Les Coumayres

If you’re looking for waterside hikes, Lac de Vézoles (15 minutes’ drive) is the place – it's a peaceful spot with waymarked routes through pine forest circumnavigating the lake. If you’re looking for something a bit more testing, don your hiking boots and head for the Sentier des 1000 Marches hiking area (20 minutes) for scrambles over rock and through gorges to the jagged limestone peaks of the Massif du Caroux. You can get more outdoor fixes by cycling trails in the Haut-Languedoc Regional Natural Park, where wild sheep, boar, otters and golden eagles are often spotted. The local town of Riols (10 minutes) is also passed by the Passa Païs cycling and walking route, following a former railway line between Mazamet (50 minutes) and Bédarieux (an hour). You may like to venture deep underground at the Grotte de la Fileuse de Verre (25 minutes), where stalactites and stalagmites drape themselves over limestone rocks. Also close by is medieval Olargues (half an hour), a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France for its soft-stone houses tumbling down to the River Jaur from the clifftop castle and labyrinth of steep cobbled streets dotted with bistros and shops selling artisan produce.