Hi All; I am making final preperations for our trip to France in September. One of our stops will be three nights in Prades. We want to do a eight hour hike. One thought is to park in Casteil and walk to 'the abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou.' Seeing the abbey is a must for us. However, that should take less than an hour. There is a trail that procedes up the mountain. My questions would be; 1. What is the difficulty? 2. Does the trail go well beyoud the abbey? My Eyewitness Travel' guide only says that the abbey can be best viewed from above by following the path. Great for picture taking. But we want to go higher. THANKS Iris

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Yes, there is a trail, not directly from the abbey, but from the village below the abbey. It is called "Route Mariailles" and lead eventually to a refuge named Mariailles. From there, there is a short trail to Pic du Canigou.

I personally have climbed the Canigou not from the north but from the south. But the area is barren, easily to overview, and the trails there are fairly easy (usually no climbing).

You might be interested in this web site:

http://tinyurl.com/6lter5

Walking from Casteil to Saint Martin du Canigou and back will take you closer to 2 hours than one.

If you want to take the Mariailles trail, you'll need 7 hours to reach the Canigou : 3 hours from Casteil to the refuge (easy) and 4 hours from the Refuge to the Canigou (more difficult).
You can also drive from Casteil to the Mariailles refuge and start from there.

From Vernet-les-Bains or Prades, you can go by Jeep (your hotel in Prades will give you the companies' name and address) to the Cortalets refuge. Walking from the refuge to the top of Canigou takes approx 2 hrs (easy).

THANKS traveller1959 THANKS michael, good web site and THANKS pvoyageuse, good information and that could be our eight hour round trip. This may be a 'dumb' question, 'baren' is OK, but is it scenic? BEST Iris

Canigou scenic? definitely. You get a 360° view over Roussillon (the plain!) and the Pyrenees and on clear days you can see the Mediterranean sea.

BTW, the Mariailles trail is 7 hours ONE WAY from Casteil.

Hi Pvoyageuse; Of course, a 'dumb' question. Thanks for your response. Iris

Hello; We have looked a many restaurants and have a few ideas. But would welcome suggestions for moderately priced restaurants. Our hotel for three nights in Prades is castellrose-prades.com We will have dinner in 'Prades' our first night. The second night will be in 'Villefranche-de-Conflent' and the third night, the location is still undecided. THANKS Iris

Restaurants :

In Prades :
Le Jardin d'Aymeric
3 avenue du Général de Gaulle

The restaurant of Hotel Hostalrich, 158 avenue du Général de Gaulle is very reasonable.

In Codalet (2 km from Prades)
L'Hostal de Nogarols
Chemin de Nogarols

In Molitg - if you want to splurge :
Château de Riell
Les Thermes

In Villefranche de Conflent :
Auberge Saint-Paul
7 rue de l'Eglise
Excellent - the chef is a woman !

In Vernet-les-Bains (it is the restaurant of the hotel/restaurant vocational school). Do make a reservation one or two days before.
Au Comte Guifred de Conflent
Avenue des Thermes
Tel.04 68 05 51 37

Bon appétit !

Pvoyageage; MERCI; We used a lot of information you gave us before on our Mount Canigou climb. Our intent is to climb to the 'abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou', visit the abbey and then walk higher. On our return, we will then go to Villefranche-de-Conflent and enjoy the village. That night we will have dinner at the restaurant you suggest. Our first night in Prades, we will be coming from Lyon, with a stop in Pezenas and will not arrive until late in the afternoon. We will chose one of the restaurants you suggest in Prades. A 'splurge' for our final night would work, but will check the menu and prices on line. MANY THANKS Iris