Travel Guide Axat

A modest county town in a canton of less than 700 inhabitants, Axat is built on a hillside in a picturesque setting surrounded by steep, jagged mountains. On a rocky escarpment, close to the ruins of the castle, the village church, built in 1630 at the request of the Baron d'Axat Raymond de Dax, offers a unique view over the entire commune. The name of this village comes from the anagram of the word Atax, the original name of the river, and is linked to the ancient Atacine, the mythical name of the eponymous river of the department, which meant "daring river". The result of these "audacious": a strong erosion of the limestone of the Pyrenean Piedmont, which gave birth to spectacular gorges in this place. The narrowest are the Gorges de Saint-Georges, located a little upstream from Axat, which form an absolutely fabulous 300-metre long canyon. Imagine that, in places, the passages are only about 20 metres wide! It was in 1900 that the very first French hydro-electric power station ever built was commissioned in these gorges of St Georges. Finally, downstream of Axat are the second gorges, the Pierre-Lys gorges. This canyon is more than two kilometres long. Axat is the essential starting point for all white water activities: canyoning, rafting, canoeing, hydrospeed... But you can also go hiking, horseback riding, visits to farms, summer holidays, fishing, mountain biking... Without forgetting the very close castle of Puilaurens, a grandiose site not to be missed.