Driving in the Pyrennees
 

My friend and I will be travelling from Toulouse to Biarritz in early June. We were thinking of taking the train one-way (to Biarritz) and renting a car for the drive back, so that we can explore the area more freely. What's it like driving through the mountains? Does one need nerves of steel?

I picked up my Kemwel lease/buyback car in Toulouse. I spent time over to the coast and then down along Spanish border and up to Sarlat and then on to Biarritz. Left car in Biarritz and flew back to CDG and home. No problems driving in the mountains...........sometimes a bit of fog.

Beware if you get off the main roads, my wife and I did a detour and found ourselves on a VERY mountainous road with no way of turning around, no guard rails and sheer drops, beyond scary.

Yeiks!!!

Does anyone have experience with inter-city buses in the area?

Night time was scary, no lights. The mountains had netting thank goodness, as we drove back from The Guggenheim Museum and it was raining and stormy.

Unless you choose to do so, the drive from Biarritz to Toulouse goes through the foothills of the Pyrenees at most. You would have to do a serious detour to go through the mountains.

Thanks Michael, that's somewhat reassuring. However, we plan to drive into several villages along the way (off N 117) Places like Bagnères de Bigorre, Gavarnie, St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Ainhoa, Sare, etc. etc. I'm assuming this would mean driving through the mountains, am I right? What would the level of difficulty be, in daylight? I'm a fairly confident driver, but I'm not sure about steep, winding, unknown roads.

Louanne,

Unless you make a serious effort to go up into the mountains, you will be mostly on the plane or in gently rolling hills. (If you are on the mountain roads with serious climbs, you almost certainly will have to deal with bicycle teams training for the Tour de France.)

But, for the most part, the roads run north to south, not east to west. When we toured that area several years ago, we found we had to do a fair amount of planning to get from west to east.

As you climb at any altitude, the chance of rain and fog does increase. If you feel uncomfortable, you can, as we did, find a place to pull out and wait for someone to come by to lead you along the road.

There is also a good Autoroute (A 64)running between Toulouse and Biarritz. You could use that and turn south to the St. Bertrand, Bagneres de Louchon and other destinations without losing an excessive amount of time going back and forth to the Autoroute.

Gavarnie is definitely in the mountains and at the end of a very narrow road. But it's worth the trip if you are willing to hike to the Cirque.

Jeff, good point about the training for the Tour. I never considered the number of cyclists that might be on the road. I was pleased to see that the gite we will be staying at in May is in Gan, scheduled as a stop on the Tour this year on Bastille Day.

We've driven in the Alps amid the cyclists a month after the Tour, will the Pyrenees be crawling (uphill only) with cyclists in May??

I did have one harrowing driving experience in the Alps and I would really hate to be the reason a leading cyclists never made it to the start of the Tour due to an encounter with me ;;)

louanne, you might want to consider what it will be like sharing the narrow roads with those crazy cyclist ;;) Deborah

We drove many of the roads this past July, in daylight, and I didn;t think they were that "scary."

In the actual mountain area the scenery is quite wonderful.

This is not like driving straight UP, etc. I would go for it. You won't regret it.

DeborahAnn,

My guess, repeat guess, is that May is too early for much training in the Pyrenees.

Jeff

whew, the cyclists should be safe then. What a relief ;;) I thought it might be early, but we will be there the end of May and professional cyclists have to be a little crazy!!!

thanks, Deborah

Leaving the main roads (Departementales and Nationales)would be problematic though, woudn't it?

You have to really make an effort to leave the main roads. Look at a Michelin map, and you will see that most tourist sites are either on red (nationale) or yellow (important départementale) roads. That said, the roads will still be mountain roads: twisting and narrow.

Ainhoa, Sare,Espellette and St-Jean Pied e Port are in low, rolling mountains, which are more like foothills. The Western(Pays Basque) terrain of the Pyrennes is much gentler than the section to the east. Read wwww.maribelsguides.com Pays Basque for this section. We loved the Pays Basque.