Self-guided · GR10 · France
You'll walk 124 kilometres of the GR10 through the French Pyrenees — over seven cols above 1,700 metres, through abandoned zinc mining country, and across the Spanish border ridge at Pic de Bacanère. A serious section, with 8,335 metres of ascent and a thermal village at the end.
“An amazing and very memorable experience”Bhagyashree & Akhil · Tour du Mont Blanc
Read the reviewsSection 5 is the GR10 at its most remote — long days between beds, old mining ruins reclaimed by grass and scree, and some of the quietest refuges on the whole trail. If you want the Pyrenees without the crowds, this is where you'll find them.
It's also one of the tougher sections, with more ascent than most walkers expect from the daily distances. The reward is a proper thermal village at the end, Aulus-les-Bains, where a warm bath and a decent dinner feel entirely earned.
Here's how this section looks for most walkers. Everything here is a starting point — the planner below rebuilds it around your own pace and dates.
Walked at our hiker pace, this is where most of our customers finish each day. Take more days and we'll split the longer stages; take fewer and we'll lengthen them by using the stops in between. We know every option along the route, so your days end up the right length whatever pace you choose.
| Day | Stage | Distance | Ascent | Walking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luchon toDay 3 stopover | 33.8 km | 2273 m | 17½ hrs |
| 2 | Day 3 stopover toDay 5 stopover | 22.6 km | 1515 m | 12 hrs |
| 3 | Day 5 stopover toDay 7 stopover | 22.5 km | 1516 m | 11½ hrs |
| 4 | Day 7 stopover toDay 9 stopover | 22.6 km | 1515 m | 12 hrs |
| 5 | Day 9 stopover toAulus-les-Bains | 22.5 km | 1516 m | 11½ hrs |
Your route divides naturally into three parts — not by day, but by country. You climb onto the Spanish border ridge, then walk through the abandoned mining heart of the Couserans, then drop down through beech forest and stone bridges to a thermal village in the Garbet valley.
Luchon to Fos
From a 19th-century spa town up through high pastoral villages to a 2,193m border ridge with the Spanish peaks laid out beyond it.
From a 19th-century spa town up through high pastoral villages to a 2,193m border ridge with the Spanish peaks laid out beyond it.
Fos to Maison du Valier
Three high cols, abandoned zinc mines, and the most remote refuges on the route — the heart of the Couserans on foot.
Three high cols, abandoned zinc mines, and the most remote refuges on the route — the heart of the Couserans on foot.
Maison du Valier to Aulus les Bains
Three valleys in three days, a Gallo-Roman bridge, and a thermal village at the trail's end.
Three valleys in three days, a Gallo-Roman bridge, and a thermal village at the trail's end.
Build your trip
Pick your pace, party size and dates. The itinerary, distances, nightly stops and the price all update live — no commitment until you're happy.
Your day-by-day itinerary updates live in the Your itinerary section below.
This is the itinerary you're building. Change the pace, party size or start date in the planner above and every stage, distance and date updates here.
You are booking the itinerary above: your walking days, your overnight stays and the support that carries you between them.
Organising this trail for friends? Build a group trip with individual payments
We'll start planning your trip right away. Not happy with anything? We'll adjust it or refund you — no questions asked.
The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Big Trail Adventures (member 5690). Protection is provided for non-flight packages. Full details in our booking conditions.
Your GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains is planned from first step to final check-in. The stays, luggage, navigation, local knowledge and a real team behind you are all part of the same trip.
Self-guided, but properly supported. You turn up, you walk, you eat well, you sleep well. We handle the logistics.
This is not a generic guidebook. We build a private Trail Companion for your dates, your direction, your overnight stops and every day of your GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains.
01
Trail Book
Your exact GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains itinerary — from the place you sleep to the next front door, with the turns people miss and the stops worth making.
02
Trail Book
Follow your stage offline, see what remains and get a live estimate based on the pace you are actually walking. Your GPX is already cut into each day, ready for Garmin, Coros, Suunto, Apple Watch, Komoot or OS Maps.
