Travel guide Lozère

Lozère is home to France's oldest jeans manufacturer. Founded in 1892, Atelier Tuffery, now in the hands of the^4th generation with Julien and Myriam, designs and manufactures jeans, skirts, dresses, shirts, jackets and coats, cut from responsible materials, thanks to a team of highly skilled and qualified craftsmen.

The Lozère region, with its wide-open spaces, mountains, caves, lakes and rivers, is an open-air playground for all lovers of outdoor activities and adventure. The department can be explored in every possible way: underground, on the water and in the air... There's something for everyone.

2,743 km of waterways gallop in Lozère, while 437 streams and rivers gush out of its soil. In the "land of springs", these waters supply two thermal spas and open the field of possibilities for aquatic activities (canoeing, swimming...). The department also has seven hydraulic dams, including that of Naussac.

Covering almost half of the territory (45% to be exact), the forest represents a major economic, ecological and tourist asset for Lozère. Made up of Scots pine, beech, spruce, chestnut and Austrian black pine, the département's woods are a veritable green lung in the Occitanie region.

It is the first word that comes to mind when one evokes Lozere. From north to south and from east to west, the natural regions of the department (Aubrac, Grands Causses, Margeride, Tarn and Jonte gorges, Lot valley, Cévennes and Lozère mount) offer a grandiose and eclectic show, which is declined in different reliefs and colors.

Le Malzieu-Ville, La Garde-Guérin and Sainte-Enimie are among France's most beautiful villages, thanks to their ramparts, cobbled streets, towers and Romanesque churches. The Domaine des Choisinets and the Château de Saint-Julien-du-Tournet have been selected by the Fondation du Patrimoine for restoration.

Lozère is an angler's paradise. The department offers 2,800 km of category 1 rivers: Tarn, Jonte... The Charpal lake, classified Natura 2000, is the largest no-kill lake in France for pike fishing. Many accommodations display the "Accueil pêche" sign on their frontage, to meet the needs of anglers.

On the way to Santiago de Compostela, Lozere is also the scene of Journey with a donkey in the Cevennes, the book in which Robert Louis Stevenson, pioneer of the trek, tells his journey in the Cevennes in 1878. Today, many walkers follow his steps on the GR 70 that the writer took from Puy-en-Velay to Alès.

Lozere has a taste for real things and shows it through many local products. Nature has blessed the department with mushrooms, chestnuts and wild trout. At the same time, producers work all over the territory to give honey, cheese, meat, jams, charcuterie... Of high quality!

Lozère is fortunate to have two thermal spas on its territory. La Chaldette is recommended for ENT and digestive system disorders and for metabolic disorders: overweight, stress, high blood pressure. The center of Bagnols-les-Bains treats rheumatic affections, asthma and respiratory allergies.

Sericulture, the production and transformation of silk, exists today only in memories. However, it has left its mark on the Cévennes landscapes where old mulberry trees - whose leaves were used to feed the silkworms - still adorn the terraces. The silkworm nursery of La Roque is dedicated to the memory of silk.

In addition to climbing, via ferrata, bungee jumping and caving, Lozère is one of the first French départements to have agreements in place for two extreme and impressive activities. In Florac, the Rochefort rock is home to a 100-metre-high diving board for pendulum jumping, as well as four highlines.