Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route in Comfort
Concise details on the Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route in Comfort tour can be obtained by downloading the tour pdf [right]. Alternatively, read the description below and click through the sub-headings in the right-hand column for information on getting to Le Puy and from Conques, accommodation, what’s included and costs.
Want to walk this trip solo? See Camino Solo®.
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Check out the independent customer reviews for the Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route tour at the foot of the page.
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Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route is the only section of this historic highway that we choose to promote as it offers the optimum experience and captures the essence of ‘El Camino’ in one two-week chunk. Forget about trekking all the way across the foggy and stormy Pyrenees and into Spain along endless monotonous highways.
If you only wish to walk a part of the legendary trail, then Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route is the segment to hike.
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Meet like-minded hikers and enjoy the comforts of our accommodation-led tour designed especially for those who like a good walk followed by fine food and home comforts in the excellent company of global peers.
Our 12-night hotel-based, Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route experience brings you:
- six 3-star hotels,
- four 2-star hotels,
- one welcoming countryside auberge, and
- a recently-refurbished walker’s inn with all mod-cons.
All hotels are on the trail.
Our guest house-led Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route trip sees you staying in the homes of families who quite literally live and breath the Camino. We aim to place you:
- Seven nights in charming chambres d’hotes,
- Two nights in 3-star hotels,
- One 2-star hotel,
- One welcoming countryside auberge, and
- a recently-refurbished walker’s inn with all mod-cons.
Once again, all accommodation is located on the trail itself. There is simply no better way to enjoy the experience. Their insight and enthusiasm is infectious – especially if you are able to speak a little French at meal times: the jokes are always the most difficult thing to understand!
Enjoy the best of the Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route sliced into bite-sized chunks. Revel in the experience of a life-time and at a modest pace designed to suit you. You get from A to B whilst chatting with others, admiring the views, absorbing the heritage-rich ambiance – and, of course, taking those abundant keep-sake photos.
Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route in Comfort also allows you to tailor the accommodation to suit your personal preferences, be they guest house or hotel-led. We will do our very best to maximise your chosen ‘format’ subject to availability bien sûr!
If you seek a fortnight’s total immersion in the best of rural France, then look no further than the best section of the Le Puy Route with complementary accommodation: Hiking Le Puy to Conques in confort.
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Price per person with 2 persons sharing double room:
£1165.00 Pounds Sterling or €1385.00 Euros
- 12 nights accommodation and tourist taxes
- 12 breakfasts and 9 evening meals.
- Luggage transfers¹ and two people transfers.
- Themed dossier, Hiking Insight Notes and 1: 50,000 maps. The route is very well way-marked.
- 7/7 telephone help-line service with native-English speakers from 8am to 8pm.
B.
Price per person with 2 persons sharing double room:
£1325.00 Pounds Sterling or €1575.00 Euros
What’s Included
• Extra nights: On Request
¹ You are entitled to take up to one piece of luggage per person weighing up to 13 kgs. Supplements are payable for extra or overweight luggage.
Note: we are able to arrange for your excess luggage to be securely stored for the duration of your tour and delivered to the final hotel before your departure. Please ask us for further details of this service if it is of interest to you.
• The option exists to combine days 4 & 5, thus forming an 11-night tour – please ask us for our advice. A short morning transfer option can also reduce the combined day’s length.
• Where we are unable to accommodate you in the desired hotel or guest house on a particular night, you will be placed in the equivalent guest house or hotel at that location. The price for that night will then be either reduced or increased on your final bill. Whereas hotels tend to have their own restaurants, guest houses may or may not offer an evening meal.
- The finest section of France’s Classic Pilgrimage trail.
- Hike across five historic regions and through Auverge, Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees.
- Choose from two high-level accommodation-led formats to suit you.
- Fine start – Le Puy en Velay and its World Heritage sites.
- Big Finish: the ‘Unesco’ medieval cité of Conques.
- 12-night, self-guided, inn-to-inn walking tour through rural France.
