Collias
• Gard (30210) • Population: 1,044 • Altitude: 65 m
Gallery of 15 photos for Collias
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Collias is a small town on the Gardon river, a popular vacation spot and a great place for kayaking or canoeing through the beautiful gorges and past the Pont du Gard.
This is a busy place in the summer, but rather quiet in the winter months. The river here is popular for kayaking, swimming and fishing. The town has all the necessary shops, but the center is on the road rather than in the typical village square.
Hiking
• GPS: 43.9539, 4.47813
Maps
IGN (1/25,000) #2941 OT "Uzès"
"Entre Rhône et Gardon", map+info (1:30'000)
The GR6-GR63 west from Collias goes along the north side (left bank) of the Gorges du Gardon, past the St Nicolas bridge to Vic and Russan. The GR6 then continues northwest along the Gardon via St Chaptes, Moussac and Vézénobres to Anduze. At Russan the GR63 goes more due-west, via Fons and Moulézan to Quissac and Sauve.
The GR6-GR63 east from Collias goes down the Gorges du Gardon to the Pont du Gard, about 7 km by trail. The GR6 crosses the pont-aqueduct and goes south-southeast via Sernhac and Meynes to Beaucaire and Tarascon on the Rhône. From the north end of the Pont du Gard the GR63 goes up through Castillon-du-Gard and east via St Hilaire-d'Ozilhan and Rochefort-du-Gard to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, on the Rhone just across from Avignon.
Chemin de la Torte. Across the bridge and south, a local hike goes through the forested hills about 5 km to a junction of other trails, just north of Cabrières. The beginning of this trail follows the old Route de Cabrières (Chemin de la Torte), with dry stone walls and ancient paving stones, and passes a lookout point on a hilltop with a view back towards Collias.
The junction north of Cabrières joins with another trail that crosses the hills a bit to the east, rejoining Collias and making a loop hike of 10-12 kms.
Hermitage Chapel. For a shorter loop hike (about 4 km), cross the bridge and turn left (north), following the Chemin de Saint Privat along the right bank of the Gardon. The trail (marked with yellow) goes south to a fork. The western branch goes south towards Cabrières, but in about 1.5 km reaches a junction near the Hermitage Chapel to loop back north to the river. The eastern branch (near the river) does the opposite: south to the Hermitage Chapel, then joining the Cabrières trail to loop back north again.
Transportation Collias
Department 30, Gard Buses
- See Beyond's Gard Department Bus Schedules for Gard bus-lines maps and bus-line schedules (Horaires).
Maps (Plans) for the Gard bus lines are on the www.edgard.fr website, with a flash webpage for each of five zones around Nîmes (www.edgard-transport.fr/plan/?rub_code=5).
Schedules for the Gard bus lines are available via the www.edgard.fr website horaires page (www.edgard-transport.fr/horaires/?rub_code=23).