Gorges de l'Aveyron & Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val Day Trip
Just 45 km northeast of Montauban, the Gorges de l'Aveyron deliver some of the most dramatic river-canyon scenery in southern France: sheer white limestone cliffs, dense oak forest and the perfectly preserved medieval village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val clinging to the gorge floor. It is an easy and spectacular half-day escape.
The Gorge Itself
The D115 road through the gorge follows the turquoise Aveyron river for around 20 km between Bruniquel and Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val, passing through tunnels carved into the cliff face and offering constant pull-off points for photographs. The cliffs rise to over 200 m in places and are threaded with marked hiking trails, the most popular being the Sentier des Rochers above Cazals.
Rock climbers from across France come here for the limestone walls around Bruniquel and Penne — if you visit in spring or autumn you'll see roped figures dotting the cliffs above the road.
Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val
The village at the gorge's heart has a Romanesque town hall dating to 1125 — claimed to be the oldest surviving municipal building in France — and a Sunday market that draws the whole valley. The narrow medieval streets are lined with 13th and 14th-century stone houses, many with original carved corbels and window tracery.
Swim in the Aveyron at the village beach (plage municipale) in summer, rent a canoe to paddle upstream into the gorge, or simply eat a long lunch on the terrace of one of the riverside restaurants with the cliffs towering above you.
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