Olargues is generally reckoned the most beautiful village in the Haut-Languedoc, and it carries the official Plus Beaux Villages de France label to prove it — a designation given to fewer than 160 communes in the whole country, and only to those that meet strict tests of architectural quality and historic character. The medieval core climbs a steep spur above a loop of the Jaur, a knot of narrow lanes and stone houses crowned by an eleventh-century tower that now serves as the church belfry. From below, the village stacks up the hillside in a way that has been photographed a thousand times and still rewards another look.
The Pont du Diable, the humpbacked bridge at the foot of the village, is one of the oldest surviving medieval bridges in France, dating from the eleventh century and still in everyday use. Legend has it the Devil agreed to build it in a single night on condition that the first soul to cross belonged to him; the villagers, the story goes, sent a cat across first. The riverside path gives the best view of the arch with the village rising behind it.
Olargues sits about 20 kilometres east of St Pons de Thomières along the Jaur valley, and the drive there on the D908 through the Orb and Jaur gorges is scenic in its own right. The village makes a natural base or stop for walks up into the Monts de l'Espinouse and toward Mont Caroux, whose southern flank rises directly above the valley.
There are a couple of good restaurants in the village and a small market on Sundays in summer. Allow time simply to wander — the pleasure here is the climb through the lanes, the changing angles on the tower, and the quiet once the day-trippers have moved on. Combine a visit with the Grotte de la Devèze, the show cave that lies roughly halfway between Olargues and St-Pons.