Aquitaine walking tours - Aquitaine bike tours

Aquitaine is located along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, Lot et Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes and Gironde.

In the Middle Ages, Aquitaine was a kingdom and later a duchy, with boundaries considerably larger than the modern ones.

Aquitaine highlights 

See here our self-guided tours in Aquitaine

See here our guided tours in Aquitaine

• Rich Natural Heritage : the Atlantic Ocean coastline and its sandy endless beaches , the “Landes de Gascogne Natural Park” and its largest pine forest in Europe,the Pyrenees mountains and its Regional Natural Park , the Bordeaux vineyards, the Dordogne and Vezere Valleys.

• Rich Historical Heritage : the renowned prehistorical sites of the Vezere Valley in Perigord, the 18^th century elegance of Bordeaux, the Belle Epoque-style sea resorts, a great number of beautiful villages ; exceptional architecture, castles and abbeys, perched villages in Perigord.

• Winegrowing areas around Bordeaux but also in Bergerac or Jurançon areas.

• Southwestern  cuisine is renowned: fish and sea fruits along the coastline but also foie gras and duck confit in Perigord, Landes and Gascony.

Bearn

In the Aquitaine Region, Béarn is a former province of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet. Along with the Basque provinces of Soule, Lower Navarre, and Labourd, the principality of Bidache, as well as small parts of Gascony, it forms in the southwest the current département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The capitals of Bearn is Pau.

The Pays Basque (or Basque Country)

The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country constitutes the north-eastern part of the Basque Country and the western part of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. It is delimited in the north by the department of Landes, in the west by the Bay of Biscay, in the south by the southern Basque Country and in the east by the Bearn. Bayonne and Biarritz are its chief towns.

Basques describe the northern Basque Country as the union of three "French provinces" in the northeast of the traditional Basque Country: Basse-Navarre, Labourd and Soule. Its Basque name is Iparralde ("Northern Side") while the part of the Basque Country located in Spain is called Hegoalde ("Southern Side"). According to an inquiry of 2006, 22.5% were bilinguals (French-Basque), 8.6% were French-speakers who understand Basque, and 68.9% were not Basque-speakers.

The Gironde or Bordeaux Region

Bordeaux is really worth the visit with no less than 347 monuments and 1800 ha on the Unesco Heritage List. Bordeaux is located on the Way of Saint James on the Vezelay Route.

The surroundings are famous all over the world with so prestigious vineyards and Wine Domains : Saint Emilion, Entre Deux Mers, Medoc, Pauillac,...

If you go westwards, the Arcachon Bay and the Ocean will welcome you with oysters and a glass of White Wine.

The landscape is really charming with pine forests and vineyard hillsides and the Garonne estuary.

The Perigord or Dordogne department.

The Perigord  which architectural heritage is made up of numerous and varied medieval fortified towns, hilltop villages, castles, abbeys and mills, is also a paradise as far as cooking is concerned with foie gras and confits specialties.

The hilly and green landscape is ideal for walking ot cycling tours. 

The rich culture started 400000 years ago during prehistory and the first habitats of Human beings : a great numbers of prehistoric caves and sites are the witness of this period.