Discover Aubazines
Accommodation in Aubazines
For a stay in Aubazines, you can choose from a range of highlights: Saint-Étienne Abbey, the history of the Canal des Moines, and scenic views and stone monuments. Together, these sites and routes bring cultural history, historic engineering and landscape into focus, without forming a single, set sightseeing itinerary. The abbey is open to visitors on guided tours; walking options at the canal vary in duration and route type.
Saint-Étienne Abbey and Gabrielle Chanel
Saint-Étienne Abbey is open to visitors on guided tours. If you would like to visit, plan to join a guided tour. The abbey has a historical connection to Gabrielle Chanel: in the early 20th century, she lived at the orphanage housed in the monastery. Aubazines’ cultural heritage therefore includes not only the history of the abbey, but also the orphanage and one of its residents.
Canal des Moines: water engineering and walking options
The Canal des Moines is an extraordinary 12th-century waterworks, 1.5 kilometres long. Cistercian monks carved parts of it into the rock and routed other sections along a projecting ledge on the rock face. This brings together two construction methods: the canal was partly cut into the rock and partly carried along a projecting ledge on the cliff face. Historically, it supplied running water to the monastery and also served the fishponds and mills. You can explore the Canal des Moines on an out-and-back walk of about 1.5 hours or on circular hiking routes of about three hours. For planning purposes, these options differ both in approximate duration and route type.
Scenery and stone monuments
The summit of Puy de Pauliac stands at 524 metres and overlooks the Brive Basin and the Corrèze Valley. Its elevation and these two landscape features make this a distinctive scenic highlight for your stay: the view takes in both a basin and a valley.
The Cromlech of Puy de Pauliat is the only cromlech in Limousin and has been classified since 1889. Its dimensions make the site easy to picture: 44 upright stones form a circle 40 metres in diameter, surrounding a menhir that now lies on the ground. The cromlech is defined by the arrangement of its stones, whereas the Canal des Moines is characterised by its waterway and construction.
The Circuit des Monastères
The Circuit des Monastères offers another focus on monastic history and the route itself. It links the men’s monastery with the remains of the women’s monastery in the Coiroux Valley and passes the Coyroux waterfall. Unlike the walking options at the Canal des Moines, this route centres on the connection between the monastic sites and the waterfall.
Discover more destinations: Seilhac, Sarran, Ussel, Laguenne, Branceilles, Roziers, Ambrugeac, Saint-Martin-La-MĂ©anne.
For the regional travel overview: Corrèze.
