Taxi Aubenas → Le Puy-en-Velay

This spectacular mountain route connects Mediterranean Ardèche to the volcanic Velay highlands. Aubenas is the gateway to the Ardèche Gorges and Pont d'Arc, the famous 60-metre natural arch. Le Puy-en-Velay is a uniquely dramatic city where the Romanesque cathedral sits atop volcanic rock, a monumental Virgin Mary statue crowns the Corneille rock, and the Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe chapel perches on a dizzying 82-metre volcanic needle. Le Puy is the historic starting point of the Via Podiensis, one of the four great pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. The N102 crosses the Col de la Chavade at 1,266 metres, the watershed between the Mediterranean (Rhône) and Atlantic (Loire) basins, passing through chestnut forests, basalt villages, and Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille where Robert Louis Stevenson began his famous journey with a donkey through the Cévennes in 1878.