Camping Le Beaussement

Begin explores of the area around site with visits to wander the streets of some of the pretty Rhône-Alpes villages nearby. The brick-faced houses of Chauzon are a good place to start, before broadening searches to take in the limestone-clad Ruoms (15 minutes), the clifftop Balazuc (a 15-minute drive), the river-hugging Labeaume (20 minutes) and hilly Vogüé (25 minutes). Once the villages have been exhausted, dive into the past with a trip half an hour away to the Caverne du Pont d’Arc, a man-made cave replicating the stunning drawings, paintings and engravings of the UNESCO-protected Chauvet Cave nearby. Stay below ground at Aven d’Orgnac or Madeleine caves, 35 minutes and 50 minutes from base respectively, or return to the surface for visits to some of the grand houses hereabouts... The spectacular 12th- to 16th-century Château de Montréal puts heraldry classes, archery, knight fights and burlesque within a 20-minute drive, and Château des Roure (half an hour) has a 14th-century castle to explore, a silk farm to marvel at and a trebuchet to stand in awe of. Prefer to spend some time in the great wide open? There’s world-famed climbing about five minutes away at Cirque de Gens and it’s less than 15 minutes to biking, riding and hiking in the Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park.