Tour of the gorges - Ardeche/Verdon. Recommended sites & towns

[Azteccamper]

As the titles says. Leaving Sunday. Any advice or tips?

MTB / SUP’s with us. Love a good hike. Willing to stop and move on every 3 days.
So looking forward to it - stayed in Castellane years ago with the children in our caravan touring days.

 

[kp64zl]

I'm particularly fond of La Palud Sur Verdon as a base although I've not been there recently.

There's a great walk through the gorges (well documented). Less well documented but evident on the 1:25,000 map is there's a great walk up to the Observatory (L'Observatoire du Mont Chiran) (could be done on a mountain bike) and also some great walks up the hills behind ( the ridge from the Mourre De Chanier to Le Grand mourre particularly great) - there's a particularly fine ridge that's full of ammonite fossils.

I've always stayed at the campsite that's in the village (the climbers' campsite) but the one down the hill a little is probably better.

 

[chadders]

Verdon - Stayed on the river at Huttopia Castellane mid June this year. Nice simple site, clean and friendly like others from the same group. Also has a small bar and pizza available on site. Has a bunch of walks hikes scrambles and climbs printed in the lounge which the staff can run off for you. Helpfully in English. We also used the on site 3rd party for white water rafting the day the water authority turned up the flow from 13 cubic meters per second to 26 which was a gas. These guys also helped pick out some great walks and local knowledge to make the most. Staying on the river side was brill. Wild goats coming down for water and Vultures overhead.

 

[Azteccamper]

Thank you @chadders and @kp64zl

 

[TripleBee]

Shut up. Makes me want to go there again. And I still have so much else to visit!!

I stayed in Forcalquier this spring. It is near the Verdon, but still a long drive to it. I can give you places to visit.
Oh, stayed in Camping Terra Verdon in Castellane. That is a bit closer to the Verdon.