Gorges du Verdon (Verdon Gorge, Grand Canyon du Verdon), Provence, France
Being on the Cote d'Azur, you definitely should take a day trip to the Verdon Canyon (Gorges du Verdon, Grand Canyon du Verdon, Verdon Gorge) - one of the most beautiful and largest canyons in Europe.
Our route
First, you have to find yourself on the D71 road (A; GPS: 43.710701, 6.505570) and then move to the north / north-west.
We suggest to make the first stop at the first meeting with the Verdon river, forming the canyon (B; GPS: 43.741371, 6.381954), near the Balcons de la Mescla vantage point. From the parking lot you should go a path a few meters down to get beautiful views of the canyon and the river itself.
Then it is worth stopping at interesting bridge (Pont de l'Artuby), which can be used to make some beautiful pictures (C; GPS: 43.731032, 6.386776).
We suggest to make next stop at really exceptional place - between two parts of the tunnel (Tunnel du Fayet). There is only room for 2-3 cars, but it is really worth to try to stop here and then to enjoy great views (D; GPS: 43.735507, 6.365951).
We go farther and stop at the next vantage point (E; GPS: 43.773820, 6.242984), where you can see the tops of the mountains, as well as Lac de Sainte-Croix, emerging behind them.
In our route we go through the village of Aiguines with an interesting castle with funny pinnacles - it's worth stopping there for a moment (F; GPS: 43.773820, 6.242984).
The Lac de Sainte-Croix
We get to the Lac de Sainte-Croix (lake of Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon). Let's go to the nearby bridge (Pont du Galetas) and compare the color of the waters of the lake and the waters of the Verdon river (G; GPS: 43.802377, 6.249675).
Toward Moustiers-Sainte-Marie
We continue our travel on the the road D957, then D952, since our next goal is very interesting town of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie (H; GPS: 43.843585, 6.221021) (we created separate article about this town).
Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon
On the opposite side of the Lac de Sainte-Croix there is a small village called Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon - a good place to enjoy water sports or just stroll around. Returning from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie you may wish to stay there for a while, because you will have interesting views of the lake itself and also the opportunity to visit the town which is located on a small hill. There you have a quite big parking lot at the lake (J; GPS 43.760183, 6.153660). Then you can watch the lake or go just directly to the village. However, before reaching the town, you can stop the car on the road (I; GPS: 43.793505, 6.187284) to admire nice panoramic views of Lac de Sainte-Croix.
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