A quiet and not unpleasant little spa, VERNET-LES-BAINS, 15km along the D27 from Cuxa, can make a useful base for picking up provisions and information to climb the Pic du Canigou. It has a tourist office in place de la Mairie (July & Aug Mon–Sat 9am–12.30pm & 3–7pm, Sun 9am–12.30pm; Sept–June Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 2–6pm; tel 04.68.05.55.35) and plenty of eating and drinking possibilities in the main square, place de la République. The town's two-star hotels offer a range of amenities and all are good value: two of the best are Eden, 2 promenade du Cady (tel 04.68.05.54.09, fax 04.58.05.60.50; €30–40), and the Princess, rue de Lavandiers (tel 04.68.05.56.22, fax 04.58.05.62.45; €40–55). There are several campsites around Vernet and a gîte d'étape (tel 04.68.05.51.30) just up the road in Casteil. For a meal, try the popular Le Pommier in placette du Cady, just off the main square (from €9.15).Just 2km from Vernet-les-Bains, or a half-hour walk above the hamlet of Casteil, is the stunning abbey of St-Martin-du-Canigou. Resurrected from its ruins at the turn of the century, the monastery occupies a narrow promontory of rock at over 1000m altitude. Quiet and serene, it's surrounded by the deep shade of chestnut and oak woods, and above it rise the precipitous slopes and eroded pinnacles of Canigou. Below, the ground drops sheer into the ravine of the Cady stream that rushes down from the Col de Jou. The buildings are visitable, in silent Tours (guided visits hourly: mid-June to mid-Sept daily 10am–noon & 2–5pm; mid-Sept to mid-June 10am–noon & 2.30–4.30pm; €3.81). What you see is a beautiful little garden and cloister overlooking the ravine, a low dark atmospheric chapel beneath the church and the church itself. Founded in the tenth century, St-Martin was the inspiration for the Romanesque architecture of the region. The graves of the founder, Count Guifred of Cerdagne, and his wife lie in the rock by the church door. From the reception building, a path leads up to a rocky viewpoint from which you can look down on the monastery and away across the valley to the surrounding mountains. As you go up, you pass a signpost to Moura on a path which leads first to the Col de Segalès on the GR10, then, on the HRP, to the Cabane Arago and finally to the summit of Canigou. For a different route back to Casteil, a path drops down into the Cady ravine just at the start of the monastery buildings.
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