Who Are We ?
In 1984 a small walking holiday company was created, based in the beautiful Val d’Azun in the heart of the French Pyrenees. This company, named « La Balaguère » after the warm breeze that blows upwards from the Sahara to the Pyrenees, offered guided walking trips led by a small group of friends with a huge passion for the mountains.
Little by little La Balaguère expanded and more than 35 years later we help over 13,000 people every year enjoy walking and cycling holidays in the Pyrenees and further afield, to the most unspoilt areas of the world.
In 2018 we launched a new and exciting project. Purely Pyrenees is the English language branch of our business, offering self-guided and guided trips, walking and cycling from Spring to Autumn and snowshoeing in the Winter. Using our decades of experience we created a new range of holidays designed for English speakers who come, maybe for the first time, to experience the best the Pyrenees has to offer. Our focus is always to provide highlights, iconic places to visit, wonderful itineraries, authentic hotels and, of course, tremendous cuisine.
Purely Pyrenees and La Balaguère are now owned by the UCPA (Union des Centres Sportifs de Plein Air) which is a non-profit organisation in France that specialises in making outdoor sports holidays available for all. We are still based where we have always been, in the Pyrenean village of Arrens-Marsous.
We are very proud of our Pyrenean chain and of the knowledge that we have of it, amassed over years of providing guided and self-guided holidays. You can be sure that if you travel with us we will do everything we can to make sure you have a wonderful trip.
Enquiries
We’re sure you will have questions about the holidays that interest you, so we do encourage you to email or phone us. Our team are mainly first language English speakers, live in the Pyrenees, love walking and/or cycling, and are ready to answer any questions - big or small.
By email : contact@purelypyrenees.com
We aim to answer all enquiry emails within 12 working hours – and usually within 3 or 4 hours.
By phone : 00 33 5 62 97 72 01
Opening Hours (French/European Time)
Monday to Friday 09.00 to 18.00
UK time is one hour behind, New York time is 6 hours behind, and Delhi is 6.5 hours ahead. Leave a message outside those hours, and we will email or phone you back.
By post : Purely Pyrenees, 48 Route d'Azun, 65400 Arrens-Marsous, France
Please read these booking conditions : Purely Pyrenees booking conditions
We can only accept booking online or by telephone, so if you want to book a trip please go to the appropriate page on our website and click on the button « Book Now ».
Follow the easy steps that are presented to you, and complete the booking request by paying the required deposit paid by debit or credit card. We will ask for a deposit which is 35% of the cost of the holiday.
If you have been in contact with us about adding extra nights, flights, or other amendments to your trip we will create your online booking request form for you and you will then book online in the same way.
The deposit and the balance are payable only in Euros. The amount in £ is indicative of the Euros price, but exchange rates do change slightly all the time. Your debit/credit card company might charge you extra for payments in foreign currencies.
There are no charges for last minute bookings, but if you book within 30 days of departure you will need to pay in full at the time of booking, so we recommend you call us to make sure transfers, hotels etc are actually available before you book and pay.
We will send you an automatic acknowledgement, and then will review your booking to make sure it will work for you as you want it to. We will contact you if needs be.
The balance of payment will be due one month before departure, and can be paid by card or bank transfer.
In accordance with the rules of our profession, La Balaguere is insured for Professional Liability (ALLIANZ No. 53.231.046). However, each participant must have an individual civil responsibility insurance as well as an individual multi risk insurance in order to protect themselves in case of incidents or accidents that may occur before or during the walking or the trip. Please note that payment with a credit card generally covers assistance, provided you have used your card to pay for the trip. Downloadable document.
Upon receipt of your booking form we will make all the necessary reservations, and confirm the booking details to you as soon as possible - usually 1 to 5 days after receipt of your booking form.
Payment By Bank Transfer :
Account : Purely Pyrenees:
Bank : Banque Populaire Occitane
Address : Avenue du Mal Foch 65400 Argelès Gazost
IBAN : FR 76 1780 7000 2705 1211 5985 129
BIC or SWIFT : CCBPFRPPTLS (Purely Pyrenees)
A file containing all the information about your holiday, your itinerary, information sheets, the relevant route guide, luggage tags etc will be sent as soon as you have paid the balance.
A few days after your trip you'll receive by email a link to our holiday questionnaire. This questionnaire is very important to us because it lets us know how satisfied you were with your holiday, what are our areas for improvement, and any suggestions you may have for new itineraries.
However, in case of complaint please contact our Quality Department as soon as possible (qualite@labalaguere.com, or La Balaguere Quality Service, 48 Route d'Azun, 65400 Arrens-Marsous, France).
In the event of no satisfactory response within 10 days, you can contact the French Tourism and Travel Mediator, whose contact information, and details of the referral procedure, are available at www.mtv.travel.