Camping Les Bulanettes

Hugely famed in the winter sports world of the Pyrenees, Grand Tourmalet is made up of the Barèges  and La Mongie resorts and covers around 100 kilometres of mountain terrain. It includes a whopping 70 runs as well as paths, ski mountaineering and forest tracks around the Pic du Midi de Bigorre – and the Bagnères-de-Bigorre thermal baths for submerged times afterwards. Bagnères-de-Bigorre has a fine arts museum, a natural history museum and a marble museum if you're up for a wander after your skiing or submersion session, along with a library, cinema and cultural centre for arty times and a casino for a more heady hour or two. The fountains, parks, markets, museums and Italian theatre of Tarbes are around half an hour's drive from here. Those making a move towards the Pic du Midi (definite must, merci) can do so in splendid style via a cable car from La Mongie, 15 minutes' drive away, to visit the museum and observatory high up at 2,877 metres.