Travel Guide > Europe > France > Aubenas
Aubenas is a commune in the arrondissment of Largentiere. It is located in the Ardeche department in the Rhone Valley in the southeast of France, just west of the Alps. It has a great location with mountains and the Ardeche river flowing through the commune and has about 12,000 inhabitants. Aubenas is part of the "Pays d'Aubenas-Vals". This area contains 10 towns and villages with a total of around 24,000 people. Aubenas has a good position regarding tourism, as a regional natural park, the zone of the Ardèche river canyon, and the start of the mountain ranges (like the Alps) are all nearby.
Aubenas has a prestigious past and is known for its rich cultural, architectural and industrial heritage. Nicknamed La Medievale or Cite des Montlaur, the town is home to many magnificient monuments from the Middle Ages such as the castle which is listed as a historical monument, the Saint Benoit Dome and the Gargoyles House. Aubenas is a perfect base to explore the region and its surroundings which has The Ardeche Gorges, Ardeche Mountains (Mont Gerbiec-de-Jonc which is the source of river Loire), Cevennes mountain range and numerous medieval and typical villages (Largentiere, Vogue, Balazuc, etc.) which are worth a visit.
Aubenas is an active and vibrant town in an economic sense too, as it is the centre of the Chamber of Commerce of the southern part of Ardeche. The town has about 350 shops where you can buy varied things, from clothes to food and traditional local stuff. The town is also famous for the chestnut production as well as has some great varieties of cheese and processed meat. Tourism, commerce and food-industry are the three main pillars which sustain the economy and bring prosperity to the region
Aubenas has warm, dry and sunny summer weather from June to September with generally temperatures between 25 and 28 degrees Celcius during the day and pleasant nights. Sometimes, heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms occur during this time. Winters last from December to March, when frost at night is common but it rarely gets really cold. Sometimes there is some snow (mainly on higher parts) but temperatures are usually just above zero on most days.
Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) near Marseille and Saint-Exupéry International Airport (LYS) near Lyon are the airports closest by with a significant number of flights throughout Europe and a few places beyond.
The nearest train stations are at Valence and Montelimar, which can be reached by approximately one hour's drive from Aubenas. High speed TGV trains connect Valence/Montelimar to most of the major towns of the region. SNCF operates the rail network in France.
Aubenas is just west of the main highway, the Route du Soleil (A7), which runs south from Lyon towards Montpellier and branches south of the town towards Marseille.
This is version 3. Last edited at 12:55 on Jul 24, 09 by arif_kool (+1139). 2 articles link to this page.

Except where otherwise noted, content of this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License