Lovers of prodigious natural phenomena, thrills and visual shocks, here are the 12 most beautiful canyons in France.
Canyons are the fabulous result of the force of water forcing a passage between two reliefs. They form sinuous, narrow and deep gorges. These disproportionate witnesses to Mother Nature’s madness are fascinating and invite you to take a breathtaking journey.
The high cliffs impose humility on you and plunge you into contemplative reflections. The sculpted rocks and rock silhouettes, meanwhile, titillate your imagination.
France, with its countless varieties of landscapes, boasts a fine array of canyons, each as spectacular as the next. These are splendid playgrounds for outdoor enthusiasts, especially canyoning enthusiasts. France’s 12 most beautiful canyons: follow the guide.
1. The Verdon gorges
Photo credit: Shutterstock – lr.s
Among France’s most beautiful canyons, the Gorges du Verdon is certainly the most incredible. Carved out thousands of years ago, it stands out for the scandalous turquoise of its waters and the host of outdoor activities on offer.
The Verdon canyon can be explored in a thousand different ways, whether in whitewater or in calmer waters, along hiking trails or from clifftop routes. The cliffs here climb up to seven hundred meters high, offering breathtaking views. There’s even an unmissable panoramic road dotted with lookouts, all of which rival each other in splendor and allow you to gauge the scale of the scenery.
2. The Ardèche gorges
Photo credit: Wikipedia – Mboesch
The Ardèche gorges wind their way, unwavering, through many remarkable places. If you follow these beautiful canyons of France, carved out over thirty kilometers, you’ll discover fabulous swimming spots, bewitching cirques and prehistoric caves.
The river also never ceases to work the rock, undermining it with its enigmatic patterns. Perched on your boat or on the edge of the cliffs that serve as hiking trails, you’ll never tire of this spectacular geological scenery begun hundreds of millions of years ago.
3. The Tarn gorges
Photo credit: Shutterstock – C.Carayon
The Tarn gorges boast an impressive score. Among France’s most beautiful canyons, this is one of the longest and deepest. In fact, its walls reach heights of up to six hundred metres and split the ground for more than fifty kilometers.
The scenery is sumptuous, with a succession of peaked cliffs that sometimes curve into arches. Geological movements create rocky cirques and eye-popping dolomitic faults.
Mother Nature pours out all her immensity and strength here. The gigantism of this canyon is best appreciated during outdoor activities.
4. Gorges de Galamus
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Alla Khananashvili
To reach this beautiful French canyon, if you’re a good walker and daredevil, leave your car behind. It’s better not to cling to your steering wheel to enjoy the beauty of the site. Take on a few jumps and slides in the resurgences to savor the pleasures of the Gorges de Galamus without moderation.
Alternatively, take a canyoning trip along the water route and the natural basins below. Here, the river nicknamed the « River of Eagles » has split the rock to a depth of five hundred metres over two short kilometers. But in a short space of time, the canyon offers an incredible succession of natural phonemes.
5. Gorges de la Nesque
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Sylvie Lebchek
As well as a natural landscape brimming with garrigues, lavender and aromatic plants, Vaucluse is home to many natural treasures. Not least one of France’s most beautiful canyons. The furrows carved out by the Nesque River form a spectacular, oversized site.
They draw their strength from the mountain slopes, offering a landscape of limestone cliffs punctuated by the green of oak trees. From the road, punctuated by narrow tunnels cut into the rock, there are numerous panoramic vantage points from which to appreciate the sheer scale of the site.
6. Kakuetta Gorge
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Alberto Loyo
This canyon, one of the most beautiful in France, is a concentrate of beauty. This wilderness site has it all: towering cliffs dotted with lush groves, the shadow of majestic birds of prey, winding meanders under footbridges and, above all, a famous waterfall tumbling over twenty meters.
The Kakuetta gorges are impressive, wild and deep, carved relentlessly by the river. There’s nothing like following the millennia-old waters, from below or above, to appreciate the sheer enormity of it all.
7. The Ochre Trail
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Richard Semik
It was bound to feature in our ranking of France’s most beautiful canyons. There’s no water here, but the canyon that cuts through the glowing red and ochre rocks of the » Colorado Provençal » is as surreal as it is fabulous.
Time and earth have done a phenomenal job of creating rock scenery that has nothing to envy of the American West. The Ochre Trail invites you to take a short stroll between canyons and cliffs of shimmering color. At dusk or dawn, the stone glows even brighter.
8. The Oules de Freissinières and Chichin canyons
Photo Credit: Flickr – Flávio Eiró
At the gateway to the Écrins natural park, this beautiful canyon in France is yet another sign of the power of nature and mountains. The tumultuous waters roar relentlessly in a roar climbing to the summits of the rocky spurs. The array of vertiginous scenery will take your breath away.
However, these gorges are especially popular with canyoning experts. Here, the courses are extreme, littered with natural slides, abseiling and particularly intense swimming.
9. Chassezac gorges
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Alex Emanuel Koch
Despite its former inhospitable name – the Devil’s Den – this canyon, the work of the Chassezac river, has everything it takes to be one of France’s most beautiful canyons. That’s why it’s now known as the « Pearl of the Cévennes ».
Its sheer cliffs bear witness in a fraction of a second to the power of the Cévennes. At the bottom of a gorge plunging three hundred meters, this canyon is definitely a promise of emotions and a paradise for experienced canyoning and climbing enthusiasts.
10. Llech canyon
Photo credit: Flickr – Roberto Lumbreras
The Llech canyon boasts the title of France’s most beautiful canyon for some. And at least, for everyone else, the most beautiful in the Pyrenees! The gorges carved here over thousands of years are absolutely fascinating.
They originate at the foot of the Canigou mountain range and are surrounded on both sides by a cosmopolitan mountain landscape. The gorge walls are reasonably deep, but have given rise to an impressive variety of obstacles and geological formations.
The site is best known for its canyoning courses, which feature waterfalls, giant slides, sensational descents and lush natural surroundings.
11. The Doubs gorges
Photo credit: Bateaux du Saut du Doubs
Lovers of wilderness will be delighted by this marvellous place on the Franco-Swiss border, which nonetheless has the air of a Canadian canyon. The Doubs gorges are accessible on foot, by horse-drawn carriage or by boat, and are a delight to discover in every season.
From shimmering Indian summers to ice-covered winters, bubbling springs and refreshing summer waters, the Saut du Doubs transports you at every turn. They bear witness to geological upheavals dating back thousands of years and reach their climax at Saut du Doubs: an impetuous waterfall almost thirty meters high.
12. The Sioule gorges
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Leonid Andronov
The last of France’s most beautiful canyons, the Sioule unfolds in a succession of sinuosities and hues ranging from steel blue to chrome green. This miniature Amazon is as wild as it is spectacular, and not easily observed. It’s impossible not to get wet, by canoe, kayak or canyoning, to discover it.
Effervescent and calm, the waters are lined with contrasting rocks that catch the eye. The Sioule gorges wind under the watchful eye of castles and a picturesque little road that gives a foretaste of the scenery.