03
Trail Book
Family and friends see where you are and when you last updated — no app, no account.
Where you'll stay
This section leans on mountain refuges and gîtes d'étape in the more isolated stretches, with a genuine thermal hotel waiting at Aulus-les-Bains. We choose places that are used to walkers arriving tired and hungry — the specifics depend on your pace and dates, as with every trip we build.
Every trip is planned around your dates and party, so we can't promise you a specific inn — but we can promise the kind of welcome that makes a walking holiday feel like a proper holiday.
Self-guided, fully supported
Self-guided means the walking is yours and the logistics are ours. You set off on the GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains when you want, walk at whatever pace suits you, and stop where you like — there is no group to keep up with and no leader setting the schedule. Everything that makes an independent long-distance walk hard work to organise is handled before you arrive.
There are no fixed departure dates. Choose your own start day, tell us how many nights you want, and the planner rebuilds the 124 km route around it.
We remove the awkward parts at both ends: quiet reassurance for a solo walker, and no unpaid-invoice chasing for the friend who gets a group moving.
Going solo
We lend solo walkers a satellite GPS tracker. It updates automatically, even away from phone signal, so you can walk freely while the people at home follow your progress.
Bringing friends
Plan a private GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains with us and get one shared trip page. Every walker pays their own deposit by card and adds their own details—no bank transfers or payment spreadsheet.
Reviews from walkers
Every review here comes from someone who actually travelled with us — we only ask once the trip's over, and we don't edit what they say.
Different routes, same team doing the planning, the bookings and the hand-holding — so these say a lot about what to expect here too.
“An amazing and very memorable experience”
We had a really wonderful experience and are very happy that we went ahead with the trek. It was challenging at times, but overall it was an amazing and very memorable experience. The scenery, the trails and the whole journey were absolutely beautiful. Bhagyashree did have some issues with her knee during the trek, which made a few sections difficult. We didn't let that stop us — we completed most of the trek and, wherever necessary, adapted our plans and took a bus or train for certain stretches rather than putting too much strain on her knee. Managing the trek despite the knee issue made the achievement feel even more special.
Thank you once again for all your help and guidance in planning the trek. Will definitely recommend Big Trail Adventures to all.
“Solo or in a group, I would do this again tomorrow!”
One of the best experiences I have had. I did this solo and felt supported all the way with the BigTrailAdventures team, especially in inclement weather. The vistas were incredible and overnight accommodation was faultlessly organised. Pushing myself during the day ( I ran rather than walked the trail), and then being fed and watered in a hotel in the evening was a treat.
The planning was exceptional and all details were covered.
There is a special time every day when you are overcome with the beauty of the nature that you are seeing, the sweeping vistas and the gratitude for being able to experience this. It rejuvenates your soul.
“Awesome support from start to finish”
The hike, which challenged me in different ways each day, was great. There was so much to see in every direction. The Highlands are simply stunning, clouds and all. The stays were good for the most part, some better than others (one night my room was above the kitchen so it was quite noisy until late into the night and the haunted Inn was a bit much for me :)). The Rowardennan Hotel and Craig Nevis guesthouse were my favorites. All of them offered great breakfasts and most had dinner options with good selections as well.
The planning was amazing. No glitches, except for one minor one at the start where the luggage van changed their drop off location without my knowledge. Thankfully Craig was there in the morning and quickly figured out where they were and even dropped off my luggage for me. Everything else was planned and executed perfectly; my itinerary for each day included great detail of what to expect. The app was awesome and my friends and family loved tracking me every day with the GPS. I had read that the West Highland Way is very popular in spring (when I initially had planned to go) and late summer. It took a lot of back and forth communication about potential dates but Craig very patiently worked it all out. All communication was prompt and thorough. I very much appreciate all the support I received prior and during my adventure!! Thank you Craig!
