In a postmodern context of increasing touristic offer and demand, the artists trails are often seen as a niche, an originality factor and a guaranty of authenticity by local development actors and by visitors. As a subfield of cultural tourism, the artists trails concern places or routes associated to an author or an painters' life, or their artistic production and is a good illustration of the capacity of the art to build places. Art and literature can cause a modification of the local development, and their geography can take an active part in the construction of a social and political space. In the communication we approach tourism valorization of artistic heritage through two examples chosen in the rural areas of French Massif central : a participatory action research that we animated in collaboration whith citizen associations that promote literary heritage of Allier, a rural department of France and a project to recreate the itinerary followed by the painter Etienne- Jean Delécluze in his "Voyage en Auvergne" in 1821. In both cases, we will look more particularly at the question of the methodologies used to set up artists' paths, to enhance these heritages by creating hiking trails.