Five reasons to visit Correze

The Correze department of France is one of the country’s undiscovered (well, almost) highlights and if you are planning to visit the south of France but can’t face Provence or the Dordogne again this could be just place that you are looking for.

Here are five reasons why you should consider Correze for your next visit to France:

Peace and quiet

Located in the southern Limousin, and neighbour to the Lot and Dordogne departments to the south, it has much of the appeal of those two departments, but with less other visitors to share it with!

Uzerche and the Upper Vézère Valley

An unexpected town to come across, Uzerche has an extensive old town, with a fortified section containing several fascinating buildings looking down across terrecs to the Vézère river below. Behind the fortifications is an old town with numerous medieval houses, ancient manors and other sites to explore.

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Gorges du Tarn

Head inland from the Languedoc coast, and north into the Lozere department, and you will find one of France’s scenic highlights at the Gorges du Tarn.

The gorges run for some 40 kilometres along the course of the Tarn River, starting west of Florac finishing near Les Vignes.

There is a road that follows along the bottom of the gorge offering some very impressive scenery and a sprinkling of villages to discover en route.

You might not realise as you travel through the cliff-lined valley but these are the deepest gorges to be found in Europe – they don’t ‘feel’ as big as the Gorges du Verdon further east in France for example.

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Mont Lozere

Mont Lozere is in the Lozere department, northern languedoc-Roussillon. To the north is the valley of the Lot River, and to the south the valley of the Tarn.

The road across the mountain runs from the village of le Bleymard, heading south for about 30 kilometres to eventually reach the town of le Pont-de-Montvert.

Leaving le Bleymard you at first enter a verdant tree lined valley. The road climbs rapidly and the landscape changes, and within a few kilometres you are in pine forest.

After passing through the Mont Lozere ski station you leave trees behind and enter a more barren landscape of open moorland where a few trees battle for survival against the wind and winter cold.

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Ardeche Gorges

The Gorges of the Ardeche are located towards the southern edge of the Ardeche department (Rhone-Alps region) of France, north-west of Avignon.

Running for approximately 40 kilometres, they are one of the most impressive scenic highlights in France. A visit usually starts from Vallon Pont d’Arc, an active town a few kilometres to the west.

Heading east, the first highlight, and the entrance to the gorges, is at Pont d’Arc. This is a natural stone arch over the Ardeche River that is exceptionally scenic. It also has river beaches which are very popular with visitors.

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Calanques National Park

On my travels last year I took a rare break from rushing around visiting and photographing places to chill-out on a two hour boat ride. Although I still called it work when I was telling Mrs B what I’d been up to.

Setting off along the coast from Cassis towards Marseille, the trip was to pass by several of the so called Calanques of Marseille.

These stunning rock formations are dramatic white limestone cliffs that plunge hundreds of feet into the turquoise sea below, with inlets (calanques) leading to tiny beaches. (You can see more pictures at the bottom of this Marseille Calanques page). They are an unmissable highlight of a visit to this region and a pleasant trip from Avignon if you want to avoid staying in Marseille itself.

Anyway the boat trip is a dim and distant happy memory – but the reason I mention it now is because the region is set to become the first National Park to be created in France in the last 30 years – the Calanques National Park.

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Cingle de Tremolat

The Dordogne region is well known for its scenery, its castles and its beautiful medieval villages, and rightly so.

There are many places where you are close to the Dordogne river, and plenty of opportunities to canoe along with the flow, passed villages and castles. There are also a couple of places where you can admire the view from high above the river.

One such place is Tremolat – the Cingle de Tremolat is a large curve in the river where the river follows a giant meander, with the two sides of the loop almost close enough to join up.

You can’t see from this picture (which shows perhaps one third of the scene) because it can only show one part of the loop, but from a vantage point high above the river you can see the entire circle formed by the river.

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Marseille calanques

On a recent trip across southern France I at last give into temptation and stopped off at Cassis, south-east of Marseille, so that I could take a boat trip along the calanques.

The coast in this part of France consists of high craggy cliffs that plunge into the turquoise sea below, with occsional inlets where boats can enter to be surrounded by this dramatic landscape – these inlets are known as the Marseille calanques.

Some of the calanques even have small beaches at the head of the inlet, which makes a perfect beach setting and backdrop.

There are two ways to admire these calanques – by footpath along the coast, or by boat-trip departing from Cassis. Both are very worthwhile, since this is some of the most beautiful coastline to be found in France.

Although the schedule advertises that the boat visits up to eight of the calanques (pay more, see more) some are much more impressive than others – there are perhaps four or five that are spectacular.

Pay attention, it is the view out to see from inside the calanques that is the most impressive – don’t be distracted into staring too much in an inland direction and miss out on a great part of the attraction!

Boats don’t need to be booked in advance (indeed, can’t be booked in advance) just turn up and pay and get on the boat. The trips take an hour or so. See more details of boat trips prices and destinations at Marseille Calanques. Don’t forget your camera!

If you have a short while to wait take a walk around the harbour at Cassis – small but very pretty. To relax after the trip take a look at the beach – Cassis beach is right next to the harbour and also in a very scenic ‘cliff-backed’ setting.