The summit of Méjean via the Grand Tanargue plateau

A hike on the highest part of the Tanargue ridge. With little elevation gain, you will enjoy magnificent views of the lower Ardèche, the Alps and the Ardèche plateau. In the height of summer, you will benefit from the coolness of the altitude and large shaded areas.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 15.50 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 5h 25 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 345 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 342 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,510 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 1,363 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park at the ski resort car park.

(S/E) Leave the car park heading south towards the ski slopes.

(1) Go around the ticket office building and take the path on the right, which is the start of the "Chemin de Taranis Arga" discovery trail. Continue to follow the signs, ignoring the paths on the left, pass a water tank and cross a ski slope.

(2) Shortly after the ski slope, leave the main track and turn right twice, always following the signs for Taranis Arga.

(3) When you come to a ski slope, turn right to continue the Taranis Arga trail. Climb a few wooden steps and follow a short path through the Mayes peat bog.

(4) When you return to the track, take it on the right. Climb up along the barriers and pass the pole at the top of the ski lift to reach the summit of Grand Tanargue. A small bench in a good spot allows you to admire the landscape.

(5) Turn around and descend via a path that passes to the right of the two barriers. Further on, turn left to enter the forest.

(6) Just after entering the forest, at a four-way intersection, take the path on the right that goes back a little and then turns left at a right angle. Ignore the Taranis Arga signs; the next section is not marked. Leave the cross-country ski trails on your left and continue on a path crossing the Grand Tanargue plateau in the middle of the woods.

(7) At the end of the path, turn left onto the Route Forestière d'Escoufour. Continue slightly downhill on this main road and ignore all the paths branching off to the sides. You will reach the Carrefour des Camarets.

(8) At the crossroads, take the second path on the right, which climbs up next to the quarry. N.B. The path further to the left that passes over the ridge, which is shown on the IGN map, is not visible at the start. Climb with a general south-easterly bearing, ignoring any paths branching off to the sides.

(9) At the start of a climb, after a barrier, leave the path and take a trail on the edge of the forest on the left. Climb to the highest point of the Sommet de Méjean. Descend on the other side, heading east. Join a path and follow it to the left. You will come out onto a dirt road; follow it on the right.

(10) At a bend to the right of the road, cross it and continue along the ridge (east) to the next peak at 1410m (or further...).

(11) Retrace your steps.

(10) Take the dirt road on the left. Further on, leave the road descending towards the sheepfolds on your left and continue slightly uphill to the right. The path curves to the right and leads to a viewpoint over the Valgorge valley.

(12) Leave the path and turn left onto a trail. This junction is clearly marked by the red and orange GRP®® trail markers. Follow these markers, leaving a trail descending towards Valgorge on your left. You will arrive at a promontory overlooking the valley, before a steep descent.

(13) Leave theGRP®® and take a grassy track climbing back up to the dirt road you took on the way up, clearly visible by its recent embankment. Join this road and turn left to descend towards the barrier. Continue for about 100 metres after the barrier.

(14) At a flat spot, towards the lowest point, look for a stream without vegetation on the right. At this point, leave the road and turn right, diagonally across a clearing between the broom bushes. Cross a final strip of broom bushes and a small beech wood to reach the Route forestière des Bergers.
Follow this forest road to the left and ignore the side roads.
N.B. Over these 30 metres, there is no path at all, so you will have to squeeze through the vegetation (but the gorse does not have thorns). If you don't feel confident enough to venture off the beaten track, simply continue along the path you took on the way there until you reach the Carrefour des Camarets and continue straight ahead to reach point (15).

(15) Leave the road coming from Carrefour des Camarets on your left and continue straight ahead (west-northwest). Ignore a path coming from the right, pass under a ski lift line and return to the station.

