2 Best Sights in Gavarnie, The Basque Country, Gascony, and Hautes-Pyrenees

This dramatic natural gap is located 12 km (7 miles) west of the village of Gavarnie. Take D923 up to the Col des Tentes, where you can park and walk five hours up to the Brèche de Roland Glacier (you cross it during the last two hours of the hike). For a taste of mountain life, have lunch high up at the Club Alpin Français's Refuge la Brèche de Roland–Sarradets, at an altitude of just under 8,500 feet. This is a serious climb, only doable from mid-June to mid-September, for which you need (at the very least) good hiking shoes and sound physical conditioning. Crampons and ice axes can be rented in Gavarnie.

A spectacular natural amphitheater, the Cirque de Gavarnie has been dubbed the "Colosseum of Nature" and inspired many writers, including Victor Hugo. At its foot is the village of Gavarnie, a good base for exploring the region's mountains. Thanks to glacial erosion, the Cirque is a Cinerama wall of peaks and a daunting challenge to mountaineers. Horses and donkeys, rented in the village, are the traditional way to reach the head of the valley (though walking is preferable). When the upper snows melt, numerous streams tumble down from the cliffs to form spectacular waterfalls; the greatest of them, the Grande Cascade, drops nearly 1,400 feet.