Ruins of Saint-Germain Castle, Allymes, Douvres and Vareilles

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A beautiful walk through the forests starting from the pretty blue lake of Vareille, a village nestled by the Gardon stream. An uphill climb from the start will take you to the ruins of Saint-Germain Castle, a listed historical monument currently undergoing archaeological exploration. You will be delighted to discover the small hamlets below Château des Allymes, the village of Douvres and the forests of Ambérieu.

Details

n°60086297
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 9.96 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 5h 55 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 1,562 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 1,565 ft
  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,798 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 850 ft
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Description of the walk

Park in the Château des Échelles car park, located just in front of the gate to the château's communal park.

(S/E) Enter and cross the castle grounds to reach the road at the top of the castle and follow it to the right for about 50 metres.

(1) Turn left onto a street that runs through the housing estates: this street joins Rue de Grand Champ. 

(2) Turn right onto the path and climb up to the ruins of Saint-Germain Castle, between meadows and forests, following the PR® then the GR®59.

(3) Turn right to visit the castle ruins, then retrace your steps.

(3) Take the path on the right.

(4) At the fork in the path, turn left and follow a small marked path downhill. After passing a beautiful little resurgence fountain, you will arrive at a crossroads in the forest.

(5) Continue straight ahead towards "Bret de Vent / Les Brosses". Ignore any side paths and trails.

(6) In a large clearing where there is often woodcutting, continue straight ahead on a small, shaded, marked path.

(7) Continue straight ahead at the intersection, towards the village of Allymes: follow the sign for "Bret de Vent". You will arrive at the village.
(8) In front of the beautiful little chapel in the village of Allymes, take the road to its left at the bottom and continue along this tarmac road through the farm hamlets.

(9) After passing through Paraudet, in the meadows, turn left towards "Douvres". About 250 m further on, turn right towards "Abergement de Varey / Douvres".

(10) At the intersection, turn left onto a shaded path that descends into the forest towards "Douvres". Further on, continue downhill through the forest with the stream on your left until you reach an intersection before a water catchment.

(11) Turn left towards "Douvre", still in the forest, and arrive at Douvre cemetery.

(12) Continue along the road on the heights of Douvres, ignoring the street that branches off to the right.

(13) Shortly afterwards, turn left towards "Les Brosses" to go back up into the forest. After the climb, you will arrive at a clearing.

(14) Turn right towards "Les Brosses".

(15) At the motocross track, go around it on the left via a path that stays in the forest and goes around the track.

(16) At the Parc Aventure Accrobranche car park, head towards "Le lac bleu". Stay on this path, ignoring the side paths.

(17) Cross the bridge over the Lac Bleu de Vareille with its small Gardon waterfall. On the other side, turn right immediately. Continue straight ahead through the village of Vareilles and you will arrive at the Château des Échelles car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 853 ft - Château des Échelles
  2. 1 : mi 0.14 - alt. 912 ft - Path to the ruins of Saint-Germain Castle
  3. 2 : mi 0.21 - alt. 925 ft - Crossroads
  4. 3 : mi 1 - alt. 1,444 ft - Return trip to the ruins of - Château de Saint-Germain (Ambérieu-en-Bugey)
  5. 4 : mi 1.76 - alt. 1,798 ft - Fork in the path
  6. 5 : mi 2.08 - alt. 1,572 ft - Crossroads of 4 paths
  7. 6 : mi 3.19 - alt. 1,588 ft - Large clearing
  8. 7 : mi 3.57 - alt. 1,686 ft - Head towards "Bret de Vent".
  9. 8 : mi 3.85 - alt. 1,555 ft - Chapel in the village of Allymes
  10. 9 : mi 4.3 - alt. 1,486 ft - Crossroads: follow signs for "Douvres".
  11. 10 : mi 4.61 - alt. 1,401 ft - Head down towards "Douvres".
  12. 11 : mi 5.6 - alt. 1,083 ft - Cross the river on the left towards Douvres.
  13. 12 : mi 6.02 - alt. 1,030 ft - Douvres Cemetery
  14. 13 : mi 6.17 - alt. 1,053 ft - Intersection: follow signs for "Les Brosses".
  15. 14 : mi 6.64 - alt. 1,280 ft - Clearing: head towards "Les Brosses"
  16. 15 : mi 7.42 - alt. 1,385 ft - Ambérieu motocross track
  17. 16 : mi 7.91 - alt. 1,365 ft - Parc Aventure Accrobranche car park
  18. 17 : mi 8.95 - alt. 1,056 ft - Bridge over the Blue Lake of Vareilles
  19. S/E : mi 9.97 - alt. 853 ft - Château des Échelles

Notes

At the Parc Aventure Accrobranche car park, you can take a break and recharge your batteries at the tree-top adventure park refreshment bar.

Worth a visit

Ruins of Saint-Germain Castle, Blue Lake of Vareilles, tree-top adventure course, refreshment bar.

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 7 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.7 / 5
Route interest
4.7 / 5
User 23998019

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 02, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk with a wide variety of scenery. It was a bit busy when we got to the lake.

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DDDECINES
DDDECINES

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 08, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant route, perhaps a little too overgrown at this time of year. There were a lot of people at the end of the route, but we took the GR route alongside it for a more peaceful walk. Thank you for this route.

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Danièle ALLAMANDY
Danièle ALLAMANDY

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 02, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Note that there is a significant climb at the start of the route and a difficult descent. I did it after a week of bad weather, when the path was muddy and slippery, so walking sticks are highly recommended. After that, the paths are pleasant through the woods. A beautiful hike to do in spring.

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Chaden
Chaden

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 03, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Beautiful hike through the woods.
Please note: at point 1, the author says to take a street through the housing estates. In fact, it is simply a path that you need to follow. At the end, you have to walk alongside the motocross track, so it is very noisy.
Thanks to the author for this walk!

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User 23919845

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 26, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Great route, beautifully wooded throughout, with ruins, a river, forests and, to finish, a bridge with a lake and waterfall – it was perfect!
I highly recommend it.

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Ecamvélo
Ecamvélo
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 17, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Hello
We did this route yesterday and had a great time. It wasn't too crowded, the route is easy to follow and the scenery between the points of interest (ruins, castles) is lovely.
I would just add the following details:
- Between Dover and the tree climbing park => No signposts (hiking/GR59, I think it's part of their route) although the path is easy to find (no problem with GPS tracking).
- We made a small detour between points 8 and 9 => At point 8, you can reach Allymes Castle by following the GR59, then go around it and descend via Bredevant to return to point 9. Note that it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get to the castle, but it's quite a steep climb. To get back down to point 9, it's all downhill.

Thank you for this hike.

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mimiche1954
mimiche1954

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 30, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

There were 16 of us, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful walk through the woods in the sunshine, with its varied points of interest.

For the start of the walk, it is not possible to park cars for the day in the Château des Echelles car park, so park in Rue des Vareilles.

At point 1, the path through the housing estate is private, as confirmed by a resident, so when you leave the château grounds, turn left, then right onto Rue de Grand Champ, which joins the trail.

At point 7, at the chapel in the village of Allymes, we extended the route by taking the GR 59 on the right, which climbs up to the Château des Allymes. It's quite a steep climb to get there, but we came back down via the PR to reach point 8.

Thanks to Aga157 for this hike. We've decided to do it again next spring.

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