Southern French Alps

The Southern French Alps occupy a unique geographic and cultural position: high enough to have glaciated peaks and permanent snowfields, yet close enough to the Mediterranean to feel the warmth of Provence. The transition from alpine vegetation to Mediterranean scrub happens over just a few kilometres of descent, and the light — that legendary southern French light — transforms the landscape at every hour of day.

The Mercantour National Park, bordering Italy near Nice, is the jewel of this region. Its alpine core holds the Vallée des Merveilles, a UNESCO-listed site of over 40,000 Bronze Age rock engravings carved into glacier-polished rock faces at 2,000–2,700 m. Walking among these ancient markings is an extraordinary experience.

We combine high-altitude walking in Mercantour with time in the lower Verdon Gorge (the Grand Canyon of Europe), visits to the lavender plateau of Valensole, and exploration of the perched villages of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

Discover one of France's most remarkable mountain regions, where alpine wilderness and Mediterranean heritage come together in a landscape unlike anywhere else in Europe. A true immersion in one of the last, well-kept French alpine secrets.