the Pyrenees during the Second World War as an escape route from Nazi-occupied France, when for thousands of refugees these dangerous borderlands became 'the mountains of liberty', and considers the place of the Pyrenees in recent times right up to the present day. Drawing on travel writing, press reports and scientific texts in several languages, The Pyrenees in the Modern Era explores both the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees to provide a nuanced historical understanding of the cultural construction of one of Europe's most prominent border regions. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Europe's cultural history in a transnational context.