There are so many moments I will carry with me for a long time, like my first glimpse of the Highlands, all the water everywhere, the coos, day 2 along Loch Lomond when I wished I was a mountain goat and was grateful that it did not rain, arriving at Kingshouse after 19 miles, midges (haha), and so much more.
You'll want to be comfortable walking 15–20 km a day with around 1,000 metres of climb, on mountain terrain with some scrambling on rocky cols. This is one of the more demanding sections of the GR10 — the day from Fos to Araing Lake involves 1,680 metres of ascent, and the descents are long. If that feels steep, the Explorer pace stretches the trail to ten days at a more measured rhythm.
June to September is the realistic window. The route crosses cols above 2,000 metres, and snow can linger on the highest passes into June. July and August give the most reliable weather but are also the busiest. Early September is often the sweet spot: paths still clear, refuges quieter, and the high country starting to turn. We don't run the route before June or after early October because the higher cols carry serious snow risk.
Yes — between road-accessible accommodation, up to 20 kg per bag. The exception is the Refuge d'Araing at the end of Day 4: it sits beside a mountain lake with no vehicle access, so for that night you'll carry an overnight kit yourself. Your main bag waits for you at Eylie the next afternoon.
On the Standard package, gîtes d'étape and mountain refuges with breakfast — small, well-kept, the kind of places where the gardien remembers your name by the second night. On Premium, village hotels and guesthouses where the trail passes through inhabited valleys. The Refuge Jacques Husson at Araing is dorm-only for everyone — there are no rooms on a mountain lake — but the food is good and the staff have walked the route.
Yes — the GR10 is well-waymarked (red-and-white blazes the whole way), and the section is busy enough in summer that you'll meet other walkers most days. We book single-occupancy rooms with a single supplement where the accommodation has them. The exception is the dorms at Araing — those are shared, but most refuges have a women-only option. The remote middle days are the ones where you'll go longest without seeing anyone — fine in good weather, worth checking the forecast.
Our Standard package is £1,631 per person for the eight-day Hiker pace, based on two people sharing. That covers accommodation (gîtes and refuges with breakfast), baggage transfer where the route allows, a route pack with maps and notes, and 24-hour support. On the trail, budget around €25–40 a day per person for lunches, evening meals, and drinks. Most refuges offer a demi-pension — dinner, bed, breakfast for around €55–70 — which is the easiest way to handle food and lodging.
Yes. Every GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains trip we run is self-guided: you walk the route on your own, at your own pace, with no group and no guide. We do the planning and the logistics — an itinerary of 3 – 7 days built around the pace you choose, accommodation booked in your name along the 124 km route, your main bag moved between stays each day, GPX files and route notes for every stage, and a real person on the end of the phone while you're out there. You choose your own start date; there are no fixed departures.
On a guided trip you walk with a leader and a group to a fixed schedule. Self-guided means the day is yours: start when you like, stop for lunch where you like, walk fast or slowly, take a rest day. The route is waymarked and you navigate with the GPX and notes we provide. Everything that makes a trip complicated — accommodation, luggage transfer, the shape of each day — is arranged for you before you arrive.
Yes — the GR10 Section 5: Luchon to Aulus les Bains is a signed long-distance route and thousands of people walk it independently every year. What most walkers want help with isn't navigation, it's the 124 km of accommodation, the bag transfers, and getting the daily distances right. That's exactly what we take off your hands, while you still walk it under your own steam.
We do, both. We book walker-friendly B&Bs, inns and small hotels in your name at each overnight stop, with breakfast, and arrange door-to-door luggage transfer between them so you walk with a daypack. You'll get a full itinerary with every address, check-in detail and transfer time before you travel.
Most people take 3 – 7 days for the 124 km. Our planner lets you set your own pace and number of nights, so you can stretch the trip out with shorter days or compress it if you're used to back-to-back big days — the itinerary, accommodation stops and price all update as you change it.
Craig has walked the GR10 Section 5 in every season. Tell him your dates, party size and ability and he'll come back with a route that fits — or point you at a different section if this one isn't quite right.
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