The Cévennes

1 h by car

Further west, explore the Cévennes, a land of resistance, marked by struggles including the Huguenots’ (Protestants) during the Camisard wars. The strength of the natural, wild beauty, the magnificent valleys and hills covered with chestnut trees, will take your breath away.

Portes castle (chateau-portes.org), designed in the form of flagship pointing towards the rebellious Cévennes, lets you dive into the history of this authentic place. You can follow up with a visit to the Desert Museum (museedudesert.com) which brings to life the history of Protestantism in the Cévennes.

Either on your way there or on your way back, stop at Anduze (famous worldwide for its pots), and visit the Bambouseraie de Prafrance (bambouseraie.com), the biggest bamboo park in Europe, created in the XIXth century). Then relive travel by steam train on the Cévennes railway linking Anduze and Saint-Jean-du-Gard. Not far from there, the Trabuc cave (grotte-de-trabuc.com) harbours an astonishing geological mystery named ‘the thousand soldiers’.