Adventurous Itinerary for Gorges du Verdon: France’s Grand Canyon
The Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and the Var are separated by the spectacular Canyon du Verdon. The crack in the rocks goes as deep as 700 meters and is 21 kilometers long. At the bottom, it is between 6 and 100 meters wide, and at the top, it is between 200 meters and 1.5 kilometers wide.
Even though it isn’t as big as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Gorges du Verdon are deep, rugged, wild, and just plain beautiful. From the village of Castellane to the village of Rougons, the Verdon river flows with clear, fast water, and a winding road squeezes between its steep banks.
In Rougons, the river falls into a narrow gorge from the Point Sublime, whose name gives an idea of how spectacular it is. The river stays in the gorge until it comes out just before it flows into the Lac de Ste Croix.
Access to the Gorges du Verdon
From the west, such as from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie or Lac de Ste Croix, you can drive along the northern edge (D952) or the southern edge (D71, via Aiguines) to get to the canyon.
If you are coming from the east, you can take the D952, which runs from Castellane all the way along the northern edge of the canyon, or you can turn left at the Pont de Soleils and follow the roads past the village of Trigance to get to the southern edge of the Gorges du Verdon.
The D952 goes from a junction 2 km south of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie for 31 km along the north side of the canyon to Pont de Soleils. There are some nice views of the canyon from the western part of this road.
About halfway, at the Col d’Aven, the road crosses the plateau through fields of lavender. It then goes past La Palud-sur-Verdon and on to Rougon, where it goes back to the edge of the canyon at Point Sublime, one of the most popular spots on the north edge of the Gorges du Verdun.
The gorge is the deepest landform in Provence, and it is protected by a Regional Natural Park. It has the coolest climate in the region, in part because some parts of the canyon don’t get much or any sunlight in the winter.
Along the hot, dry rim, you’ll find plants and animals that are typical of Provence. On the deep, cool canyon floor, you’ll find alpine plants and small mammals that are typical of alpine environments.
Chamois are commonly seen. Vultures were almost extinct in this area, but they have now been brought back.
The Route des Crêtes is a beautiful road that starts 1 km north of La Palud-sur-Verdon and goes all the way back to the same village.
The 23-kilometer loop mostly goes along the edge of the northern rim, which gives you some of the best views of the canyon.
Even though the road is narrow, it’s not as busy as the main roads. A very important thing to remember is that the northern part of this road is a one-way street, and you have to go clockwise. So you can’t do the whole loop if you start in the village of La Palud and go straight east.
From the intersection 2 km south of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, you can get to the southern edge of the Gorges by taking the D19 to Aiguines, then the D71 for 29 km, and then turning left onto the D90.
After Trigance, turn left onto the D955 at the Pont de Soleils, where it meets the D952. This will take you 48km.
After the village of Anguines, it’s about 25 kilometers along the south side of the canyon, where there are lookout platforms with amazing views of the gorges.
If, on the other hand, you want to drive all the way around the two sides of the Gorges du Verdon, including the Route des Crêtes, the total distance is just over 100 km, and you’ll need a whole day because you’ll want to stop several times to take pictures and look at the amazing views.
From a geological point of view, the canyon was made fairly recently, in the Quaternary period, when the Alps started to rise and the river started to erode. In order to stay at its base level, the river cut the Jurassic limestones in a spectacular way.
Before the 1800s, people thought that the deepest gorges of the Verdon could not be crossed. Only a few woodcutters from the area had used ropes to get inside. We have to wait until August 1905, when the speleologist Edouard Alfred Martel spent three days exploring all of the gorges. This was the first time that the gorges were fully explored.
Part of the Martel trail is still used, between Point Sublime and La Maline, to be exact.
About 2500 m above sea level, between the Col de la Sestrière and the Pas du Mélèze, 3 km north-west of La Foux d’Allos and 11 km north-west of Allos, is where the Verdon river starts.
At La Foux d’Allos is the road that leads closest to the springs. From La Foux, there is a path that goes straight to the source and up to Col Sestrière, where it meets the GR56.
After La Foux d’Allos, the Verdon River flows to Allos and then to Colmars, which is to the south. Here, where it flows into the Le Lance River, it looks like a real major river.
As the river flows toward the Durance, it flows into the Lac de Castillon in St. André. The Castillon dam and the Verdon river dam made the Lac de Castillon possible.
Just south of the lake, the river flows by Castellane and gets close to where the canyon starts.
Along this part of the river, the valley is still wide enough, but after the Pont-de-Soleils and through the Clue de Carejuan, the Verdon makes its way into the throat.
The river flows into Lac de Ste-Croix at the western end of the canyon. It goes west through the Basse Gorges du Verdon, past the towns of Quinson, Lac d’Esparron, and Gréoux-les-Bains, where a lake was made by an earth dam called the Barrage de Sainte Croix. The Verdon finally meets the Durance River southwest of Gréoux-les-Bains.