(1) Continue north-northwest to reach the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 1,363 m - Ski resort car park
  2. 1 : km 0.16 - alt. 1,367 m - Ticket office - Croix de Bauzon
  3. 2 : km 1.13 - alt. 1,464 m - Leave the track on the right.
  4. 3 : km 1.38 - alt. 1,466 m - Mayes bog
  5. 4 : km 1.77 - alt. 1,472 m - Crossroads on the right
  6. 5 : km 2.14 - alt. 1,510 m - Summit of the Grand Tanargue
  7. 6 : km 2.61 - alt. 1,476 m - Fork
  8. 7 : km 3.39 - alt. 1,469 m - Escoufour forest road
  9. 8 : km 5.03 - alt. 1,402 m - Carrefour des Camarets
  10. 9 : km 6.43 - alt. 1,435 m - Start of the path on the left
  11. 10 : km 7.9 - alt. 1,390 m - At the crossroads, cross the road.
  12. 11 : km 8.64 - alt. 1,409 m - Elevation 1,410
  13. 12 : km 10.44 - alt. 1,403 m - Crossroads - GRP
  14. 13 : km 11.44 - alt. 1,438 m - Promontory
  15. 14 : km 12.06 - alt. 1,430 m - Off-trail section
  16. 15 : km 13.46 - alt. 1,398 m - Crossroads
  17. S/E : km 15.5 - alt. 1,363 m - Ski resort car park

Notes

The off-trail section through the gorse may seem unnecessary, but the route via the Route des Bergers is much more pleasant, less tiring and more open than the normal route.
You may be tempted to shorten the hike by avoiding the loop in the peat bog (-400m) or the return trip to the last peak (-1500m), but that would be a shame.

Reviews and comments

4.7 / 5
Based on 12 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.8 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.5 / 5
Route interest
4.8 / 5
rabouille daniel
rabouille daniel

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 05, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

At this time of year, the bog was slippery and rather uninteresting, so it was possible to take a route around it.
Breathtaking landscapes

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JPBellocq
JPBellocq

Overall rating : 4 / 5

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

Very beautiful and varied: forests, grassy plateaus and, above all, multiple viewpoints. The peat bog is magnificent at this time of year with all its flowers.
We had a problem on the 9th: just after the barrier, you have to look for the rough path on the left and join it through the undergrowth; there is no track as indicated. It's strange...
We highly recommend this magnificent route. Even the forest tracks are pleasant.

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patrick.bormann
patrick.bormann

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

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

Easy hike with beautiful views. The peat bog is also very interesting. The downside is the long stretches through the forest, which aren't very interesting.

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bddp
bddp

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 13, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant hike with beautiful views from the summits of Méjean and Tanargue. We saw a shepherd and his flock of sheep near the summit of Méjean. The path through the broom is easy to find, although it does get a little lost in the woods towards the end.

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dougere
dougere

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 10, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A magnificent walk with no difficulty

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psoso
psoso

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 15, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A beautiful route, although there are some rather long and monotonous sections in the woods (on very wide paths, more like forest tracks) in the middle (no alternative, I suppose). However, there are some stunning views throughout the second half!

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Fontasse
Fontasse

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 08, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A stunning 360-degree view when you emerge from the forest.
Timber harvesting in progress

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Zebre84
Zebre84

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 01, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike with my son. We did it in two days with a basic camp at the summit of Méjean. We really enjoyed this hike, which alternated between wooded sections and magnificent views from the peaks. The weather was on our side and we saw very few people, but we did see a deer and her fawn...S
The flora and fauna are rich, for example the passage through the peat bog, with informative signs.
Coming from Vaucluse, I didn't know this area very well and it was a wonderful discovery.
I used both the paper directions and the GPX file on my watch (Fenix 5x), so it was difficult to get lost.
The passage through the broom is exactly as described (about 100 metres after the barrier, starting diagonally after a flat section).
We found this hike fairly easy, but we are used to hiking.
Thank you all for sharing and for the precise directions.

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pb07
pb07

Thank you, jmoroche, for your constructive comment on point 14bis.
Having redone this hike last week, I saw that there was indeed a clearer off-trail passage a little west of where I had mapped it.
I have modified the GPX file and the description to take this into account, and at the same time I have streamlined the numbering of the waypoints.
pb07

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gabrielle07
gabrielle07

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 12, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Nice hike. Beautiful scenery.

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jmoroche
jmoroche

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 15, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very beautiful walk with magnificent panoramic views and no significant difficulty.
You can do the loop (points 10 to 14) in reverse to picnic sheltered from the wind (which was very strong on the day we went).
The path between the summit of Méjan and point 11 is sometimes difficult to see, but the GPS route is accurate.
There is a numbering problem in the description between points 14 and 15. There should be a point 14bis corresponding to comment 9 (off-trail section).
This off-trail section is not easy to find and the gorse can be impenetrable. The passage is currently easier to the left of the trail. Once past this difficulty, the Chemin des Bergers is indeed pleasant.

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Gamopy
Gamopy

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 02, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Thanks for sharing this route; it was a superb hike, and the detour along the botanical trail was a great idea.

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