Arudy, France

CAUTERETS is a pleasant if unexciting little town that owes its fame and rather elegant Neoclassical architecture (especially on boulevard Latapie-Flurin) to its spa, and more recently to its role as one of the main Pyrenean ski and mountaineering centres. The town is small enough to present no difficulties in orientation; most of it is still squeezed between the steep wooded heights that close the mouth of the Gave de Cauterets valley. Next door to the gare routière on the north edge of the centre, where SNCF coaches stop, the Maison du Parc (daily 9.30am– noon & 3.30–7pm; Tel:05.62.92.52.56) has a small display of flora and fauna.