The Cevennes, a place of ‘conscience and independence' where men who value freedom have always found refuge, today welcomes all tourism which respects nature and the environment. A large part of the Cevennes region is classified as a National park and world biosphere reserve.
The Cevenol people have long preserved their crafts and skills and can today offer visitors a wide range of regional specialities and arts and crafts, along with a very warm welcome. Vast expanses of mountain are protected, the gushing streams of the Gardons in autumn are calm and clear in summer and the Mediterranean sun beats down on some of the most beautiful and unforgettable landscapes.  With its lively and original history, a whole range of unique and well-preserved tourist experiences await the visitor to this region around Anduze, Gateway to the Cevennes.

The legend has it that Bogomil missionaries, followers of a religious movement which appeared in the Xth century in Bulgaria, came to Western Europe and are the origin of the Cathare movement which developed similar doctrines in the south of France in the XIIth century and the beginning of the XIIIth century. Even if there is nothing today to prove the presence of these missionaries in our southernmost regions, there is nonetheless plenty of evidence which could back up this supposition. According to certain scholars, the Bogomil missionaries, on their arrival at the foot of the Cevennes mountains called them in their language "black mountains!", which phonetically would have been perceived "Les Cevennes" by local people.

This could  be the origin of the name " Cevennes"; a rocky, granite country located on the southernmost slopes of the Massif Central, which extends from the peaks of Aigoual (1 567m) to the peaks of Mount Lozere (1 699m) sloping down towards the Mediterranean plain and dotted with picturesque hamlets and villages with stone-tiled roofs. The clear, running waters of a multitude of natural springs have carved out its gorges and valleys, which are festooned with oaks, chestnut trees and scrubland.

The Cevenol people have, over the centuries, tamed the original wild landscape to a certain extent, creating ‘bancels' and ‘faïsses' (small terraces built into the hillside and supported by stone walls) for the cultivation of vines, mulberry trees and cereal crops. It is also a region of shepherds, pilgrims, Camisards and the Maquis (rural bands of the French Resistance during the Second World War). The rocky landscape, the mountains and the valleys, impenetrable to outsiders but familiar to the Cevenols, have long been a natural shelter, difficult to reach by cruel hordes or organised armies.

The History of the Cevennes had its bloody hours when the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, imposed the prohibition of the practice of the "reformed" (Protestant) religion and the King's dragoons carried out cruel acts of repression. These events remain engraved on the memories of the Cevennes, as do those of the occupying forces, during the Second World War, pursuing the Maquis. All this, has contributed to forge the identity of the Cevennes.

The Cevennes had their economic golden age in the XIXth century with the production of silk. In 1853 the Cevennes, and more particularly the Gard, accounted for more than half the production of silk worm cocoons in France. Disease, then the development of synthetic and artificial fibres, and the importation of Asian silk contributed to the decline of this industry at the beginning of the XXth century.