The 12 most beautiful canyons in France

Amateurs of prodigious natural phenomena, strong sensations and visual shocks, here are the 12 most beautiful canyons in France.

The canyons are the fabulous result of the force of the waters that force the passage between two reliefs. They thus form sinous, narrow and deep throats. These unmeasured witnesses of Lady Nature's madness fascinate and invite overturning travels.

The high cliffs impose humility and plunge you into contemplative reflections. The carved rocks and the rocky silhouettes, as for them, titrate your imagination.

France, with its innumerable varieties of landscapes, has a beautiful palm of canyons all as spectacular as one another. These are, in particular, splendid playgrounds for outdoor activities and especially canyoning. The 12 most beautiful canyons in France: follow the guide.

1. The Gorges du Verdon

Among the most beautiful canyons in France, that of the Gorges du Verdon is certainly the most incredible. Founded several thousand years ago, it stands out by the scandalous turquoise of its waters and the kyrielle of outdoor activities it offers.

In brighter or quieter waters, along the hiking trails or from the cliff-drawn paths, the canyon of Verdon explores in a thousand ways. There, the cliffs climb up to seven hundred meters high and offer breathtaking views. There is even an immanquable panoramic road punctuated with viewpoints that all compete with splendor and allow you to measure the extent of the decor.

2. The gorges of Ardèche

The gorges of the Ardèche snake, unshakable, and cross many remarkable places. If you follow these beautiful canyons of France, dug over thirty kilometers, you will discover fabulous swimming spots, circus and prehistoric caves.

The river also keeps working the rock and saper nicely with its enigmatic drawings. Situated on your boat or on the edge of the cliffs used as hiking trails, you will not loose this spectacular and geological scenery started hundreds of millions of years ago.

3. Gorges du Tarn

The Tarn Gorges show an impressive score. Among the most beautiful canyons in France, this one is one of the longest and deepest. Indeed, its walls peak up to six hundred meters high and split the ground over more than fifty kilometers.

The painting is sumptuous: the peak cliffs follow each other and sometimes merge into arches. The geological movements give rise to rocky circus and dig up dolomitic flaws that fill their eyes.

Mother Nature pours out all her immensity and strength here. The gigantism of this canyon is all the better understood during outdoor activities.

4. Galamus Gorges

To access this beautiful canyon in France, if you are a good walker and ski resort, delay your car. It’s better not to grab on the wheel to enjoy the beauty of the site. Then face a few jumps and slips in the resurgences to enjoy without moderation the pleasures of the Galamus Gorges.

Otherwise, in canyoning, take the route of the waters and natural vessels downwards. Here, the one that is surnamed the "Aigles River" has swept the rock up to five hundred meters deep over two small kilometers. But in a straight time, the canyon offers an unheard succession of natural phonemes.

5. The Nesque Gorges

In addition to the crowded nature of garrigues, lavenders and aromatic plants, the Vaucluse contains many natural treasures. Notably one of the most beautiful canyons in France. The sillons dug by the Nesque thus form a spectacular and unmeasured site.

They draw their strength from mountain slopes and offer a landscape of limestone cliffs picked by the green oaks. From the road, punctuated by narrow tunnels dug into the rock, many panoramic views will allow you to measure the extent of the site.

6. Kakuetta's throats

This canyon, among the most beautiful in France, is a concentrate of beauties. The wild site offers everything: dizzy cliffs with lush bosquets, the shadow of majestic raptors, tortuous meanders under landscaped bridges and above all a famous waterfall over more than twenty meters.

The gorges of Kakuetta are impressive, wild and deep, dug tirelessly by the river. Nothing better than to follow the millennial waters, down or up, to measure all the demeasure.

7. The Trail of the Ocres

He could only appear in our ranking of the most beautiful canyons in France. Point of water here, but the canyon that splits the red and ochre rocks of the “ Colorado Provençal is as surreal as it is fabulous.

Time and earth have done a phenomenal work and have drawn rocky decors that have nothing to envy the American West. The Ocres Trail invites you to a short walk between canyons and cliffs with shimmering colors. When the day falls or in the early morning, the red-eyed stone lights more.

8. The canyon of the Freissinières and Chichin

At the gates of the Ecrins Natural Park, this beautiful canyon in France still marks the strength of nature and mountains. The tumultuous waters grow tirelessly in a fracas climbing to the tops of the rocky sparrows. The fans of visual slams will have the breath cut to the panoply of dizzy decorations.

However, these gorges are mostly run by canyoning experts. Here, the routes are extreme and jonched with natural slides, recall descents, particularly intense swims.

9. The Gorges du Chassezac

Despite his former inhospital name – the Devil’s Antre – this canyon, a work of the Chassezac River, has everything to be one of the most beautiful canyons in France. It is for this reason that he is now called “The Pearl of the Cevennes”.

Its steep cliffs testify in a fraction of a second the power of Cevennes . At the bottom of a three-cent-metre plunging throat, this canyon is definitely a promise of emotions and a paradise for the cheered canyoning and climbing.

10. The Llech canyon

The canyon of the Llech can boast of its most beautiful canyon for some. And at least for everyone, the most beautiful Pyrenees ! Gorges shaped here for millennia are absolutely fascinating.

They are born at the foot of the Canigou and are surrounded by a cosmopolitan mountain landscape. The walls of the gorges are reasonably deep but have given rise to an impressive variety of obstacles and geological formations.

This site is especially known for its canyoning paths that chain cascades, giant slides, sensational descents and lush nature.

11. Gorges du Doubs

Wild nature lovers will be filled with this wonderful place that, on the Franco-Swis border, still has Canadian canyons. The gorges of the Doubs are accessible on foot, in carriage or by boat and discover with delectation each season.

From Indian summer shaking to winter under the ice, passing through the spring mud and refreshing waters in summer, the Doubs jump takes you every moment. They testify to the geological upheaval of the millennium and reached their point of pride in the Saut du Doubs: an impetuous waterfall of almost thirty meters.

12. The Sioule Gorges

Last permit our most beautiful canyons in France, that of Sioule is deployed in a succession of sinuosities and shades of steel blue to chrome green. This miniature Amazon is as wild as spectacular and is not easily observed. We can't get wet, canoeing, kayaking or canyoning to find out.

Effervescent and calm, the waters are lined with contrasting rocks that catch the eye. The gorges of the Sioule wind under the attentive eye of the castles and a picturesque little road that will well give a little taste of the decor.