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Villages · Vaucluse
Gordes
This village perched on a promontory seems to stand guard over the Apt valley and the Cavaillon plain.
View full page →The most beautiful hilltop villages in France
Built on a hillside or at the top of a rocky pinnacle, hilltop villages have overlooked their valley for centuries, often for defensive reasons before becoming prized tourist sites.
This selection brings together essentials of the genre, from the Luberon to the Côte d'Azur via the Quercy and French Catalonia, each offering a panorama worth the climb on its own.
Best visited out of season or early in the morning to enjoy the lanes without the crowds of the big weekends.
10selected sites
2regions
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Villages · Vaucluse
Roussillon
This village is world-famous for the 18 shades of red ochre of its Fairies' valley and the tormented relief of its old quarries, cliffs that erosion and the mistral continue to gully.
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Villages · Alpes-Maritimes
Eze
Located just after Nice, going towards Menton, Èze stretches along the sea from Cap Roux to the Pointe de Cabuel. Perched like an eagle's nest at the top of an imposing and superb cliff, you will see the village and its pale ochre church from afar.
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Villages · Lot
Rocamadour
In the heart of Haut-Quercy, as if clinging to a mighty cliff rising 150 metres above the deep Alzou valley, this small Marian town has been a renowned place of pilgrimage since the twelfth century.
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Villages · Bouches-du-Rhône
Les Baux-de-Provence
Between a dizzying precipice and the impressive ruins of its long-impregnable fortress, the most visited village in France sits on a rocky spur of the Alpilles, between the Vallon de la Fontaine and the Val d'Enfer.
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Villages · Alpes-Maritimes
Gourdon
In the twelfth century, Gourdon was a military site providing protection against frequent Saracen raids.
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Villages · Pyrénées-Orientales
Castelnou
In the Roussillon plain, south-west of Perpignan, this old fortified village nestles at the foot of a former feudal castle remodelled in the last century.
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Villages · Alpes-Maritimes
Sainte-Agnès
You reach this village by the hairpins of a narrow road crossing a terraced landscape planted with olive trees and mimosas.
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Villages · Lot
Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
This village is largely classified as a historic monument. It stretches along a main street cut by picturesque, very flowery little lanes, carriérous or stairs linking houses.
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Villages · Aveyron
Conques
The great period of Conques, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, coincides with the building of the Romanesque abbey church and the creation of the finest pieces of goldwork in its treasure, including the golden Majesty of Saint Foy.
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