Calanques, south coast of France

INDEPENDENT WALKING HOLIDAYS

French Fjords & Coastal Provence

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6 nights - £535 - 6 days independent walking, mixture of day walks and moving between guest houses

This self guided French walking holiday explores two regions of southern Provence where geaming white limestone forms a stark contrast with the deep blue sky and the turquoise Mediterranean. The Calanques coastline offers a unique landscape of beautiful fjords and dramatic cliffs, whilst the rugged Sainte Baume mountain 20km inland provides amazing panoramic views.

Calanques & Sainte Baume

This French walking holiday explores two regions of southern Provence where gleaming white limestone forms a stark contrast with the deep blue sky and the turquoise Mediterranean. The rugged chain of Sainte-Baume is 12km in length and culminates at the Signla des Béguines at 1147m in altitude. At only 20km from the Mediterranean coast it offers great panoramic views to the sea as well as across of much of Provence. The region has a rich fauna and flora which changes rapidly as you move across the hills. The enormous cliffs harbour caves which have protected early humans for as long as 130,000 years. From the middle ages the cave of Sainte Baume became an important site of christian pilgrimage.

Les Calanques on the Mediterranean coast offers a truly unique walking experience for our self guided walking holiday with a landscape of fjords where deep valleys have been drowned by the clear blue sea. The rugged and tormented cliffs gleam white rising high above the sea between Marseille and Cassis forming a stunning and dramatic coastline. The calanques or Mediterranean fjords are narrowest near Cassis, with the calanque d'En-Vau being the most spectacular, with vertical cliffs encircling a beautiful narrow inlet. Port Pin and Port-Miou are also amazing places where you can bathe in the clear waters providing wonderful moments of relaxation and the chance to gaze at the wonderful coastline.

These steep sided inlets were created when the sea level was much lower than today with rivers creating deep valleys or erosion and weathering leading to cave collapse. These valleys were then drowned by the rising sea to form calanques of French Fjords. The cliffs along this part of the French coast, not far from the city of Marseille, reach an amazing 400m in height offering spectacular views. On your walks on our self guided tour you'll get the chance to take a dip in the idyllic blue Mediterranean sea as you explore the two beautiful inlets of Port Miou and Port Pin. Your route will then climb the picturesque valley d'En-Vau to reach the heights of the mountains just inland. The Calanques is an arid limestone coast with a typically Mediterranean vegetation of scrub with densly growing evergreen shrubs such as Juniper trees. The best time to visit calanques is in the spring from March to the end of May, when temperatures are still quite fresh and, unlike autumn and winter, rain is usually quite rare. Autumn can also be very pleasant, but there is a greater risk of stormy wet episodes.

Your self guided walking holiday in France will take you from the rocky bulk of Sainte Baume in the "arrière pays provencal" to the Mediterranean, offering a wonderful variety of lanscapes, colours and walking experiences. You'll be staying in a number of good quality hotels where you can saveur the local cuisine.

Take a look at our independent walking holiday in southern Provence, France in more detail: French Fjords and Coastal Provence