It is difficult to be indifferent to the benefits of a bath under the shades of a forest. Discover our 10 ideas for walks in the forest in France.
The sun filters through dense foliage, the molleted soil amortizes your steps. Her majesty Mother Nature is as imposing as silent. Its eternal power runs from roots to the tree top and calms you. No doubt: a green ride provides a huge well-being. In the midst of large trunks and scattered parterres, you suddenly resume your breath and your eyes marvel. Take a great inspiration. Our beautiful France is full of forests where your lungs, your heart and your head will finally be soothed. Discover our 10 ideas for walks in the forest in France.
1. Tronçais Forest
Photo credit: Instagram – basile_guibert
Where to sleep? In a tipi in Valigny.
Balades: the path of remarkable oaks, the walks around the ponds.
Activities: bike, mountain biking, hiking, rosalia, fat-trott, cani-kart, mycological outings.
This walk in the forest offers immersion in one of the most beautiful oak trees in Europe. The Tronçais forest spreads in the heart of Allier.
Breaking ponds, mist carpet or golden nested, it changes the mood and color at the time and seasons. The light sculpts this “Exceptional Forest” (labelled in 2018) and its dozens of hiking tours. Hundred trees, mysterious rocks and immersive ponds are as remarkable as refreshing. Not to mention, in the autumn, the brame of the deer.
2. Forest of Fontainebleau
Photo credit: Instagram – vinh75
Where to sleep? In a bubble at Noisy-sur-École.
Balades: the viewpoint circuit, the walk of Barbizon's painters.
Activities: climbing, cycling, jogging, hiking.
Do we still have to present the fabulous royal forest of Fontainebleau, near the unmissable castle ? It is one of the best ideas for walking in the forest for the Francilians looking for greenery.
Between quiet trails and wild paths, it fulfills all wishes. Drivers, active walkers, climbers or cyclists: all are delighted.e.s. Some walks open even on sublime panoramas and guide you on the steps of illustrious artists.
3. Forest of Compiègne
Photo credit: Instagram – b_n_i_t_o
Where to sleep? In a hut in the trees at Pierrefonds.
Balades: the alley of the Beaux Monts.
Activities: hiking, jogging, cycling.
First reserved for the good pleasure of lords and hunters to run, the forest of Compiègne is today the refuge of many Parisians. Its almost millennia, the armistice of 1918, signed in the shade of its large trees, its famous Saint John oak, its magnificent paths that swirl the futaies of beech: it has everything to please.
For your walk in the forest, you will have the choice among more than a thousand kilometers of landscaped trails. If you're lucky, maybe you can see some daims, deer or raccoons.
4. Forest of Brocéliande
Photo credit: Instagram – ebeyne.moonlight
Where to sleep? In a stone mill in Campeneac.
Balades: the beautiful incursion of GR7, the circuits of the gate of the sky (a concentrate of Brocéliande), the land of the fairies (in the forest), the Val sans Retour and Landes de Gurvan (in the spring) or around the megaliths of Monteneuf.
Activities: electric bike, vtt, hiking or equestrian, visit the castles.
Terre d’accueil des chevaliers de la Table Ronde, la forêt de Brocéliande was the exploration ground of the fairies Morgane and Viviane, the eternal house of Merlin the enchanting Lancelot's fief. Located in the Paimpont forest, it remains embossed with mysteries and enigmatic paintings between ponds, peatlands and fog-nosed moors.
This real earth for the imagination is also a natural jewel. Its walks in the forest are spread over nearly two hundred circuits through wooded and hilly landscapes. They travel on foot, by bike or by horse (for the most arthurians of you).
5. Eawy Forest
Photo credit: Instagram – lemomeeternel
Where to sleep? In a tree hut in St-Germain-Des-Essourts.
Balades: circuit of the Val Ygot, path to the Eawy Forest, path of the schoolchildren, path of the wonderful puit.
Activities: hiking and cycling.
