Hiking in Provence - a guide

The Garrigue

Hiking in Provence's Garrigues is the typical landscape associated with Provence; a type of undulating Mediterranean lowland found on limestone soils around the Mediterranean Basin, generally near the seacoast, where the climate is moderate and with annual summer drought. The Garrigues offers the enthusiast all-year-round hiking opportunities, which is why we recommend it so much.

The hiking is much more varied than at first sight and the cultural and historical cache of the Garrigues makes for a multitude of themes for you to enjoy. Here are just a few ideas for your delectation, and these hiking tours are available all year round:

• Hiking Gard-Provence - a 7-night drive-hike tour around the Ceze Valley, Uzes and Pont du Gard.
• Rambling in Provence - a 7-night urban and suburban hike in and around Avignon and Orange.
• Walking tour in Provence - a 7-night, inn-to-inn walking tour of Western Provence.
• - a 7-night, inn-to-inn walking tour of The Gardon Valley.

Read our article on The Garrigue.

The Coast of Provence

The Camargue

With an area of over 930 km² (360 sq. miles), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large salt lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. These are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. France produces forty per cent of its own rice and all of it is grown in The Camargue.

The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds, including the greater flamingo. The marshes are also a prime habitat for the famous black bulls and their equally-famous Camargue horses.

Despite the amazing fauna, or more likely because of it, The Camargue is not blessed with an east-west hiking trail that is 'commercialised.' Those wishing to take a hiking trip are advised to consult an operator specialising in The Camargue.

Read our article on The Camargue

The Camargue and its emblematic White Horse

• Hiking in the Camargue
• Hiking Petite Camargue

The Calanques

Les Calanques are a dramatic feature of the Provence coast, a 20-kilometre-long series of narrow inlets in the cliffs of the coastline between Marseille, to the east, and Cassis to the west. The highest peak in the massif is Mont Puget at 565 metres. There are some fine hiking trails to explore for those walking Provence with a penchant for coastal walks.

Calanques are remains of ancient river mouths formed mostly during the Tertiary Period. They were further deepened by glaciation and then flooded by the sea to become ‘calanques’.

The Calanques Coastline

The Mountains of Provence

The amenable climate and varied terrain make hiking in Provence a walker’s delight. If the Maritime Alps are considered part of Provence, they form the highest peaks in the region, with Cime du Gélas (3135 ms or 10286 ft) and Mont Pelat (3053 ms, 10017 ft) the highest mountains, respectively. Both offer excellent walking opportunities.

Outside of the Maritime Alps, the most challenging hiking Provence has to offer is arguably found in and around Mont Ventoux (1909 ms or 6263 feet). Whilst geologically part of the Alps, it is considered to be separate from them due to the lack of any intervening mountains of similar height. Located 20 km north-east of Carpentras, it is nicknamed "The Bald Mountain" as its ‘table-top’ is bare, white limestone bereft of fauna. This gives it an all-year-round snow-capped look, whereas snow cover actually lasts from December to April only.

Mont Ventoux from Mirabel-aux-Baronnies

The Alpilles is a mountain-chain about 20 kms south of Avignon in Provence. Although not particularly high, measuring only 387 m (1,270 ft) at their highest point, they rise abruptly from the surrounding Rhône valley. The Alpilles landscape is one of arid limestone peaks separated by dry valleys and offer an abundance of shorter, day-walking-in-France options. Montagne Sainte-Victoire is probably the best-known mountain in Provence, thanks to Paul Cezanne, who painted it frequently. It is a limestone ridge extending over 18 kilometres, with its highest point, Pic des Mouches, lying at 1011 metres (3316 ft).

The Region of Provence

Traditionally, Provence comprises the departements of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var, Vaucluse and parts of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes. However, like the Cevennes, it is not a homogenous administrative unit and, depending on which travel guide you read, you will find different parts of southern France included within its boundaries. For example, the eastern part of the department of Le Gard is often included in ‘Provence’ and referred to as Gard-Provence or Provence-Gardoise. The French tourist boards love anything with a Roman association and so is keen to include Nimes, the capital of the Gard, in the Provence region. It is also true to say that the French living in this area associate themselves more naturally with Provence than with The Languedoc or The Cevennes.

Provence owes its name to the fact that it was the first Roman province outside of Italy. Nevertheless, Provence has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with Paleolithic sites dating back to 900,000 B.C.Two centuries before the birth of Christ, Roman legions entered Provence on three occasions to repel and suppress aggressors and from 125 B.C the Romans decided to establish permanent settlements in Provence. Roman Province was called Narbonensis, after its capital, Narbo (modern Narbonne), and extended all the way from Italy to Spain, from the Alps to the Pyrenees, thus comprising the modern region of Languedoc-Roussillon as well. Aix-en-Provence was founded in 122 B.C, and other new cities included Arles, Nimes and Orange.

The Romans then began building roads to facilitate troop movements and commerce between Rome, Spain and Northern Europe, the Via Domitia being the most important of such routes. In 8 B.C. Emperor Augustus began to Romanize Provence politically and culturally and Roman engineers and architects built aqueducts, arenas baths, monuments, temples, theatres and villas, many of which still exist today.

The ‘Pax Romana’ in Provence lasted until the middle of the 3rd Century, when Germanic tribes invaded Provence in 257 and 275. At the beginning the 4th century, the court of the Roman Emperor Constantine (280 to 337) was forced to take refuge in Arles. By the end of the 5th century, Roman power in Provence had vanished, and an age of invasions, wars, and chaos ensued.

The Provence Climate

Most of Provence has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot, dry summers, mild winters, little snow and abundant sunshine. Within Provence there are micro-climates and local variations, ranging from the Alpine climate inland from Nice to the continental climate in the northern Vaucluse. The winds of Provence are an important feature of the climate, particularly the mistral, a cold, dry wind which, especially in the winter, blows down the Rhone Valley and can reach over one hundred kilometres an hour.

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