Camping Le Verdier

Swimming and fishing in the Gardon river next to the site are the first highly recommended pursuits from here; after that, lace up your boots made for walking and get along to the excellent Robert Louis Stevenson Trail six kilometres away, a long length of path among spectacular Cévennes countryside once traversed by the writer. With a donkey. (True: see the unmysteriously-named Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes to leaf through the tale.) And speaking of the Cévennes. Ride the area's steam train from the nearby town of Saint-Jean-du-Gard (10 kilometres) another 10 kilometres or so to Anduze, a pretty medieval town with a Thursday morning market. Just outside town, the gardens at Cordeliers Parc are a top pick for a sunshiney day. From Anduze, trot along to the Grotte de Trabuc (15 kilometres) and its sight of several thousand small 'soldiers' (structures like stalactites standing together). If you want to travel a bit further, the two spectacular settings of the Gorges de l'Ardeche and the Gorges du Tarn are within 50 kilometres of the cave's local town of Mialet. Still hungry for more? Try a ride on the Vélorail des Cévennes (20 kilometres) or a trip to the Bambouseraie en Cévennes gardens (23 kilometres), or get that heart pumping on a canyoning adventure.