Walks and treks
Calanque d'En-Vau, Cassis
Cassis, Bouches-du-Rhône
The most beautiful of the calanques, the narrow limestone inlets of the Calanques National Park between Marseille and Cassis.
Walks and treks in France
Walks and treks
Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez
Sangatte, Pas-de-Calais
Two great headlands on the Opal Coast facing England across the narrowest part of the Channel: the white chalk cliffs of Blanc-Nez and the grey rocks…
Walks and treks
Cap Fréhel and Fort la Latte
Fréhel, Côtes-d'Armor
A spectacular headland on Brittany's Emerald Coast, with pink and grey sandstone cliffs over 70 metres high, purple heather and gorse, and colonies o…
Walks and treks
Montagne Sainte-Victoire
Puyloubier, Bouches-du-Rhône
The great white limestone ridge east of Aix-en-Provence, painted more than 80 times by Paul Cézanne.
Walks and treks
Pointe du Raz
Plogoff, Finistère
A dramatic rocky point at the western tip of Brittany, jutting into the Atlantic, with the lighthouses of La Vieille and Ar Men in the swirling curre…
Walks and treks
Ballon d'Alsace
Masevaux-Niederbruck, Haut-Rhin
A rounded summit of the southern Vosges mountains, 1,247 metres high, where Alsace, Lorraine and Franche-Comté meet.
Walks and treks
Cap de la Hague
Beaumont-Hague, Manche
The wild northwest tip of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, with high cliffs, heathland and tiny harbours, often compared with Ireland or Cornwall.
Walks and treks
Cascades du Hérisson
Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux, Jura
A series of 31 waterfalls on the Hérisson river in the Jura mountains, among them the Éventail, which fans out over 65 metres of rock, and the Grand …
Walks and treks
Cirque du Fer-à-Cheval
Samoëns, Haute-Savoie
A horseshoe of limestone cliffs up to 700 metres high in the Haute-Savoie Alps, with dozens of waterfalls pouring down in spring.
Walks and treks
Côte Sauvage, Quiberon
Saint-Pierre-Quiberon, Morbihan
The wild western shore of the Quiberon peninsula, where Atlantic waves crash against granite cliffs, arches and coves.
Walks and treks
Crozon peninsula
Crozon, Finistère
A cross-shaped peninsula in Finistère with some of Brittany's most spectacular coast: the cliffs of Cap de la Chèvre, the Pointe de Penhir with its r…
Walks and treks
Gorges du Gardon
Poulx, Gard
Wild limestone gorges of the Gardon river upstream of the Pont du Gard, with cliffs, caves and the hermitage of Notre-Dame de Laval.
Walks and treks
Massif de l'Estérel
Les Adrets-de-l'Estérel, Var
A range of red volcanic rock plunging into the blue Mediterranean between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes, crossed by the spectacular coast road, the Cornic…
Walks and treks
Pic du Canigou
Vernet-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Orientales
The sacred mountain of the Catalans, rising to 2,784 metres above the plain of Roussillon, with a cross on the summit decorated with Catalan flags.
Walks and treks
Puy Mary
Vic-sur-Cère, Cantal
A pyramid-shaped summit at the heart of the Cantal volcano, the largest ancient volcano in Europe, with green valleys radiating out like the spokes o…
Walks and treks
Roche de Solutré
Prissé, Saône-et-Loire
A limestone crag rising like the prow of a ship above the vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé in southern Burgundy.
Walks and treks
Vallée de la Clarée
Saint-Chaffrey, Hautes-Alpes
A beautiful unspoilt Alpine valley near Briançon, with larch forests, flowery meadows and old villages of wooden chalets such as Névache.
Walks and treks
Mont Gerbier de Jonc
Saint-Martin-de-Valamas, Ardèche
A distinctive cone-shaped volcanic peak in the Ardèche mountains, at the foot of which rises the River Loire, the longest river in France.