Gorges du Verdon
This summer we have chosen to travel to the south of France and the Côte d’Azur. As a family, we haven’t been to France before, so this was as first for the family.
We start in the beautiful Alpes region of Provence – the Cote d’Azur, which is the Gorges du Verdon, it is a 2-hour drive north from Nice. We flew with SAS directly to Nice from Copenhagen.
Everywhere you look you see beautiful views of mountains and we took lots of pictures to keep the memories of the beautiful sight. The area is also called the French Grand Canyon and it’s not far from the truth. High and very steep cliffs rise in the landscape, and rivers were flowing between the rocks. It’s a great sight and you can not get enough of nature when you are there. But you need to be into nature or open-air sports if you hare here because there are not many cities with shops. When you find the towns, they are small and cosy with small local shops and some restaurants. That’s why we chose to start our trip in France up here, peace and the opportunity to enjoy nature and the family.
We lived in a small campsite outside the town of Castellane, at Camping Huttopia Verdon Gorge. The campsite is placed by the river, so those who had an auto camper or a tent could camp right at the river. We lived in a wooden cabin, simply furnished with a small kitchen with the necessary equipment and a bedroom with a double bed and a room with 2 single beds. There was also a smaller living room with a sofa bed. There was a small terrace where you could side and eat and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The site also had a lovely pool overlooking the amazing mountains and other activities attached. The campsite itself is a bit worn, but you don’t notice it because nature is so amazing.
There is are plenty of opportunities to climb the mountains, swim in rocky caves, jump from cliffs and river rafting. We chose to take the team who arranged trips from the campsite we were on as they had good reviews. You can choose between 8 and 12 km of rafting down the river. Our 14-year-old did not want to come along, but the 12-year-old girl came along. We booked an afternoon 12 km trip together with an Italian family. Everybody got wetsuits, life jacket and helmet handed over and then it just went.
Rafting requires a lot of cooperation. Our guide gave us instructions on how our team of 8 should cooperate along the way, how to sit, paddle, safety positions and what to do if we were to fall into the water in the strong current.
The adults thought the trip itself was incredibly beautiful, a little scary, but overall amazing. Our daughter thought it had been a little too rough with the wild waterfalls where we were thrown a little up in the air. We were allowed to jump into the water in the strong current and notice how quickly the water leads you, jump from cliffs and not least to cooperate, which is a must in the more wild places with a strong current. Our guide was fantastic and even you could feel the adrenaline pump, we could feel we were in good hands.
Of the more culinary experiences in the area was to go to the Saturday market in Castellane.
There were tastings on local produce and we ended up buying delicious French bread, herbs, locally made sausages, fresh, smoked and salted sausages, olives, delicious sheep cheese and a lot of greenery. Of the sweet kind, we bought locally made nougat French (must be tasted) and sweet forest berries. And got is fantastic meal …..
Watch the video code from a 6km hike in the mountains behind the campsite, amazing and unspoiled scenery that makes you so grateful to be allowed to experience this.
[gmap-embed id=”1578″]