Les Rives de l’Adour

The Les Rives de l’Adour campsite is in Sainte-Marie-de-Campan, in the commune of Campan in the Hautes-Pyrénées, on the route de la Mongie, at an altitude of about 850 metres. It sits at the foot of the Grand Tourmalet ski area, a dozen kilometres from the resort, and about 5 kilometres from Lac de Payolle. The river Adour flows a few dozen metres from the pitches.

The shaded site has 50 pitches, 35 of them with electricity, and also offers mobile homes for rent. It can accommodate about 150 people. It is a starting point for many hiking trails, which begin about a hundred metres from the campsite.

Opening: the Hautes-Pyrénées tourist office and the regional database of the Occitanie tourist office present the campsite as open all year round, with no closure period announced. It therefore caters to skiers in winter as well as hikers and anglers in summer. Winter conditions on site, in particular heating, are not detailed: confirm them by phone.

According to the tourism listings, guests are welcomed in French, Spanish and English. Pets are accepted on the pitches. For those arriving without a car, a bus stop on the regional liO lines, which connect Tarbes, Bagnères-de-Bigorre and La Mongie, is about a seven-minute walk away.

Skiing at Grand Tourmalet (about 12 km) and Payolle (7 km), hikes from the campsite, medieval covered market in Campan.

The facilities are those of a simple, functional mountain campsite. There is a laundry with a washing machine, a gas bottle depot, an ice service and a garage, as well as a meeting room and a TV room, useful on bad-weather days. Electricity is available on 35 pitches according to the data sheets, and water on about twenty.

The campsite has a children’s playground and a table tennis table. Barbecues are allowed on the site. No swimming pool or catering is advertised on site: for meals and shopping, you need to go to the village of Campan and the neighbouring communes in the valley.

Accepted payment methods are cash, cheques and holiday vouchers (chèques-vacances). The mobile homes for rent are mentioned by the tourist offices, but their number, capacity and rates are not published: the simplest thing is to ask directly at reception, stating the dates you want.

The campsite is a starting point for hikes: the trails begin about a hundred metres away, and the tourism listings also mention fishing in the Adour at the same distance. Mountain biking is possible from six kilometres, and a tennis court is one kilometre away.

Lac de Payolle, about 5 kilometres away, makes a good walking destination, and the Col d’Aspin opens the road to the Aure valley. The Campan valley is also the gateway to La Mongie and the Col du Tourmalet via departmental road 935, with the Pic du Midi de Bigorre less than ten kilometres away as the crow flies.

In winter, downhill skiing is concentrated at the Grand Tourmalet resort, about twelve kilometres away, and the Payolle resort, 7 kilometres away, rounds out the offer. In Campan, the medieval covered market, listed as a historic monument since 1927, is worth a detour between two mountain outings. As the campsite is open all year round, these activities can be enjoyed in the summer season as well as in winter, subject to snow conditions.