Lombers

If you’re looking for a hotel in Lombers, you can plan your stay around a range of themes: pigeon culture, historic routes and buildings. Each destination has a different focus, from museums and guided tours about dovecotes to a hiking route with a specified distance and duration, as well as a longer greenway. Historic mills and different types of dovecotes are also part of the picture. When planning, consider whether you’re more interested in a specific walking route, architectural history or exhibitions about pigeon culture.

Pigeon culture and guided tours

Les Pigeons du Mont Royal is a farm that raises pigeons for meat and is also a pigeon ecomuseum. Guided tours are available year-round by reservation only. If you’re planning a visit, check the reservation arrangements again before you arrive.

Le Chai aux Pigeonniers is a personal museum dedicated to dovecotes. Its educational exhibition includes photos, models and materials, as well as a 25-minute video. Guided tours are led by dovecote expert Michel Lucien. Alongside a visit to the farm, the exhibition and its interpretive materials offer another way to explore the subject of dovecotes. The film and the various exhibits each have a different focus: the video provides an overview of limited duration, while the photos, models and materials offer other ways of illustrating the subject.

A walking trail or a longer route?

The Sentier des Romains starts at Place de la mairie in Lombers. This easy hiking trail is 8.5 kilometres long, with a stated duration of two hours. It follows the former Roman road, the “cami Roumieu”. The Croix du Pic de Lombers, which marks the site of the former castle, stands near the route. The stated distance and duration provide a concrete framework for planning a hike, while the historic route gives the trail a second point of interest.

The 42-kilometre Voie verte “chemin des droits de l'homme” offers a different scale. It runs between Albi and Castres along a former railway line and can be used on foot or by bike. The Sentier des Romains is the shorter option, with a specified duration and difficulty level; the Voie verte is a much longer route that can also be travelled on foot or by bike. It also offers the chance to experience the surrounding countryside, flora and fauna. The two routes therefore differ both in length and in the information available for planning a hike.

Mills and different types of dovecotes

The Moulin d’Ambrozy is an authentic, restored grain mill built before the 16th century. Its function as a grain mill and its early construction date give it a different historical focus from routes that follow the former Roman road or an old railway line.

The Circuit des Pigeonniers includes around fifteen historic dovecotes. These include cylindrical forms, buildings in the Pied-de-mulet style and dovecotes on pillars. It is this variety of architectural forms that provides the walking route’s central theme: rather than focusing on just one dovecote, the route highlights a range of historic types.

A tourist route brochure published in November 2024 describes the Boucle des Archéologues, which passes the Pigeonnier de Saint-Sernin. The dovecote is pyramid-shaped, stands on arched pillars and has numerous clay nests in its walls. Its distinctive shape and nests set this building apart, in the description, from the cylindrical and pillar-supported forms on the Circuit des Pigeonniers. When choosing Lombers, you can therefore include a variety of historic buildings and their particular features in your travel plans, as well as the routes.

Discover more destinations: Sérénac, Saint-Amans-Soult, Castelnau-De-Lévis, Cuq-Toulza, Montdurausse, Teyssode, Puycelci, Massac-Séran

For the regional travel overview: Tarn.