L'Auberge des Pinées

A pleasant walk through the Rabioux Valley, offering the chance to discover a unique cluster of fairy chimneys dominated by a lovely waterfall.

Details

1077254
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 9.12 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 382 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 382 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,314 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,016 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in one of the car parks or at the side of the road in the village of Châteauroux-les-Alpes, heading towards the church.

(S/E) At the bend above the church, take theGR®50(signposted and marked in red and white). After passing through the houses at the top of the village, join the tarmac road.

At the first bend, turn right and, a few metres further on, you’ll reach the path junction just before the hamlet of Les Martins. Turn left onto the path and, after a short climb, you’ll reach a road again.

(1) Turn right onto it, ignoring the path opposite. Continue along this road. At the hamlet of Sainte-Croix, you’ll reach the junction with the Pines track.

(2) Stay on the road opposite and follow it to reach the geological information board opposite the Demoiselles Coiffées.

(3) Stay on the road and follow a long, almost flat path to reach the bridge over the Rabioux.

(4) Follow the same route back to the junction with the geology information board.

(3) Continue along the road to the junction with the Pines Trail (see the important note in the Practical Information section).

(2) Turn right and begin an easy climb to reach the junction with theGR®50.

(5) Follow it; theGR® shares the track here, and you’ll easily reach the Auberge Lodge des Pinées.

(6) Return to the previous route as far as the GR® junction.

(5) Turn right onto theGR® to begin an easy but fairly steep descent. Return to the original junction.

(1) Follow the route you took on the way out to reach the car park at the start of the walk at a leisurely pace (S/E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 1,016 m - Châteauroux car park
  2. 1 : km 1.12 - alt. 1,175 m - GR route junction
  3. 2 : km 2.05 - alt. 1,215 m - Crossroads: Les Pinées trail
  4. 3 : km 3.07 - alt. 1,285 m - Geology table - Cheminées de Fées des Fasis
  5. 4 : km 4.08 - alt. 1,314 m - Bridge over the Rabioux
  6. 5 : km 6.83 - alt. 1,279 m - GR Pinées junction
  7. 6 : km 7.1 - alt. 1,301 m - Auberge des Pinées
  8. S/E : km 9.12 - alt. 1,016 m - Châteauroux car park

Notes

(3) Note: at this junction, the Eyrette track starts on the right and continues as the Gramorel Canal Path. This path is magnificent, but unfortunately a landslide caused by heavy rain in December 2017 has cut off the path for a distance of about 50 metres, completely blocking the way.
There is a fountain in Sainte-Croix, but the water flowing from it is drawn from the stream, so be careful.

Worth a visit

Continuing along the road, you’ll reach the Charançons stopover lodge, the starting point for long hikes towards the Col des Tourettes, the Col de la Règue and the Col de Reyssas.
You can also use these paths to reach the major peaks of this valley: La Pointe de Serre and Le Mourre Froid.

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 4 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.8 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
Latasse marina
Latasse marina
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 11, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : Yes

There are some beautiful sights to see, such as the fairy chimneys and the Rabioux bridge, but the route indicated from the start is mostly along roads or paths that are very busy with cars heading to other starting points... dusty and dangerous... So we didn't feel like retracing our steps on the long road back from the bridge and took a path on the right towards the Auberge de la Pinées. There, to our surprise, after a steep climb, a path running alongside a small canal took us to the Auberge du Point 6! Unfortunately, it was closed for the summer (2025), so we went back down to the car via the path described above. The alternative route is much more pleasant

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Briro
Briro
• Edited:

The route is largely impassable due to bad weather.

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Yann1957
Yann1957

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 10, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

On that day, the Eyrette trail was perfectly passable.
We continued the hike to the Cascade de la Pisse, following the guidebook, then returned via the old wooden bridge that crosses the stream towards the Auberge des Pinées.
14km in 4 hours along the canal.
A really lovely, very pleasant walk

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Joebilou
Joebilou

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

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

Extended to the Cascade de la Puissance and back via a forest track.
A good variety of scenery.

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genepierre05
genepierre05

Hello, I downloaded this just to see if I could transfer it to my Garmin Etrex Summit GPS, but I couldn’t manage it.

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levequemi
levequemi

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 22, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

I was a bit reluctant because of the road section, but the scenery is so beautiful that it makes up for it (and you don’t have to watch your step as much). I can confirm that it’s impossible to return via the Gramorel Canal path. The ‘Les Pinées’ signs don’t mention this landslide at the two points on the road where you can join the path, so I gave it a go… and turned back.
After the bridge over the Rabioux, the road was blocked by a snowdrift.

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