The gateway to the French Pyrenees — haricot tarbais beans, Lourdes pilgrimage traffic, and the most dramatic mountain access in France
Tarbes is the capital of the Hautes-Pyrénées département in southwestern France — a mid-sized market city 30km north of the Spanish border that functions as the practical gateway to the highest and most dramatic section of the French Pyrenees (Vignemale, Gavarnie, Cirque de Troumouse, Col du Tourmalet). The city itself has a pleasant but unspectacular old quarter; its food claim is the haricot tarbais — a large, white, creamy bean grown in the Hautes-Pyrénées under a Label Rouge designation, used in cassoulet and garbure (the hearty Gascon soup of preserved duck, cabbage, and root vegetables)…
Tarbes was the capital of the ancient Bigorre region, contested between the counts of Foix, the counts of Champagne, the English (during the Hundred Years War), and the French crown. The city's most famous son is Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929), supreme commander of Allied forces in 1918 and architect of the Armistice — his birthplace is a museum. The Haras National de Tarbes (National Stud Farm) was established by Napoleon and produced the Anglo-Arab horse breed developed for cavalry use — it's still operating and one of the finest stud farms in France. Tarbes was heavily damaged by Allie…