There is the roar you hear before you see the water, the coolness rising from the pool, the rainbow settling in the spray. From the limestone columns of the Jura to the mountain streams of the Pyrenees, via the volcanic flows of the Ardèche, France hides waterfalls that are worth the trip on their own.
This selection brings together twelve of the most impressive waterfalls, almost all reachable by a family walk. Bring good shoes, a windproof jacket for the final approach, and let yourself be carried by the sound of the water.
First mentioned in Abel Hugo's La France pittoresque in 1883, the waterfalls were made famous by the painter Gaston Vuillier, who laid out a park in a way that respected the site.
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Here is the kingdom of granite and water; its impressive waterfalls and its many lakes make it a natural paradise where Empress Eugénie came to dream in the last century.
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From its source, the Guiers Vif tumbles down a cliff in four successive waterfalls: the first is called "la Cascade de la source", the second "la Grande Cascade", then comes "la Cascade Isolée" and finally at the foot "la Pisse du Guiers".
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Ranked the number-one natural site of Franche-Comté. From Villers-le-Lac, commented cruises of 14 km aboard tour boats offer a grandiose spectacle of the meanders of the Doubs, set in wild gorges.
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It is a natural waterfall 35 m high, north of Burzet, whose wild look enchants nature lovers.
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On the edge of Savoie, the upper Névache valley, dotted with fish-filled mountain lakes (Lac Long, Lac Rond, Lac du Serpent, Lac Laramon) is the favourite ground of hikers and cross-country skiers.
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Located at the bottom of a reculée, near the edge-tool works of Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, it is a fine example, like the Loue of which it is a tributary, of a resurgence typical of karst areas.
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The Cascade des Tufs: this waterfall has a particularity; it is petrifying: the water, travelling long distances across the plateau, becomes loaded with limestone by dissolution of the rock.
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After the Point Sublime, the road descends towards the bed of the Verdon until it comes so close that, following floods of the Verdon, the road had to be rebuilt.
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The Hérisson Waterfalls, the Éventail and the Grand Saut: they are located near Doucier, in the heart of the lakes region.
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The Cèze has carved channels and cavities that end up joining and forming crevasses into which the river rushes.
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The Cascade du Rouget is in the Cirque du Fer à Cheval, in the commune of Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, in Haute-Savoie.
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