Despite a clutch of new films and books about the area, the Cevennes mountains remain under the radar.
On the southeastern edge of the Massif Central, the cultural region of the Cevennes extends into parts of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault, and Lozère, taking in a mountain range and the National Park. The main towns include Mende, Florac, Alès, Ganges, and Le Vigan.
It is not easily accessible; there are no major airports nearby, no TGV, precious few buses and the main roads can flood. This is not the place to search for spectacular chateaux, mind-blowing museums, luxury sports centres, or fashionable restaurants.
If celebrities have houses here they are mighty quiet about it. In some places even a mobile phone signal is elusive.
The pleasures of Cevennes are timeless, simple, and many are free: panoramic views, steep mountain paths, river swimming, hidden waterfalls, farmers’ markets, apple orchards, fields of sweet onions, traditional brass bands, and breathtakingly beautiful stone villages shaded by chestnut trees and cooled by fountains.
The beauty of the Cevennes changes with the seasons:
In autumn, the region's rolling hills are illuminated with hues of red and orange as the vast forests lose their leaves, with the exception of the many maritime pines.
During the region's short, sharp winter, the frosty Cevennes hills invite visitors to huddle around warm fires and roast chestnuts after a day hiking.
Sheep grazing in the verdant meadows of the CévennesChambre d’agriculture du Gard Maguelonne
The history of the Cevennes
The people of the Cevennes are proud to remind visitors that these mountains have always been a terre de refuge that respect people’s right to religious and intellectual freedom.
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Protestant ideas spread across the region from 1530 onwards, some towns converting entirely. Many other villages adapted, having both a Catholic church and a Huguenot temple.
Even after nearly a century of persecution by Catholic kings and the exodus of 200,000 Huguenots from France, Protestant enclaves persisted in the Cévennes.
During WW2 all sorts of people hid there; Jews, escapees from detention centres, intellectuals, anti-Nazi Germans and Austrians, and those hunted by the Gestapo.
Later on, after the social upheavals of 1968, plenty of soixante-huitard activists retreated from Paris to the remote, depopulated villages of the Cevennes.
Thirty-five years ago in the Cevennes, there were still people living with no fridges, telephones or running hot water, who produced almost all their own food and gathered firewood for cooking, heating and hot water.
There were people who had never been to neighbouring Montpellier, let alone to Paris. Entire hamlets had no rubbish collection, town water or sewerage system.
Some did not even have tarmacked access roads. There were octogenarians living the same lifestyle as their grandparents.
The advent of the internet along with tarmac roads, modern cars, phone lines and modern supermarkets, has largely brought daily life up to date. Property prices are rising as the area becomes popular for second homes.
There is still precious little employment available, but the Cevennes is a magical destination for a holiday. Here you can seek refuge from the stresses and strains of the outside world.
Hiking and swimming
One of the most popular activities is hiking. There are well-maintained, signposted paths all across these mountains, and when you get up to the peaks, the views are astounding all year round.
Horse-riding, fat biking, picnicking, and climbing are all on the agenda.
Obviously there are no seaside beaches but there are plenty of rivers to swim in during the summer months. Some official swimming areas are signposted and have car parks.
A few even have cafés and public lavatories. Ask for details at any Tourist Office. Magical wild swimming places are found by lucky accident, or by asking locals for tips.
The base nautique des Camboux, set on a lake where people can swim or rent pedalosSandra Olivet
Bamboo parks and steam trains
One of the best activities in the Cevennes is a visit to the 160-year-old bamboo park, La Bambouseraie (30140 Générargues), which accepts dogs on leads.
Walking round the giant bamboo plantations and huts is shady and relaxing. You can wander, or use an audio-guide.
There is also a shop, a snack bar and a garden centre, and the site is fully wheelchair accessible. To make an entire day of it, get there by steam train.
The train à vapeur des Cévennes runs between Anduze and Saint-Jean-du-Gard and has conveniently timed stops at La Bambouseraie so you can spend a few hours there before getting back on the train.
A word of warning about the train carriages; if you choose to sit in the open-air carriages, be prepared to get black smuts on your face from the smoke. If you happen to be wearing a pristine white shirt, sit in the covered carriages.
Donkeys
In the Cevennes no-one cares that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island – understandably his Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879) is far more famous.
Reading it offers a tantalising glimpse of what life was like 145 years ago, but most people revel in the fact that the author had an uncomfortable time of it, accompanied by his stroppy donkey Modestine.
As a result, at times it appears that the hills are alive with the sound of donkeys.
Essentially you hire them to cart your stuff on a long hike. You fill their paniers with water bottles, swimming gear, a picnic, sun lotion, camera, spare shoes, and you can even sit your small toddlers on their backs.
In theory, you then lead them up the mountains following a map, but in practice the donkeys already know the route, and end up leading the way.
Local food
A highlight for most people is browsing the markets, where you can buy strings of les oignons doux des Cevennes and fresh pink garlic.
Pélardon is a very small, AOC protected goat's cheesePhilippe Nicolas
Also look out for goat’s cheese, and later in the summer locally grown apples and chestnuts.
Throughout July and August, every village holds its fête votive, something which has precious little to do with religion these days.
La fête is far more likely to be ‘boules, bal, bar’, in other words an extremely long drawn-out boules tournament and, for two or three nights in a row, a series of ear-splitting discos which continue into the small hours.
The larger villages book a deafening cover band for the Saturday night, and some others offer a Bal à Papa on Sunday, featuring traditional music. Some are themed, for example ‘Medieval,’ ‘African,’ or ‘Eco’.
Each fête takes place on the same weekend every year, very often with the same attractions. They are all free, and you only pay for whatever food and drinks you buy.
If you see a notice that there will be a repas, do book ahead as there are very rarely spare places if you turn up hungry with no reservation.
If you do not want to pay for a meal, you can lurk about at the bar and no-one will bat an eyelid. To find out what is happening and when, keep your eyes peeled.
Neon posters advertising each fête are often bandaged to roadside trees with clingfilm.
The region has many caves, including La Grotte de la Cocalière in GardPhilippe CROCHET
The region is may feel cold in winter due to the north wind from the Massif Central, but underground the temperatures are the same as in summer.
In the many caves of the Cevennes, such as L’Abîme de Bramabiau near Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu, or La Grotte de la Cocalière near St Ambroix, the temperature is 10C all year round,
At L’Abîme de Bramabiau, visitors can follow the river from the thundering waterfall through the rocks and underground until it emerges into the sunlight again.
The path is about 1km long and it takes around an hour to stroll along it, stopping for photos.
Cevennes in literature and film
If you cannot get to the Cevennes, try reading read Janet Tessier du Cros’ memoir Divided Loyalties: a Scotswoman in Occupied France.
Her account of sitting in the Bar des Cèvennes in Le Vigan surreptitiously watching the Nazis surveying the town square from the balcony of the cinema will have you on the edge of your seat.
The film Antoinette dans les Cévennes (2020) portrays a modern image of the region, and The Man in the Hat (2020) starring Ciarán Hinds has almost no dialogue at all, just fabulous images of the Cévennes.
