Pyrenees Haute Route

Overview

The Pyrenean Haute Route shadows the France-Spain frontier for some 800 km from Hendaye on the Atlantic to Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean, taking the highest sensible line the whole way — above the GR10 and GR11, and often above the paths altogether. Forty days of walking cross the range's best theatre: the 1,500 m limestone amphitheatre of the Cirque de Gavarnie with France's highest waterfall streaming down it, the granite needles of the Aiguilles d'Ansabère, Monte Perdido above the Ordesa canyon, and an optional side-trip to Aneto, at 3,404 m the roof of the Pyrenees, whose shrinking glacier still asks for crampons in early summer. The HRP is a route, not a trail: waymarks come and go, several stages are pathless boulder-hopping, and storms build violently on summer afternoons, so confident navigation is the entry fee. Staffed refuges and unstaffed cabanes cover perhaps half the nights; a bivouac kit covers the rest. July to September is the season — earlier, snow chokes the high cols. Count on £4,500 for the full traverse, including refuge half-board where available, resupply in valley villages, and the ceremonial swim in the Mediterranean that ends it.

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Prefilled for 1 July 2027 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.