Around Les Escampons

The route starts from the huge car park at the business school on the Luminy estate, a few kilometres from the Marseille motorway exit, on the road to Cassis.

(S/E) Take the track heading due south and keep to the right at the three-way junction to begin the gentle climb towards the summit of Les Escampons. You’ll reach a three-way junction (water tank).

(1) Head down the track to the right and walk for about 700 m until you reach a fork in the path.

(2) Head up a well-marked path on the left. Enjoy the beautiful views of Marseille as you climb. Near the summit, the path splits into two: take the one on the right for the panoramic view of the Calanques massif, then return to the main path and continue along the route until you reach a fork.

(3) Turn right towards the south, then head for the descending track. Walk for about 500 m towards the Col de Morgiou.

(4) About fifty metres before the pass, turn left onto a path marked with coloured crosses. Ignore these and continue until you come to green-white-red markings.
This marks the start of a rather spectacular and rugged path that follows the Escampons massif, offering beautiful views of the surrounding area.
At the end, join a track and continue to the right towards the east until you reach another junction.

(5) Turn right towards the sea onto the path that descends and, after about 300 m, look out for a wooden post at a fork in the path.

(6) Just before the post, take the path on the right that descends towards Morgiou. After a 500-metre descent, ignore the first track on the right, which is overgrown and impassable. Continue for 150 metres.

(7) Head down a small path to the right which leads to a terrace offering magnificent views, with the Roche Percée to the north and Morgiou and its headland to the south. Turn back to the post you passed earlier.

(6) Turn right (east) onto a path that joins the rest of the nature trail. Follow it to the right for 300 m, until you reach a fork in the tracks.

(8) Take the hairpin bend to the left to head back towards the Luminy estate.

(9) At the bend, take a path that goes straight ahead. At the end, turn left and head up a track that runs alongside a fence to return to the nature trail. Take it to the left and walk for about a hundred metres until you reach a fork.

(10) Turn right to follow a winding path uphill until you reach a track. Follow it to the right, heading north-west. Stay on this track until you reach a junction of three tracks (water tank).

(11) Turn onto the track on the right, heading due north, and walk straight down to the car park where you started (S/E).