The Ardèche is a playground full of opportunities when it comes to knowing what to see, what to do and where to go. Whether you want to visit caves, beautiful scenery to explore on foot, longer bike routes, rivers for kayaking or canoeing, or simply to spend time enjoying the flora and fauna.

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Cycling

Most of the time, the Tour de France crosses the Ardèche, regularly running the length of the Ardèche gorge, a few years ago, as a time trial. It crosses the Ardèche for a reason: the hills and the natural beauty of the landscape.

 

In addition to the Tour, at the end of June every year, we have the Ardèchoise. According to the organisers, "L'Ardechoise is the must-see cycling event of the month of June. With an average of 15,000 cyclists, it is the top European cycling event on mountain roads ". But why just see it when you can do it? If you are a keen cyclist check out on your cycle app the possibilities here.

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Cave visits

The caves in the Ardeche are simply extraordinary. The caves in the Ardeche represent the earliest known origins of mankind and the earliest known drawings in the world dating back 35,000 years. The Chauvet cave is considered so significant in this regard that it has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status. All these caves can be visited using Mas de la Giralde as your base. More information and links

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Wine tasting

Wine is an important part of French living as well as the French economy. The Ardeche is a relatively wild department yet there are still plenty of vineyards, caves, and domaines where wine-tasting can be enjoyed.

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Canoe/Kayak

Mas de la Giralde is situated in the foothills of the Ardeche mountains. As a result, there are many different rivers within what seems like an impossibly small area. 

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The Ardeche river with its famous gorges, the Chassezac, the Beaume, and others. Each of these provides canoeing and kayaking opportunities for all sorts of skill levels. There are many different companies that hire canoes and kayaks for ½ day, day or multi-day trips. The ultimate is the descent of the Ardeche gorge through the Pont d’Arc leading into the Natural Park. Looking into the gorge from the road above is a visual wow; a trip down the gorge by canoe/kayak hits all your senses in one go... More information and links

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Walking/Hiking

How far to do want to walk? How many different walks do you want? Mountains? Hills? Flat? There is no limit to how many or how far, many on routes where you are unlikely to meet anyone else, well maybe a mountain goat or two! Several different circuits can be started at Mas de la Giralde.

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Canyoning

Again, with so many rivers to choose from there are lots of locations for canyoning, mostly further upstream. 

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Climbing/Via Ferrata

Due to the nature of the rock and the age of the rivers there are many opportunities to go climbing or to a via ferrata, 

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Wild swimming

The southern Ardeche has many rivers with many access points to beaches by the water's edge. Several such sites are little known and little used. Other than during periods of extreme dryness or when water levels are higher than normal rivers can be used for swimming. If you are staying at Mas de la Giralde please ask Nick and Fiona where to find them!