Grand Tourmalet – Pic du Midi

The largest ski area in the French Pyrenees, spread across both sides of the Tourmalet pass: Barèges on one side, La Mongie on the other. Barèges is a historic spa village whose waters already soothed the soldiers of Louis XIV; La Mongie, built in the 1960s, offers direct access to the runs and to the Pic du Midi. The latter is the ski area's unique attraction: a cable car up to 2,877 m, a century-old astronomical observatory, and an off-piste descent with 1,700 m of vertical drop for experienced skiers. The Tourmalet is also the most frequently used mountain pass in the history of the Tour de France.