Calavon ou Coulon (rivière) walks

A beautiful loop around the Calavon Gorges from the village of Oppedette.

A pleasant little hike that has the advantage of starting practically in the centre of Apt, reaching the Saignon rock and returning along the hillside among fruit trees and lavender.

A very beautiful walk starting from the pretty little village of Saignon.

Anyone travelling along the D900 between Avignon and Apt will certainly have noticed the cave dwellings to the north of the road, near the village of Les Beaumettes. This walk offers the chance to stop off and explore them. This is by no means an exhaustive or organised list, but here is a brief overview of the sights: the pretty little town hall square, the climb up to the cave castle, heaths, forests, ruins, wells, rain water reservoirs carved into rock, the botanical trail, drystone shelters, Provençal farmhouses, dry-stone walls, lavender fields, etc.

This fifth stage takes you on a journey of discovery through the splendid Gorges d’Oppedette and, once past the Chapelle Saint Ferréol, visits the remarkable medieval village of Viens with its maze of narrow streets marked by the passage of centuries, before crossing the gleaming ochre landscapes of the Colorado de Rustrel, notable for its canyon-like scenery and fairy chimneys reminiscent of John Ford’s Westerns. The route reaches the hilltop village of Villars before continuing on to Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt.

Largely wooded, the Luberon attracts tourists with its ochre quarries, steep-sided gorges, monuments and hilltop villages with paved slanting streets that evoke the Provence of Daudet, Giono and Pagnol. The first three stages take place in the Luberon Regional Nature Park through the woods on the southern slope of the massif, visiting the medieval village of Oppède-le-Vieux and those of Mérindol, Cucuron and Vitrolles-en-Luberon. The fourth stage crosses over to the northern slope, passing through Céreste, Pont de Baou, the Priory of Carluc and Oppedette. The fifth stage explores the Gorges d’Oppedette, the medieval market town of Viens, and the ochre quarries of Rustrel and Villars. The sixth route crosses Gargas then Roussillon to explore its ochre quarries before setting off to discover the Gorges de la Véroncle. The final route heads to the beautiful village of Gordes, the Abbaye de Sénanque, Saumane-de-Vaucluse and the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.

This first stage of the Tour du Luberon offers beautiful, unspoilt Provençal landscapes through the rocky hills and valleys of sparse woodland bordering the Coulon Valley. The highlights of this route include the remains of the Plague Wall, built during the plague of 1720, the little Chapel of Saint-Eusèbe, the medieval village of Oppède-le-Vieux perched on a rocky outcrop, its church of Notre-Dame d’Alidon which offers a beautiful view over the valley, the Galère valley, the old village of Mérindol, its church of Sainte-Anne and its Reformed church.