Plan your family visit to the Tarascon-sur-Ariège prehistoric park

Your “Les Grottes” campsite doesn’t take its name by chance, as theAriège department is littered with famous caves bearing traces of our prehistoric ancestors: Niaux, Lombrives (read the blog article on this cave here), Labouiche, le Mas-d’Azil, Bédeilhac… Seeing traces is wonderful enough, but reproducing the gestures of Cro-Magnon men and women is even more incredible! This is the experience offered by the park in Tarascon-sur-Ariège. In addition to the classic exhibition areas, you can try your hand at rock painting, hunting with an assegai or lighting a fire.

Exhibition areas

The “Grand Atelier” immerses you in the rich knowledge of prehistory, using digital tools, films, models and reproductions of cave paintings. A fun way to learn that’s suitable for everyone!

In the “Giants of the Ice Age” area, you’ll find reproductions of the animals that our Ice Age ancestors hunted, mingled with and feared: woolly mammoths, steppe bison, megaceros deer and cave lions! These larger-than-life animals are presented in their natural environment over an area of 500 m².

In the “Labyrinth of sounds”, a plant and sound creation, you can imagine yourself as one of the first humans on Earth, with sounds of nature and animal noises. Thesound immersion ends with a musical creation played on instruments from 16,000 years ago.

It’s your turn in the workshops!

The park’s prehistoric encampment has been reconstructed in line with the latest archaeological discoveries. Join mediators dressed in period costumes to develop your prehistoric skills. If you’re patient and have a knack for it, you might just return from your vacation knowing how to carve flint or make fire!

In the Bison Cave, young and old alike can paint on the walls. Grease lamps will make you feel as if you’ve gone back to the beginning of time: put down your tablets and smartphones, and grab your ochre pigments and skin stamps, so you too can leave your mark on the cave!

In the hunting workshop, your mission is to throw one of the Magdalenian period’s king weapons, and one that’s not easy to handle: the assegai! You can then go hunting for game in 3D.

Thearchaeology workshop will enable the whole family to understand the logic and techniques of this meticulous science. In the excavation laboratory, you’ll have the chance to date local finds, with the help of specialized mediators!

Practical tips

As you can see, there’s a lot to discover in the park: allow 3-4 hours for the visit.

A restaurant in the park offers local meals, in a room with a panoramic view of the park’s lakes and waterfalls. Picnic tables allow you to bring your own lunch.

Opening times change throughout the year: find all the practical information on the Ariège tourism website.