Essarts Waterfall

A pleasant, peaceful and easy route to discover a waterfall, with a picnic area and, on the way back, a view of a deer farm.

Details

1754998
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 4.54 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 1h 35 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 110 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 108 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,098 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,030 m

Photos

Description of the walk

(S/E) From the church square, take the street that goes downhill, passing in front of the bakery and then the town hall, and follow the tarmac road for 200 metres.

(1) Take the path on the right signposted for the waterfall and walk for about 400 m.

(2) Near the farm building, turn right (leaving the return path on your left).

(3) At the next intersection, leave the path on the right and continue left, following the sign for the waterfall. Walk uphill for 100 metres and turn right to reach the Cascade des Essarts waterfall.

(4) Retrace your steps for about 500 metres, then at the crossroads take the path opposite towards Le Mont. Ignore the path on the left and continue eastwards.

(5) When you reach the hill (viewpoint over Le Sancy), walk 10 metres to the left along the road, then immediately take the ladder on the fence and descend 100 metres into the plot. On the left, you will find a path towards La Rouillade (there are no signs and this path does not appear on the IGN map).
After a 400-metre descent, with a bit of luck you will see a deer farm on your right. Shortly afterwards, you will come to the intersection of paths you took on the way there.

(2) Turn right, following the same route as on the way there, until you reach the tarmac road, and follow this road to the left. Opposite a tunnel-like building, take the path on the right for 30 metres and follow a path on the left that climbs towards the calvary with a view of the Sancy, then quickly return to the church square (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 1,050 m - Place de l' - Église Saint-Bonnet de Chastreix
  2. 1 : km 0.38 - alt. 1,037 m - Take the path on the right signposted for the waterfall. - Gagne (ruisseau) - Affluent de la Burande
  3. 2 : km 0.77 - alt. 1,042 m - Common intersection of the circular
  4. 3 : km 1.48 - alt. 1,052 m - To the left towards the waterfall
  5. 4 : km 1.9 - alt. 1,059 m - Picnic and - Cascade des Essarts
  6. 5 : km 3.09 - alt. 1,093 m - Hameau du Mont
  7. S/E : km 4.54 - alt. 1,051 m - Church square

Worth a visit

Don't forget to visit the12th-century Saint Bonnet Church, a listed historical monument.

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 11 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.6 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.6 / 5
Route interest
4.4 / 5
Sakina
Sakina
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 27, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very pleasant hike/walk done in October in somewhat rainy weather. Be careful not to slip on the wet leaves; it had rained the day before, so the river was flowing fast! Beautiful waterfall! Be careful, however, as consecutive rains can cause the river to overflow and block the path. I recommend this walk for families 😉

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lamycatherine 75@gmail.com
lamycatherine 75@gmail.com

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 14, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely, easy route, mainly through woodland. Wide path. Plenty of water in the waterfall and river. Unobstructed views over fields. The deer are a little far away but can be seen with binoculars.

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Sosoduvar83
Sosoduvar83

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 05, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Very busy route : No

Very easy hike with no difficulty, but uninteresting at the end since the waterfall was insignificant. Just a trickle of water, so we were disappointed.
In my opinion, best done outside of summer.

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Par Monts et par Vaux
Par Monts et par Vaux

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 15, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely little hike with a beautiful waterfall.
Take the opportunity to stop at the cheese dairy in the village of Chastreix near the church.

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LNM63
LNM63

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 12, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Very nice walk... Too bad there's no waterfall at this water source...

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lairault
lairault

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 18, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike, and with a little more water at the waterfall, it would be even more magnificent.
We recommend it.

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fanfan41
fanfan41

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 16, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Great hike. The children loved it.
Very beautiful waterfall.
Lots of hikers because there was no snow (first week of March 2020).

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Ossor3310
Ossor3310

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 22, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

There weren't many people on the route, but we went quite early in the morning.
In the middle of a drought, there was a little water at the waterfall thanks to some rain during the night (a comment from 12 days ago mentioned that there was no water).
On the way down, we were able to see deer.
Easy walk.

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grandin
grandin ★

will63ow, you need to cache the hiking map on your smartphone so you don't have to rely on the lack of network coverage.

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will63ow
will63ow

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 09, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The waterfall was dry, there were a few errors in the numbered directions to follow, and most of the directional signs were blank, just yellow to indicate a direction but with little information about the distance to be travelled. Unable to connect to the app!

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Sand03
Sand03

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 25, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Nice hike but a bit too crowded
The waterfall is pretty but there are too many people there.

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593615
593615

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 24, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Very good app, I will subscribe when I get back.

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