The Col de Riou from Cauterets

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A variant ofthe GR®10which takes us from Cauterets to Col-de-Riou. A pleasant trail, mostly through woodland, then across mountain pastures to the pass. In summer, enjoy the magnificent fields of azaleas near the pass. Magnificent view from the pass over the valleys of Cauterets and Luz-Saint-Sauveur and the surrounding peaks.

Details

n°3225964
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 15.52 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 7h 35 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Difficult
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 1,095 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 1,091 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,949 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 939 m
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Photos

Col de Riou
Col de Riou and Pic de Viscos in the background and to the north.
The Luz valley from the Col de Riou

Description of the walk

Park in the Place de la Liberté car park.

(S/E) From the car park, take the street going up to the left, which passes in front of the Basque pelota wall. Continue past the top of the private car park and, at the bend to the left, take theGR® (red and white) trail. You are now on theGR®10variant, which passes through the Col de Riou and continues towards Luz-Saint-Sauveur.

(1) Turn left onto the road (Chemin de la Reine Hortense). Continue along the tarmac road, which further on becomes a beautiful wide path. Pass in front of the 'Chalet de la Reine Hortense' restaurant.

(2) Turn right, following theGR®. After a few metres, leave the wide path and take the small path (GR®) on the left. This small path leads to a forest track, which you take on the left.

(3) Leave the forest track and take the path on the right that climbs up to the Col de Riou (altitude 1949).

(4) From the pass, return in the opposite direction along the same path to the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 939 m - Place de la Liberté. Near the - Gave de Cauterets (rivière)
  2. 1 : km 0.62 - alt. 1,034 m - Chemin de la Reine Hortense
  3. 2 : km 2.97 - alt. 1,248 m - Turn right
  4. 3 : km 3.8 - alt. 1,376 m - Small path branching off to the right. GR10
  5. 4 : km 7.76 - alt. 1,949 m - Col de Riou
  6. S/E : km 15.52 - alt. 939 m - Place de la Liberté

Notes

Don't forget to bring water and food. There are no places to buy food or drink along the route.

Worth a visit

In Bigourdan:
Estibe, estive: high-altitude pasture

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.

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Reviews and comments

4.7 / 5
Based on 6 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.8 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
tugny44
tugny44

Hello
Thank you for your comment.

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User 10416061

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 25, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

a beautiful hike with the option of taking the chairlift up to 2,178 metres

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Alice-la-brebis
Alice-la-brebis

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 01, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A magnificent hike, very well marked. A beautiful view upon reaching the pass, which makes all the effort worthwhile.

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Dominique Crestey
Dominique Crestey

Hello and thank you for explaining Visorando's difficulty ratings. Visorando's "automatic" rating system is actually quite misleading. Last week, for example, we also did a 1,000-metre hike, which was also rated as difficult, but in fact it was much more difficult than this hike because it had a very steep slope at the top and lots of complicated and potentially dangerous scree slopes.
Best regards, Dominique

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tugny44
tugny44
• Edited:

Hello Dominique and Françoise
Thank you for your comment. I would like to congratulate you on completing this route in less than 6 hours. Well done.
As for the Medium or Difficult rating, I owe you an explanation: this rating is determined by Visorando based on a number of criteria, including distance and elevation gain. In the case of this route, the elevation gain exceeds 1,000 metres (1,070 metres), albeit by a small margin. When we create a route, this criterion is suggested to us. I always keep the information provided because not all hikers have the same physical ability to walk.
Enjoy your walks on the Visorando trails.

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Dominique Crestey
Dominique Crestey

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 02, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful, peaceful and pleasant walk. We loved the long stretch through the woods. Magnificent view at the top of the pass. A comment about the duration: we are average walkers aged 60, but we completed the route in less than 6 hours (excluding lunch break), compared to the advertised 7½ hours. It's not a big deal, but we wanted to point it out. We would classify it as "moderate" rather than "difficult" because the path is never steep or rocky. Thank you.
Kind regards, Dominique and Françoise

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jnfnf
jnfnf
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 14, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very pleasant route, mostly under trees. Beautiful panoramic view at the finish. Worth continuing on to Pic du Viscos.

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Gygma
Gygma

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 01, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful walk with a superb view once we reached the pass. We went up to the chairlift for a snack, but unfortunately fog suddenly rolled in, forcing us to come back down.

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tugny44
tugny44

Thank you for your message and for the option you have suggested.

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danielfr40
danielfr40

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 23, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Easy walk in the forest then across mountain pastures, rewarded with a beautiful view of the pass
At the pass, I preferred to do a circular route by taking a track on the right to the Col du Lisey, descending via a narrow, unpleasant but easy path to the Lisey plateau, then descending again on the left
Thank you for this route.

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