Paragliding and Mountain Adventure Sports Pyrenees

Trip Highlights

Summer and Winter (on skis) flights. The Pyrenees are a fantastic location for paragliding; with soaring peaks and deep valleys to cruise above, and stable weather conditions guaranteeing a flight virtually every day. Cool mornings and warm afternoons lead to predictable and reliable thermals rising up the mountain sides - a dream for vultures and paragliders alike! Paragliding is available both in Winter and in Summer - as a one-off taster tandem jump, as a discovery course of 1-5 days, which includes on-ground paragliding training and tandem jumps, or as 5-10 day introductory training courses working towards solo flights with an instructor always in contact. For more advanced pilots, the paragliding perfection courses of 5-10 days work towards complete autonomy and the pilots license. The Bareges paragliding school also provides cross-mountain training for long-distance flights, and overseas schools in Spain (September) and Morocco (October). Our multi activity holidays are based in the traditional village of Barèges, at 1250m, in the heart of the Pyrenees. The village is ideally located for exhilarating mountain adventure sports, with walking and mountain biking routes right from the door, and wild rivers, crags, caves and canyons all close by. We offer custom multi activity packages, tailored to your particular interests and abilities

Price Details

Price

From: EUR70 per person (1 Day+)

Price Includes

• Generous continental breakfasts
• Packed lunches and afternoon tea
• 3 course evening meals with coffee
• Twin en-suite accommodation
• Local minibus transport
• Use of house sauna, internet, DVD player...
• Please enquire for the price of instruction and equipment hire

Price Excludes

• Flights Airport transfers

Departure Dates

Taster tandem jumps (Winter and Summer, year round):-
Jump location Height change Price/euros pp
Barèges Tournaboup 500m 55
Barèges Tourmalet 800m 70
Luz-Ardiden 1200m 85

Tandem paragliding jumps are also available from other sites including the Pic d'Ayre, Pic du Midi and Hautacam, as well as Aucun and Couraduque in the Lavedan valley.

Discovery afternoon - ground training then tandem jump (June-Sept)
Jump location Height change Price/euros pp
Barèges Tournaboup 500m 80

Gaining your paragliding licence - a series of 5 day training courses - introduction to perfection (June-Sept)
Jump location Height change Price/euros pp
Barèges Tournaboup Variable 450 per stage

Itinerary

A paragliding licence is obtained in several stages. Your initial licence "brevet initateur" follows two weeks of introductory training to allow solo flights with an instructor supervising by radio. The second stage of training will give you an autonomous pilot's licence "diplome pilote" (three to five weeks additional training depending on the individual). There are furthur courses for competition flying, or instructor training and assessment for the "pilote confirme" licence.

Insurance for paragliding courses can be purchased through the paragliding school and is priced at 24 euros for the course, or 42 euros for the year (this covers flights with the school only; private insurance will be considerably more expensive).

Some of these activities are weather dependent and may be changed at short notice. Other possible trips include extra days of walking (e.g the beautiful Neouvielle lakes tour with an optional swim in a chilly mountain lake), horseriding, a variety of other watersports (kayaking/hotdog/hairboat/hydrospeed/luge), Chlorofil adventure park (a suspended adventure playground in the trees), local walks and attractions such as the showcaves at Betharam, the Pic du Midi observatory, the Pic de Jer funicular and the town of Lourdes.

Other Info

Accommodation Details

All of our holidays are based with us in our newly-renovated 300 yr old house in the heart of the high mountain village of Bareges. The house has a 3-star rating from "Gites de France" (the highest standard in the village). We have five spacious, characterful and well-appointed bedrooms, one of which is a very large two-room suite.

Each has an en-suite shower room, and we can offer twin or family (4 to 8 people sharing) accommodation for up to 14 people. As well your room, all our guests have access to the spacious lounge and games room, with a lovely wood-burning stove, well-stocked bar, coffee bar, big-screen home cinema and a computer with internet access.

We also have a big dining room and a heated equipment room (for coats, boots and skis), and a sauna - perfect for relaxing tired muscles after a hard day in the mountains!