Natural wonders: the finest sites in France

Natural wonders · Gironde

34 metres high and 59 metres wide at water level, the Pont d'Arc is a superb natural arch in the heart of the Ardèche, near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc.

Bassin d'Arcachon

Natural wonders · Corse-du-Sud

A large lagoon open to the Atlantic in the heart of the Landes forest massif, Arcachon Bay combines oyster farming, stilt huts (cabanes tchanquées) and the neighbouring Dune du Pilat. A territory of variable geometry, between high tide and low tide.

Calanche de Piana

CorsicaMust-see

Located in southern Corsica, between the villages of Piana and Porto, the splendid jagged rocks in phenomenal colours stand proudly above a sea of magical reflections.

Natural wonders · Bouches-du-Rhône

Camargue

Natural wonders · Gironde

A delta shaped by the arms of the Rhône, the Camargue unrolls ponds, salt marshes and rice fields as far as the eye can see. White horses, black bulls and colonies of pink flamingos make up one of the most recognisable natural landscapes in France.

Cap Ferret

The tip of the Gironde peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and Arcachon Bay, famous for its red-and-brick lighthouse and its oyster huts.

Cap Fréhel

Natural wonders · Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Cap Fréhel is the largest area (nearly 400 hectares) of coastal heath on the French coasts.

Col d'Aubisque

A mythical Pyrenean pass at 1,709 metres, the scene in 1910 of the first high-mountain stage in the history of the Tour de France.

Natural wonders · Savoie

Col de l'Iseran

Natural wonders · Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

At 2,764 metres, the highest road pass in the Alps, between Val-d'Isère and Bonneval-sur-Arc, on the legendary Route des Grandes Alpes.

Col de la Bonette

The road that goes round its summit, the Cime de la Bonette, reaches 2,802 metres: one of the highest paved roads in Europe, in the heart of the Mercantour.

Natural wonders · Savoie

Col du Galibier

Natural wonders · Vaucluse

At 2,642 metres, one of the most legendary passes of the Tour de France, between the Maurienne and the Briançonnais, offering a 360° panorama over the glaciers of the Vanoise and the Écrins.

Colorado Provençal

Natural wonders · Vaucluse

Former open-air ochre quarries, worked until 1992, forming a landscape of blazing colours reminiscent of American canyons.

Fontaine de Vaucluse

Natural wonders · Corse-du-Sud

The emerald-green spring is ranked among the most important emergences in the world.

Golfe de Porto

CorsicaMust-see

A gulf on Corsica's west coast, UNESCO World Heritage, framed by the red cliffs of the Calanche de Piana and the Capo Rosso massif.

Natural wonders · Morbihan

Golfe du Morbihan

A small inland sea sown with a multitude of islands, the Gulf of Morbihan owes its Breton name, "little sea", to this sheltered stretch of the ocean. Megaliths, oyster farming and fishing villages make up the identity of this territory apart.

Natural wonders · Lozère

Gorges du Tarn

Natural wonders · Pyrénées-Atlantiques

A 27 km limestone canyon carved by the Tarn between the Causse de Sauveterre and the Causse Méjean, dotted with hilltop villages and dizzying viewpoints.

La Corniche Basque

Natural wonders · Finistère

The Basque Corniche is a unique natural site. It is 6 km long on the part belonging to Urrugne.

La Pointe du Raz

Natural wonders · Saône-et-Loire

Located at the prow of Brittany in the Cap Sizun country, the Pointe du Raz is one of the most striking sites of the Atlantic coast.

La Roche de Solutré

Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéMust-see

For geological, prehistoric and historical reasons, the Roche de Solutré is the high point of any visit to the Mâconnais. A walk from the car park south of the rock lets the visitor reach the summit, after a visit to the departmental museum.

Natural wonders · Pas-de-Calais

Le Cap Blanc-Nez

Hauts-de-FranceMust-see

Mineralogy enthusiasts all know the famous Cap Blanc-Nez site (Boulogne-sur-Mer area, northern France): the chalk cliffs yield a great abundance of marcasite, crystallised in cockscomb form.

Natural wonders · Lozère

Le Chaos de Nîmes le Vieux

Natural wonders · Deux-Sèvres

It is true that this group of ruin-shaped rocks can be deceptive.

Le Marais Poitevin

The second-largest wetland in France by area, the Marais Poitevin lies on the edge of two Atlantic coast regions (Pays de la Loire and Poitou-Charentes) and straddles the three départements of Vendée, Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime.

Natural wonders · Isère

Le Mont Aiguille

Natural wonders · Seine-Maritime

Mont Aiguille, one of the seven wonders of the Dauphiné. Mont Aiguille was once called "Mont Inaccessible" because climbing it was thought impossible.

Natural wonders · Somme

Les Falaises d'Ault-Onival

Hauts-de-FranceMust-see

The chalk cliffs of Upper Normandy continue beyond the mouth of the Bresle at Mers-les-Bains as far as Ault and Onival.

Les Falaises d'Etretat

NormandyMust-see

The cliffs of Étretat are an exceptional natural site where the spectacle of cliffs cut into arches, needles and pinnacles will take your breath away.

