Camping Chon du Tarn

If you feel like stretching your legs in spectacular countryside, make Cévennes National Park (five minutes’ drive) your first stop. There’s loads of hiking on way-marked hillside trails, and you can follow the verdant Gorges du Tarn as it meanders through the park. Give your legs a harder workout by cycling hairpin bends on the way to mountain summits, or get out on the river itself by canoe or kayak at Canoë Méjean (35 minutes). Pretty Florac (10 minutes) is the visitor hub of the Cévennes, where you can admire the 17th-century château and its backdrop of forested foothills, picnic by the side of the Tarnon River and hang out in bistros on cobbled squares. There’s also a handy tourist office where you can pick up cycling and hiking maps. For a taste of local life in times gone by, check out the model farm, interactive period interiors and ancient agricultural implements at Ferme Caussenarde d’Autrefois (50 minutes). To time travel further back into history, tour the ages-old stalactites and stalagmites deep underground in the Grotte de Dargilan (an hour), or check out the prehistoric standing stones at the Menhirs de la Fage (20 minutes).