La Rhune from the Col de Saint-Ignace

From the car park beside the Col de Saint-Ignace station, where the little rack railway starts, the way follows a lane and a track, then a path across the open pastures above Sare. In the first few hundred metres the way crosses the rack railway line by the station and the D4 road, and runs along the D4 for about 60 m, so cross with care. It climbs steadily to Les Trois Fontaines, where it meets the GR 10 and crosses the railway again, and then goes up the last, steeper stretch of mountain path to the summit of La Rhune at 905 m. At the top there is an orientation table and an obelisk, and in clear weather a panorama over the Basque coast, the Pyrenees and the Landes forest. The summit stands on the border with Spain. Return the same way.

It is 10.8 km there and back with 820 m of ascent; allow about 5¾ hours. The railway company puts the climb at 736 m and allows 2 to 2½ hours up and the same time down. The grade is Hard: a long, steady climb of about 740 m from the car park to the top, with a few dips on the way, on paths and tracks that steepen near the top.

The mountain is a pastoral zone. The Pyrénées-Atlantiques tourist board says Pottok ponies and Manech sheep live free on La Rhune, and the Office national des forêts says Betizu cattle roam free in the communal forests of La Rhune and asks walkers to pass them without disturbing them. The railway company asks walkers to keep dogs on a lead so as not to frighten the animals. The tourist board says La Rhune is not an easy hike and that it is dangerous to go without suitable equipment, and advises proper shoes, sun protection and an early start; it also asks walkers to take their rubbish home and to stay away from the animals. The railway company says the weather in the Basque Country is unpredictable, especially in the mountains, and that the climb has very little shade. The tourist board's page for the climb from Ascain says to avoid it in bad weather and to go up in the morning. The line is drawn along paths mapped on OpenStreetMap and has not been compared with the waymarks on the ground; the railway company says it is essential to stay on the marked paths, so keep to the signed paths where you find them.

The car park is beside the Col de Saint-Ignace station on the D4 above Sare. The railway company says the car parks around its station are free, but they can fill up on busy days, when walkers may have to park along the road. A rack railway also links the col and the summit and takes about 35 minutes. It does not run all year, there is no up-only ticket, and the railway company sells a descent-only ticket at the summit, for walkers who cannot walk down, only if seats are free: it cannot promise a seat. Its days are on rhune.com.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.