On the sun-drenched Cerdagne plateau, Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via combines a solar furnace unlike any other, a training centre that has shaped generations of Olympic athletes, and one of the most family-friendly ski areas in the Pyrenees. A mountain town, winter season included. Curated from the Loca database, no paid placement.
The Odeillo solar furnace, the hermitage and the ski area, spread across the Cerdagne plateau.
The world's largest solar furnace, commissioned in 1970, with 63 heliostats and a 40-metre parabolic mirror concentrating light for materials research. Its visitor centre is open to the public.
A 17th-century pilgrimage chapel that gave the town its name (‘pilgrim's fountain’), with a Baroque altarpiece and a cloister of twisted columns.
Established after the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, this centre at 1,850 m trains generations of Olympic athletes in altitude conditioning, from track and field to Nordic skiing.
A family-friendly ski resort and one of France's leading Nordic skiing and biathlon hubs, on the sun-drenched Cerdagne plateau.
Known as one of France's sunniest regions, with over 2,400 hours of sunshine a year, the Cerdagne plateau opens in summer onto the Carlit and Puigmal hiking trails.
About 5 km away, the highest railway station in France (1,592 m), on the Train Jaune line that climbs from Villefranche-de-Conflent up onto the Cerdagne plateau.
About twenty kilometres away, this reservoir lake ringed by mountain pines and granite outcrops is one of the most popular summer hiking spots in the Carlit massif.
Restaurants and cafés cluster along Avenue Emmanuel-Brousse, Font-Romeu's main street.
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The Loca digital tourist guide builds an itinerary from the same database behind this guide. The same technology is also available white-label for hotels, campsites and tourist offices.