Eawy’s forest emits a mystical atmosphere and provides a sense of humility in the face of the thirty-metre high-beech-cathedrales. These giants cover all the space and shelter deer, biches and deer.
In all seasons, the Eawy Forest gives ideas of walks in the forest. Looking for mushrooms, red fruit or animal prints in the snow, there is so much to do.
6. Landes Forest
Photo credit: Instagram – lgoodingfr
Where to sleep? In a trapper tent in Saint Michel Escalus.
Balades: circuit on the bike paths, Forge ride, Midouze haul path, Trepèdes circuit, chapel route and sources.
Activities: biking, hiking and horseback riding.
The Landes Forest is no other than the largest in Western Europe. It was born from the marine pines planted in the nineteenth century to dry the marshes. It offers no less than one million hectares and covers three departments. Along the Atlantic Ocean, its forest massifs slide between ocean and lakes.
If the pine is here king, the Landes Forest houses many other species and unveils ever-renewed landscapes. Open the eye during your walk in the forest to see a stork or otter.
7. Grand Chartreuse
Photo credit: Facebook – Chartreuse Regional Natural Park
Where to sleep? In a treehouse in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse.
Balades: The Dent de Crolles, the Monastery of the Great Chartreuse, the cascades of the Cirque de St Even, the Aulp Cross circuit of the threshold.
Activities: hiking or snowshoeing, swimming, paragliding.
On horseback on the Savoy and Isère, the Grande Chartreuse’s forest is as secret as majestic. Its two endemic species, fir and spruce, give it a unique setting. Appreciated for its calm and serenity, “the emerald of the Alps” also contains imposing limestone cliffs, pastures and an amazing monastery. You will find a handful of live chartreux at more than a thousand meters above sea level and happy neighbors of deer, deer, chamois, eagles and cabbages.
During a walk in the forest in the Great Chartreuse, the magic works instantly: the summits stretch you, the light caresses you, the wooded scents and the mist of the leaves comfort you.
8. Iraty Forest
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Barbara_C
Where to sleep? In a mountain chalet in Larrau.
Balades: Petrilarre Trail, Iraty Lake, Organbidexka Pass.
Activities: fishing, biking, mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
The Iraty Forest can pride itself on offering walks in the forest in Europe’s largest beech. It is also a land percluse of Basque legends around the forest lord and laminak geniuses. It spreads, wild and far from the world, between France and Spain.
Do you hear nature? Small animals are on the lookout and point the ears. In absolute calm, life beats its full. Then suddenly, the sources and torrents under the futaies are falling. The grand views are drawing.
9. Forest of Vizzavona
Photo credit: Shutterstock – pio3
Where to sleep? In bivouac in Vivario.
Balades: the incursion of GR20, the ride of the Cascade des Anglais.
Activities: hiking and swimming in the river.
If it was a den of brigands that broke the passengers, the forest of Vizzavona is today one of the most beautiful of Corse .
The laracio pines that live in it have built its reputation. Loved in the mountainous Corsican mountains, these mastodones peak at thirty or forty meters high. Of course, other trees come to perfect this majestic bouquet and impregnate you with their scents. During your walk in the forest, you will even discover a stream devaluating cascades and crystalline vasques.
10. Bois de Païolive
Photo credit: Shutterstock – Mike_O
Where to sleep? In a yurt in Barjac.
Balades: the path of the virgin, the itinerary of the cornice or the curl of the hiker.
Activities: Swimming in the gorges of Chassezac, speleology, observation of rare birds, hiking.
The last of our ideas for walks in the forest in France plunges you into a magical world. Moreover, this forest is nicknamed “the wood of the fairies”. Under the green shadow, a whole world seems to flourish in silence. He reveals himself to the most attentive and contemplative of us.
leaUnbelievably shaped, strange forms petrified in the limestone, white and green oaks: a feast for the senses and eyes. From mineral chaos to surreal forms are even born many legends.
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