Camping La Rouveyrolle

Within a five-kilometre hike, bike ride or drive, you'll reach the petrified forest of rocks and white oak making up the spectacular Païolive wood. A trip here with a camera is highly recommended: locals call this place the forest of the fairies because of how the mix of rocks and vegetation in this huge labyrinth forms in structures such as lions and bears. After that, it's car time to reach the famed Pont d'Arc (15 kilometres), the 54-metre stone bridge carved out by the Ardèche river, making up the natural entrance to the Ardèche Canyon. Canoeing and kayaking are rightly popular here, as is a root around the nearby Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, with prehistoric paintings so extensive that the cave's been called a prehistoric Sistine Chapel. Another much-visited cave in the Aven d'Orgnac is close by, four kilometres from the Gorges de l'Ardeche and 20 from Camping La Rouveyrolle. Discovered in 1935, it's one of the biggest caves in the world and was promptly classified as a Grand Site of France. It's open to the public for guided tours all year round; the Museum of Prehistory tells its tale at the cave's entrance. For a slightly more sedate time, visit three mighty pretty villages in these parts: Balazuc (20 kilometres), Vogue (25 kilometres) and Aigueze (30 kilometres).