The Rough Guides Snapshot France: the Pyrenees is the ultimate travel guide to this mountainous region, and also includes coverage of the beguiling Basque country. It leads you through the region with reliable information and comprehensive coverage of all the sights and attractions, from surfing big waves in Biarritz and inspecting pre-historic paintings in the Ariège valley to taking a trip on the charming Petit Train Jaune and exploring dramatic Cathar castles in the Corbières. Detailed maps and up-to-date listings pinpoint the best cafés, restaurants, hotels, shops, bars and nightlife, ensuring you make the most of your trip, whether passing through, staying for the weekend or longer. The Rough Guides Snapshot France: the Pyrenees also covers Pau, Lourdes, the Vallée d'Aspe and Vallée d'Ossau, the Cirque de Gavarnie, the Comminges, the Val d'Ariège and Vallée de l'Aude, the Pays de Sault, Roussillon, Perpignan, the Côte Vermeille and the Vallée de Tech. Also included is the Basics section from the Rough Guide to France, with all the practical information you need for travelling in and around the country, including transport, food, drink, costs, health and festivals. Also published as part of the Rough Guide to France. The Rough Guides Snapshot France: the Pyrenees is equivalent to 84 printed pages.

The Pyrenees stand up as a natural wall of demarcation between two nations, the French and the Spaniards, just as the mountains of Dauphin� sever the French from the Italians. It has been remarked that these natural barriers are thrown up to part Romance-speaking peoples, whereas the mountain ranges sink to comparative insignificance between the French and the Germans. Over the Jura the French tongue has flowed up the Rhone to Sierre, above the Lake of Geneva, so the Spanish or Catalan has overleaped the Pyrenees in Roussillon, and the Basque tongue has those who speak it in both cis-Pyrenean and trans-Pyrenean Navarre. The Pyrenees are the upcurled lips of the huge limestone sea-bed, that at some vastly remote period was snapped from east to west, and through the fissure thus formed the granite was thrust, lifting along with it the sedimentary rocks.

A resource book covering the finest walks, treks and climbs in the High Pyrenees for 400km between France and Spain, from the Cirque de Lescun, on the edge of the Basque country in the west, to the Carlit massif and the Cerdagne to the east of Andorra. The book is divided into five regional chapters: the Western Valleys; Cirques and Canyons; the Central Pyrenees; Enchanted Mountains; and Andorra and the Eastern High Pyrenees. Intended as a resource book for those planning a range of mountain activities in the Pyrenees, the guide describes each area valley by valley, and provides information on access and accommodation, as well as recommended maps and guidebooks. Unlike a conventional walking book, detailed route descriptions are not included; the guide does, however, direct the reader to the finest walks, treks and climbs in the area and provide an outline of specially selected routes. An extensive introduction gives all the practical advice and information needed for planning a trip. It offers a background to the mountains and their exploration, and provides a snapshot of the range with sections that help the reader focus on specific areas of activity, and suggests where best to exercise that activity.

Fully revised guide for walkers in the Pyrenees mountains that border France and Spain Includes all the main trails in the French and Spanish Pyrenees from the six-week coast-to-coast GR10 hike to day walks from key access points Includes the Spanish GR