Eaux-Bonnes

Presentation

Eaux-Bonnes in the footsteps of Empress Eugénie
The therapeutic benefits of the waters were known from the sixteenth century and it was in the nineteenth century that the resort really took off.
Illustrious figures and artists came to Eaux-Bonnes to take care of themselves and to entertain themselves. The Empress Eugenie made it her appointed station. It then became a resort of worldly entertainment.
The architecture of the buildings, the gardens and walks (the Horizontal promenade offers a magnificent panorama of the valley) remain witnesses of this romantic era.
The town also has a ski resort, Gourette, located about ten kilometers in the direction of the Col d'Aubisque. 
From Les Eaux-Bonnes : Many hiking trails in and around the resort.

AAS
(commune des Eaux-Bonnes)

Hanging on the slopes of the Montagne Verte, facing the Massif du Gourzy and the Pic du Ger, Aas overlooks Laruns and Eaux-Bonnes. Typical pastoral village, it is one of the oldest but also the sunniest in the Valley.
Aas owes its fame to its whistlers. This amazing language was invented long before 1850 in the circus of Gourette, mountain of Aas, by the shepherds of the village. They used it to communicate at long distances, sometimes exceeding 2.5km, to facilitate their daily life and act quickly in emergencies.  In 1959, this secret language was revealed by Marcel Gilbert. Grandson of Louis Barthou, he came to spend his holidays in Eaux-Bonnes when he was a child. The whistlers of Aas then become the ambassadors of the Pyrenees and their fame today exceeds our borders.
On a pillar of the porch of the church, a bronze plaque representing a whistle and offered by René-Guy Busnel, Marcel Gilbert and René Arripe, pays tribute to these whistling shepherds and reminds the passerby of this peculiarity of the village, unique in Europe. 
A walk is necessary in this picturesque panoramic village and very sunny, it will take you to the neighboring hamlet of Assouste (Walking Tour "The walk of the 3 villages").

ASSOUSTE
(commune des Eaux-Bonnes)

Attached to the municipality of Eaux-Bonnes since 1861, the peaceful hamlet of Assouste enjoys a privileged location... Located on the side of the Montagne Verte and on the right bank of the gave d'Ossau.
To discover: the small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, a small jewel of the Romanesque art of the XIIth century, classified as Historical Monuments since 1923, is probably the oldest in the valley.