- moderate challenge, averaging 12 miles a day over a total of 134 miles/215 kms. Options to shorten or lengthen days to suit your agenda.
- Start any day, early-April to mid-October.
- Tour starts in Le Puy-en-Velay and finishes in Conques.
- Best access is from from Lyon: see “How to get to Le Puy” below.
- Carefully-selected and fine accommodation averaging ‘superior 2-star standard’ hotels, chambres d’hotes and auberges.
- Optional return transfer to Aumont-Aubrac or Le Puy at tour’s end – please ask us for details.
- Luggage transfers throughout.
- 12 nights accommodation
- 12 breakfasts and 9 evening meals.
- Luggage transfers¹ and transport integral to the programme.
- Themed dossier, Hiking Insight Notes and 1: 50,000 maps. The Way is very well way marked and we consider this scale map as entirely adequate for this particular trail.
- 7/7 Emergency telephone help-line service with native-English speakers from 8am to 8pm.
Notes:
¹ You are entitled to take up to one piece of luggage per person weighing up to 13 kgs. Supplements are payable for extra or overweight luggage.
Note: We are able to arrange for your excess luggage to be securely stored for the duration of your tour and delivered to the final hotel before your departure. Please ask us for further details of this service if it is of interest to you.
Not included:
Remaining meals and all drinks and extras;
personal expenses;
1: 25,000 scale maps: nine of these would be required to cover the tour, which we are happy to supply at a supplement;
entrances into any optional cultural visits and venues;
hiking, personal and travel insurances;
travel to Le Puy and from Conques.
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Arrival:
- Nearest airport or SNCF station is Lyon [3 hrs on TGV/High Speed Railway from Paris or Lille] with onward train journey to Le Puy via St Etienne (2 hrs 20 mins by Regional Railway/TER.).
- Next-best access is via Nimes or Montpellier airports, with onward TGV to Lyon – 30 and 60 minute journeys, respectively.
- Alternative option is via Clermont-Ferrand gare SNCF or airport, with onward TER regional train to Le Puy via St Etienne.
- By Car: leave your car in the central Le Puy car park – ask us for details.
These details are non-contractual and subject to change.
Please see:
https://www.sncf.com/en
or
the TER Site here (Regional railways).
or
https://www.rome2rio.com/
Departure:
• We can get you transferred back to Aumont-Aubrac, Le Puy-en-Velay or onto Figeac for easy onward travel. A taxi from Conques to Rodez airport may also be an option. Please reserve at time of booking. Please ask us for details.
• Aumont-Aubrac lies on the regional railway line that runs north-south connecting Clermont-Ferrand to Beziers. Onward transport leaves here from around 11am and takes approx. 2 hours to go north to Clermont-Ferrand or 3½ south to Beziers.
We have literally combed the trail to find the best accommodation that the Le Puy to Conques Way has to offer so that you enjoy the over-night stay as much as the hiking. We are thus delighted to bring you two options from which you can choose according to your own personal tastes:
- Hiking Le Puy to Conques [Guest house-led]
Sets out with the express aim of placing our customers in seven fine guest houses along the trail, complemented by other comfortable accommodations:
- Seven nights in charming chambres d’hotes,
- Two nights in 3-star hotels,
- One 2-star hotel,
- One welcoming countryside auberge, and
- a recently-refurbished walker’s inn with all mod-cons.
Bedrooms are all, of course, en suite and comfort levels are homely. The objective is to allow you to meet interesting travellers along The Way, who value the same comforts as you, and spend time with hosts who know the area and its history and enjoy sharing it with their guests.
The human factor and the personal touch is thus writ large in this option. Your hosts are accustomed to welcoming Anglophones into their homes although, as with anything in life, your extra effort will be handsomely rewarded and so practicing some French [however rudimentary] is highly recommended.
The homes are all located on the trail itself. Some of your hosts do not provide an evening meal, simply because the village in question offers a multitude of local options to suit most tastes less than 300 metres away.
