Cassis Calanques

Beaches & CovesProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France

Ice-age canyons the Mediterranean flooded near Marseille, twenty kilometres of white cliffs dropping into narrow turquoise inlets walked down to and swum.

September·Peaking now

Sep–Oct

The sweet spot: the sea holds its summer warmth — about 22°C in September, swimmable through October — while the crowds thin and the fire closures ease, ending 30 September so October's trails reopen all day. Warm rock, low light, clear water.

Year-round The white walls, the coves and the climbing routes are here all year; outside summer the trails stay open all day, with no fire closures.

The Calanques are river valleys that the sea came into. Along twenty kilometres of white limestone between Marseille and the town of Cassis, in Provence, streams cut gorges during the ice ages, when the Mediterranean lay far lower. The rising water filled them: narrow inlets between walls that drop straight in. Port-Miou is the deep one, long and still as a harbour, with fresh water pouring out of the rock at its head. It is the largest submarine spring in France, and so salty at depth that nobody has ever managed to drink it. Port-Pin is the gentle one, the one you reach on an easy path under stone pines that lean out over the water. En-Vau is the one people walk in for. The trail climbs a ridge and the inlet appears as a green-blue slot in the white rock. Then the path tips over the edge and drops through a stony ravine with no shade in it, to a pebble beach at the back of the cove. When you swim out, the walls stand close on both sides, the pale floor falling away beneath you into deep blue. The walls above that beach are seamed with climbing routes on hard, sun-bleached limestone, because these inlets are one of the cradles of French rock climbing. From the sand it takes you a while to pick the climbers out, small slow specks on an otherwise blank white face. One pair of Bonelli's eagles nests in these cliffs, out of about thirty-five pairs left in all of France, and the sectors around the nest are closed while they breed. Boats leave the old harbour at Cassis and turn into one inlet after another, reaching coves no path comes down to, with the ochre face of Cap Canaille behind them. Under the cliffs near Cap Morgiou is the strangest thing on this coast: a cave whose entrance now lies 37 metres underwater, painted when the shore was kilometres out, its walls carrying seals, great auks and shapes that look like jellyfish.

Worth knowing

Good to know

In high summer the massif can be closed outright for fire risk — the decision is made fresh each day, so a walk that is open today may be shut the next morning.
Sugiton cove is capped and needs a free booking — one of the busiest coves is limited to 400 people a day, and without a reservation you are turned back at the trailhead.
The way down into En-Vau is a steep, loose scramble with no shade — this is not a stroll to the beach; wear real shoes and carry more water than feels sensible.
The clifftop Route des Crêtes takes in the whole coast at once — the road follows the top of Cap Canaille, France's highest sea cliff, straight above the line of calanques.
Start at first light in summer — the coves fill from mid-morning, and by noon the white limestone throws back a hard glare and the shadeless paths turn into an oven.

Things to do

1
Walk down the ravine into En-Vau, then swim it
From the ridge the whole inlet opens below you at once — a green-blue slot between vertical white walls. The path then tips over the edge and drops through a stony ravine, loose underfoot and without a scrap of shade, until it lands on the pebble beach at the back of the cove. Swim out from there and the strip of water between the walls is barely wider than a river, with the pale limestone floor falling away beneath you into deep blue.
2
Take the boat out of Cassis harbour
Boats leave the old harbour and run west along the coast, turning into one inlet after another. From the water you finally get the scale of the walls, and you reach coves that no path comes down to; behind you, the ochre face of Cap Canaille closes the view.
3
Follow the coast path under the stone pines
The easy walk from Port-Miou to Port-Pin runs low along the rock, under pines that lean out over the water and hold their shade in patches. It is the gentlest introduction to the Calanques — no ravine, no scramble, just white stone, resin in the air and the sea a few metres below.
4
Look up at the climbing walls of En-Vau
The Calanques are one of the cradles of French rock climbing, and the walls standing over En-Vau's beach are seamed with routes on hard, sun-bleached limestone. Stand at the bottom and it takes a while to pick the climbers out — small, slow specks a long way up an otherwise blank white face.

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Nearby

94 km