Natural wonders · Pyrénées-Orientales

Les Orgues d'Ille sur Têt

Natural wonders · Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

"Les Orgues" are strange rock formations eroded by time and shaped like chimneys.

Les Robines du Liman

Robines are hills of black marl sculpted by erosion. When the ground is soaked, the reflections of light on these dark harmonies create violent contrasts.

Les Rochers de Ploumanac'h

Natural wonders · Puy-de-Dôme

Sculpted by the sea and time, balanced in a sometimes more than improbable equilibrium, steeped in mystery and fuelling the imagination, the rocks recall the power of the natural elements.

Les Roches Tuilière et de Sanadoire

Natural wonders · Bouches-du-Rhône

In the deep, wooded cirque of the Chausse, two great monoliths spring up, the Tuilière and Sanadoire rocks.

Les calanques de Cassis

Natural wonders · Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

The Calanques massif, at the gates of Marseille, offers a postcard landscape.

Les pénitents des Mées

Natural wonders · Haute-Loire

This walk will let you discover a curiosity visible from the Sisteron-Aix motorway or the N85 road.

Mont Mézenc

Natural wonders · Pyrénées-Orientales

A former volcano peaking at 1,753 metres on the border of Haute-Loire and Ardèche, Mont Mézenc offers one of the widest panoramas of the Massif Central. In clear weather, the gaze reaches the Alps and the Cévennes.

Pic du Canigou

Natural wonders · Haute-Corse

At 2,785 metres, the emblematic summit of the Catalans, the easternmost high point of the Pyrenees, visible from the Mediterranean in clear weather.

Arche de Padule

CorsicaOutstanding

At the exit of the Tavignanu defile, at the top of the Pinerole, the Padule arch is almost inaccessible at the end of the world. The quest for it makes its rare visitors real adventurers of the lost ark.

Natural wonders · Corse-du-Sud

Archipel des Lavezzi

CorsicaOutstanding

From Corsica to Sardinia, only a few kilometres separate these islands, but many sailors have wrecked their ships on these terrible reefs, as the marine cemeteries of Furcone and Archiarino and the memory of the wreck of La Sémillante in 1855 bear witness.

Natural wonders · Ardèche

Bois de Paiolive

Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesOutstanding

The Bois de Païolive (holm and downy oaks) is an aged private forest that therefore holds exceptional richness in insects, particularly beetles, for which entomologists and collectors travel from all over Europe.

Natural wonders · Aude

Canal du Midi au Somail

Natural wonders · Seine-Maritime

Shaded by its century-old plane trees, the hamlet of Le Somail is one of the most picturesque stops on the Canal du Midi, a seventeenth-century engineering masterpiece listed by UNESCO.

Cap d'Antifer

NormandyOutstanding

The extreme tip of Cap d'Antifer cannot be passed at sea level, even at low spring tide. It is therefore one of the few points on the coast where the foot of the cliff remains inaccessible.

Cap d'Erquy

BrittanyOutstanding

Pink sandstone cliffs 470 million years old, heaths and old quarries, at the eastern end of the bay of Saint-Brieuc.

Natural wonders · Paris

Catacombes de Paris

Île-de-FranceOutstanding

An underground ossuary developed at the end of the eighteenth century in former quarries, where the bones of several million Parisians are carefully stacked.

Chaos de l'Ile Renote

BrittanyOutstanding

The Renote peninsula is a protected natural area that shelters many chaos of pink granite, with fauna and flora characteristic of the seaside.

Natural wonders · Lot

Chemin de Halage du Lot

Natural wonders · Seine-Maritime

River navigation, sunk by the advent of the railway, had its hours of glory, which then rhymed with gabares, large wooden barges used to carry goods.

Chêne d'Allouville-Bellefosse

NormandyOutstanding

Planted, according to tradition, nearly a thousand years ago, this pedunculate oak standing in the church square of Allouville-Bellefosse is one of the most famous trees in France.

Natural wonders · Drôme

Cirque D'Archiane

Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesOutstanding

From the sumptuous cirque of Archiane, discover the largest nature reserve in France: the Hauts-Plateaux du Vercors with the Combeau valley, the Tête Chevalière, the Jardin du Roi and the Chamousset sheepfold.

Natural wonders · Maine-et-Loire

Cirque de Courossé

Pays de la LoireOutstanding

The "Cirque de Courossé", the main natural curiosity, is only a recess between two hillsides where the Èvre, a timid tributary of the Loire, gives itself the look of a gorge; the cirque lies between La Chapelle-Saint-Florent and Saint-Pierre-Montlimart (listed site of the Mauges).

Natural wonders · Hérault

Cirque de Mourèze

This natural limestone formation, which gave its name to cliffs in the Alps of northern Italy, is found west of Clermont-l'Hérault.

Natural wonders · Gard

Cirque de Navacelle

Natural wonders · Hautes-Pyrénées

Like other famous sites of the Grands Causses, the Cirque de Navacelles is visited every year by millions of tourists who come to admire the cut of the Vis canyon through the limestones and dolomites of the Causse de Blandas.

Cirque de Troumouse