Things to see and do Le Lac-D'Issarlès

The Auberge Rouge, located after Lanarce on the edge of the road, seems to be so welcoming for travellers… And yet, this place made famous by a novel, which was brilliantly adapted to the cinema twice - with the excellent and irresistible Fernandel first, then with a humour certainly grinding by Claude Autan-Lara with the Splendid team -let's not just leave good ones. memories of the imprudent who dared to enter the last century! Indeed, it was the place of sordid crimes that would défrayèrent the chronicle.

At the beginning, the history of the Auberge Rouge is "counter-revolutionary". Its owners, the Martin-Blanc, had been part of the bands of Chouans who were fighting the few gendarmes of Judge Enjolras, the Montagnes of the Mountains. But these troublemakers seemed to have subsided with the return of the Monarchy. So they wanted this Inn, which seemed to be a haven of peace and rest for the traveler harassé by a long road in desolate places and sorry. The problem for these travellers was that once they got rid of their stock exchange they were coming out of the hostel only by the chimney! The armoury lasted until a refugee in the barn denounced the case to the gendarmes. Owners and their home did not escape the guillotine - they were executed in front of the macabre Inn, at the very place of their packages, in 1833. Sensationalism fans will not be disappointed by the visit of the places that have kept a special atmosphere maintained by a guide just as special…

Situated in the Haute Ardèche, the small village of Lac d'Issarlès is an ideal place to stay, thanks to its climate, its azure skies at the gateway to the Midi, its full range of tourist facilities and, above all, its exceptional landscape. Lac d'Issarlès is a 97-hectare natural crater lake at an altitude of 1,000 m, 138 m deep and 5 km in circumference. At the lake, you can swim in exceptionally pure water at a very pleasant temperature in complete safety (supervised bathing in summer) or relax on the sandy beach. You can also go pedal-boating, canoeing or stand-up paddling. A hiking trail takes you around the lake, where you can pick cranberries, wild strawberries, raspberries and mushrooms. Wonderful walks and mountain bike rides are available around the village, offering magnificent panoramic views of the basaltic flows of the Vallée de la Veyradeyre and the phonolithic rock. Fishermen will also be delighted: the lake abounds in brown and rainbow trout, Arctic char, salmon, minnows, gudgeon and whitefish. Near the lake, troglodyte caves were carved out of the blast products from the Maar crater. Recently restored and showcased, it's now possible to visit them and discover how they were actually laid out at the time.