Le Puy de Naouri via the Croix de Malvan off-trail

Park on Allée des Eucalyptus just after the house called Notre-Dame des Fleurs.

(S/E) From this crossroads, follow the signs for Route du Malvan.

Yellow markings

(1) At the first crossroads, at marker 119, continue straight ahead and follow the signs for Route de Malvan until you reach marker 118.

(2) Follow the signs for the Saint-Raphaël Chapel.

(3) At the crossroads at marker 117, walk alongside the water tower and continue towards the Chapelle Saint-Raphaël, pass marker 116 and continue straight ahead on a track that is sometimes paved.

(4) On the left, observe the remarkable tree, several hundred years old, and behind it, a 13th-century ruin. Turn right towards the Saint-Raphaël Chapel.

(5) Retrace your steps and continue along the path to marker 114.

(6) Cross the Malvan ford and turn right.

GR®51 marker

(7) At this crossroads, where marker 113 is located, turn left towards Plan de Noves. This carriageway, built by the ancients, is about 2 metres high. Once the bramble patch on the left, below our route, has disappeared, turn left onto a stone terrace about 50 cm high.

No markings

(8) Turn left. Walk along this small terrace wall, which precedes a path that you will follow until you reach a stone wall across the valley.

(9) Cross the wall on the left and begin the steep climb to the Croix de Malvan through a few stone terraces. The grass is low and the few stones do not hinder movement.

(10) The Croix de Malvan is marked by a large cairn (without a cross). From the summit, use the Visorando app. Follow the paths heading north-east through sparse vegetation dotted with small copses and bushes.

(11) At the crossroads, turn left and follow the path.

(12) At the trail-path junction, leave the trail, turn left and continue along the carriageway to a sheepfold and its watering hole. If there is a flock present, go around it.

(13) Retrace your steps and continue left on the path to the double cairns.

(14) Turn left onto the clearly marked but barely visible uphill trail. Arrive at the trail junction marked 177.

(15) Continue along the path towards Puy de Naouri.

(16) At the crossroads marked 176, turn left, follow the signs for Puy de Naouri, pass marker 178 and continue to follow the signs for Puy de Naouri.

(17) Two large cairns mark the summit of Puy de Naouri. At the second cairn, continue along the path heading east then north-east (do not be misled by a cairn located to the south-east). The path descends towards Combe de Maigré.

No markings

(18) At this crossroads, turn left, then right at the unnumbered marker and follow the signs for Vence.

Red and yellow markings - GR®51

(19) At marker 115, turn right and follow the signs for Gué de Malvan-GR®51. You will come to a fork in the path that you passed on the way there.

Yellow markings

(6) Turn right and retrace your steps in the opposite direction to the car park (S/E).

Hiking boots and walking sticks recommended.

Well. Water point at point (13).

Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs, built in the 19th century on the remains of an ancient Benedictine abbey, has welcomed the bishops of Vence since the 11th century. This building, which is currently unused, housed an art exhibition for several years.

The Medieval Chapel of Saint-Raphaël, part of whose original apse remains standing.

To the left of the chapel is a thousand-year-old tree and the castrum of Malvan, a fiefdom destroyed in the 13th century, with a few ruins still standing in the middle of the heath.