Where we are unable to accommodate you in the desired chambres d’hotes on a particular night (i.e., it is already fully booked), you will be placed in the equivalent hotel. The price for that particular night will be adjusted upwards and be itemised on your bill. Whereas hotels tend to have their own restaurants, guest houses may or may not offer an evening meal.
- Hiking Le Puy to Conques [Hotel-led]
Allows you to experience the trail by day whilst focusing the evenings on you, your family and close companions. You set the social agenda in the welcoming environment of your hotel bar, restaurant or room. All hotels are on the trail.
Our hotel-led, French Camino experience brings you:
- six 3-star hotels,
- four 2-star hotels,
- one welcoming countryside auberge, and
- a recently-refurbished gites d’etape with all mod-cons.
This is the most popular stretch of France’s Le Puy Route and so early booking is advised. Nevertheless, availability is like a moving escalator and things can change from day to day. Our commitment is to bring you your preferred accommodation option, Hiking Le Puy to Conques [Guest house-led] or Hiking Le Puy to Conques [Hotel-led], in its purest form. However, we cannot guarantee that corresponding accommodation will always be available at each stage and so this cannot be a precondition of your booking. Where we are unable to accommodate you in the desired hotel stay on a particular night, you will be placed in the equivalent guest house. The price for that particular night will be reduced.
- Warm summers; mild and sunny spring & autumn
- Enjoy sub-alpine flora and volcanic plateau to schist valley topography.
- Cross three regions: Auverge, Languedoc-Roussilon and Midi-Pyrenees.
Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route in Comfort: Tour Itinerary
[All distances, times and elevation figures are approximate]
Day 1: Arrival in Le Puy en Velay. Steeped in Christian history, the monuments and squares of Le Puy merit your attention – get there early, check into your centrally-located 3-star hotel and have a good look around. Night in Le Puy.
Le Puy to St Privat.
[14½ miles-23½ kms, 7 hrs,
+600 ms -300 ms].
Across Haute Loire
Your hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route experience starts in la Place de Plot in the old city centre. Climb out of the Puy basin to the Velay Plateau and its volcanic cones and follow the trail above the Dolaizon river to St Christophe.
Cross the Devès, France’s largest basalt Plateau, via a series of charming villages and arrive at St Privat, with its Roman-style church and castle vestiges.
Night in St Privat d’Allier.
St Privat to Saugues.
[12 miles-19 kms, 6 hrs,
+600 ms -500 ms].
Beast of Gevaudan
You climb to a majestic belvedere before gaining Rochegude with its fine hillside chapel and castle ruins on the Velay-Gevaudan border.
Then descend into the Allier Gorge with its own ‘Pao de Açucar’ outcrop, cross the Eiffel bridge and climb up past the semi-troglodyte St Madeleine chapel. Enter the granite mountains of Margeride and descend to enchanting Saugues.
Night in Saugues.
Saugues to Le Sauvage
[12 miles-19½ kms, approx. 5½ hrs, +350ms -40ms]
‘Savage lunch’
The hamlet of La Clauze is dominated by its 12th century tower perched atop a vast granite outcrop.
Further on, the Virlange Valley is a treat and the climb up through the Ranchoulet woods never dull. Say hello to the friendly ‘wild horses’ before descending to Le Sauvage for refreshments and your transfer.
Second night in Saugues – it’s nice not to have to pack that case for once!
Le Sauvage to St Alban
[8 miles-13 kms, approx. 3½ hrs, +20ms -350ms]
Saint Roche
Designed as a rest day when hiking Le Puy to Conques, we start by returning you to Le Sauvage.
From there you climb to Hospitalet col and visit the Chapelle de Saint Roche before crossing into Lozere [Languedoc-Roussillon] and descending to St Alban and its Romanesque church.
Night in St Alban sur Limagnole.
The option exists to combine days 4 & 5 – please ask our advice. A short morning transfer option can also reduce the combined day’s length.
St Alban to Aumont-Aubrac.
[9 miles-14½ kms, 4 hrs,
+280ms -185ms.]
