Legends of Les Gorges du Verdon 🇫🇷 | The TOP 2 Must-do Hiking Trails

Legends of Les Gorges du Verdon 🇫🇷 | The TOP 2 Must-do Hiking Trails

The Gorges du Verdon is the largest canyon in 
France and the hiking trails here are easily in the conversation for the best in France. We spent 
two weeks exploring the highs and the lows of the Verdon, and at the end of the day, out of all 
the hikes we did, there are two that definitely earn legendary status. These hikes aren’t for 
everyone, but if you plan your day properly around your abilities, these two trails are going to be 
the highlight of your visit to Le Verdon. All the details you need to complete these two hikes 
are in the details below. So, without further ado, let’s get into it. Santier Blanc Martell. This 
is definitely the crowd favorite and the most popular hike in all of Le Verdon. It’s a one direction 
hike that starts by going down immediately all the way down to the river and then you slowly gain 
some elevation while making your way back to the end of the 16 km trail. There’s two fantastic ways 
of doing this hike. Number one is that you park at the end of the hike, getting a taxi for €10 per 
person that brings you to the beginning or you can hitchhike back. It is quite common in the area and 
still a very safe place to do so. We would have never thought to do that, but we did pick up a 
park ranger on our first day in the area, and he’s the one who explained that that was a great way to do this hike. Why the Blanc Martel is so popular is that it is literally littered in awesome features. 
This staircase for me is by far well worth the outing. And getting to these features is pretty 
easy cause the hike itself is not that difficult. You got to make sure you have a great pair of 
shoes like always, but get the poles. I see too many people who don’t have poles. I don’t 
know if they think it makes them look not cool, but you got to get the poles. It’ll help save your 
knees and make things a little bit more safe. From down here, the hike is a little bit wider than the 
second one in this video, but you just get epic views of these towering mountains and all kinds of 
different crevasse and viewpoints. It really is going to have your camera coming out often, but that is 
a very good thing because who doesn’t want to take lots of nice photos when you’re in a beautiful 
place like this? Now, inside this cave, you got to make sure you got a light with you. The light 
on your phone is going to be okay, but I highly recommend having a proper torch because the path 
is covered in puddles and you are going to step in loads of them if you can’t see them. Another 
really cool thing about this hike is that up here, this is where we slept for the night. You can 
see just behind the van the vertical drop. This is the route of Belvader, which is just a route of 
viewpoints that allows you to experience this hike from up top where all the vultures are. You should 
definitely plan a full day around doing this hike. Make sure you have lots of water and start 
as early as possible in the morning, which will give you extra time because things always 
take longer than we plan for. There’s plenty of people who start this hike too late in the day 
and have to call rescue services. You don’t want to be that person. So, don’t bite off more than 
you can chew. Have your water, have your food, get the poles. An amazing hike that you’ve got 
to check out when hitting Verdon. Now, if you want to up the difficulty level just 
a little bit, but also amplify the beauty, the Sentier de L’Imbut, in my opinion, isn’t just 
the best hike in Le Verdon, but the most beautiful hike in all of Provence. The hike starts from 
the opposite side of the Sentier Blanc Martel, and works the same way. You got to go all the way down to the river inside 
the canyon, except this one can be completed as a loop and you’re going the opposite direction, going 
downstream with the river. Now, what sets it apart from the Sentier Blanc Martel is that the canyon is much 
tighter and you often have little channels like this one you see Faustine going through where you got 
to hold on with one hand and it’s direct into the rapids on the other side. This doesn’t necessarily 
make the hike more difficult, but it can make the hike more dangerous, especially if you’re scared. 
What does make the hike more difficult, however, is that you got to go all the way back up to 
the top at the end. That’s all fine and dandy, but you’re going to be spending some energy in 
the bottom before you do the big ascent at the end of your hike, and that can prove problematic 
if you bite off more than you’re able to do. So, this one I suggest even more than the Sentier Blanc Martel to go as early as possible. Keep an eye on the watch and keep an eye on your 
energy levels because you do have a pretty big ascent on the way up. But the best part 
is that ascent is actually one of my favorite parts of this entire hike. We really didn’t 
expect it to be this good. When we came down, the amount of caves and especially these 
little channels that you go across, they got a nice rail that goes all the way around. 
You can see you always have something to hold on to. Even though, yeah, you take one slip to 
the right and it can be a shortcut to Jesus. Hiking doesn’t get much better than this. And I 
don’t want to be one of those people who’s going, “Be careful, be careful.” But you do see a lot 
of plaques in the area for people who were not paying attention. So, I can’t stress that enough. 
When you do come here, just make sure that you’re paying attention to what you do. Stop. Take your 
photos when you have the moments. And remember, it is not a race. Everybody does their own hike at 
their own speed. What I do like about this hike as well is that it just kind of seems to get better 
as you go on. You get to one corner and you’re like, “Wow, that was ridiculous.” And then you 
turn the corner and your jaw just gets dropped all over again. Once you get near the end, before you 
start going back up, you get to a point where it gets so tight that you can touch both sides of the 
gorges at the same time. Without the help of this 360 camera, I don’t really know how I would have 
filmed most of this because I just you just don’t really know which way to look because there’s 
just literally something 360° around you at all times. And if all that isn’t enough, this is what 
the ascent looks like. Like I said, a little more dangerous, but does it get any better than that? 
We hope you guys enjoyed these hikes as much as we did. And if you need a little extra push to go, 
just remember, adventures don’t happen at home.

Hiking trails rarely get this gnarly….and to have 2 of them of this caliber side by side is what makes hiking in les Gorges du Verdon absolutely legendary. These two trekking paths are unarguably 2 of the best hikes in France and every hiker should at some point visit le Verdon and complete them.

The Sentier Blanc Martel
https://shorturl.at/DJEF1🕰️ 4 to 8 Hours to Complete ⌚️

⬇️ Hiking Trail Link 🥾⛰️🇫🇷 ⬇️

This trail is the easier of the two, and by far the most popular hike to do in le Verdon. This is a 16 km one way trail that bring you up le Verdon river from the bottom of the Gorges. Epic staircases, waterfalls and a long stretch of caves to explore by torch. This is as Iconic as it gets. The point Sublime at the end offers an epic view point looking back at the Blanc Martel. Directly above the hike is the route of Craters where you can drive and go viewpoint hopping looking vertically into the mighty gorges, If you are lucky, from here you can see Vultures. The Best time to see Vultures in le Verdon is at sunrise and sunset.

Sentier de L’Imbut

⬇️ Hiking Trail Link 🥾⛰️🇫🇷 ⬇️
https://shorturl.at/0X2Tr

🕰️ 5 to 7 Hours to Complete ⌚️

This is the more dramatic of the two trails, and L’Imbut delivers a day that is on another level compared to the Sentier Blanc Martel. The path that runs along the river gets you as close to the rapids and rock climbers that come to this part of le Verdon because the cliffs here are the most dramatic in the canyon. The trail has a pretty serious ascent, but it’s fortunately one of the most beautiful parts of the hike. This is not a hike for beginners or people scared of height, as this trail

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