La Margeride
You finish crossing the granite Margeride and enter volcanic Aubrac. A short day full of fine and varied trails and boulder-speckled scenery.
Night in Aumont-Aubrac.
Aumont-Aubrac to Nasbinals
[16½ miles-26½ kms, 7½ hrs, +340ms -190ms]
Quatre Chemins
The longest day when Hiking Le Puy to Conques, you can shorten it with an after-breakfast transfer or by staying in Montgros. Please ask for details.
Today takes you to La Chaze de Peyre, with its splendid communal oven, then onto the charming Chapelle de la Bastide. Soon the forest gives way to enormous expanses of rolling green and cattle–laden pastures.
Night in Nasbinals.
Nasbinals to St Chely d’Aubrac.
[10½ miles-17 kms, 4½ hrs, +135ms -490ms.]
Le vieux pont
This World Heritage-rated walk is blessed with fabulous rolling hillsides before you descend to the village of Aubrac itself, a fine lunch-spot. Then descend into the Lot Valley and enjoy your over-nighter in charming St-Chely.
Night in St-Chely.
St Chely d’Aubrac to St Come-d’Olt – Guesthouse-based tour
[10 miles-16 kms in 4½ hrs with +200ms -650ms]
or
St Chely d’Aubrac to Espalion – hotel-led tour
[16 miles-25½ kms in 6½ hrs with approx. +245ms -840ms]
The Lot Valley
Cross the Unesco bridge and climb through several hamlets in Le Pays d’Olt before crossing the Cancels and descending through aged vines to the first glimpses of the delightful walled village of St Come on The Lot.
Night in St Come-d’Olt or push onto Espalion via either the riverside or the hillside route.
St Come-d’Olt to Estaing
[12½ miles-20½ kms, 5 hrs with approx. +460ms -500ms]
or
Espalion to Estaing
[hotel-led option at 7 miles-11 kms, 3½ hrs, with approx. +455ms -260ms]
Lot Valley
Choose between the high or the low road to Espalion. We traverse Le Rouergue along the left bank of the tranquille River Lot, pass the Chateau de Calmont before enjoying lunch at the charming village of Armagnac with its fine domaine.
Continue the oenology lesson upon arrival in Estaing, home to the late great Valery-Giscard and its Wine House and Museum.
Night in Estaing.
Estaing to Golinhac
[10 miles-16 kms, 5 hrs, +420ms -90ms]
Chemin des Croix
Your penultimate day of hiking Le Puy to Conques sees you enjoying a prolonged meander along the banks of the enchanting Lot before climbing Le Chemin des Croix to your comfy overnight resting place.
Night in Golinhac.
Golinhac to Conques
[13 miles-21 kms, 6½ hrs, +200ms -600ms]
Grande Finalé
Continue along Le Chemin des Croix before descending into the Ouche and Dourdou Gorges towards the medieval cité of ‘Concha’, a fine finish to a to a memorable tour.
Night in Conques.
Day 13: Departure day and end of your Hiking Le Puy to Conques – Le Puy Route experience Enjoy your breakfast, bon retour et a la prochaine! Please enquire about our transfers to Aumont-Aubrac, Le Puy or Figeac. Bonne continuation and we hope to see you next year.
Further Reading
Read our articles on:
Independent testimonials about The Enlightened Traveller can be read here:
- Arguably the best way to meet real people in France
- Choice of two types of excellent accommodation to meet your preference
- If you only ever walk one pilgrimmage route, this has to be the one to do!
- A mix of countryside trails and small rural tarmac roads - carry appropriate road-walking footwear!
- Toughish start - the first two days are the most challenging
- Don't blame us if you end up meeting your next partner en route!
The quintessential pilgrimmage in its 'best of' format with a choice of excellent accommodation to boot. So much more than just a hiking trail, all human life is found here, wandering happily in the same direction, each with their own reasons for doing so. Meeting them along 'The Way' is integral to this special experience. "
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