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Tour Overview
The final, southernmost Alps plunge dramatically into the sea at the Italian border near Menton. In the bright, warm light of the Mediterranean, pretty villages cling to wooded hillsides. Delightful footpaths link the Italianate settlements, offering wonderful views of mountains, gorges and valleys. One of the real joys of this walk is to experience the transition from mountain to coastal landscapes; by its very nature, this is a very varied walk. Starting in the mountains in enchanting La Brigue, you discover mixed woodland, gorges, dramatic peaks and even the mysterious Vallée des Merveilles ('Valley of Marvels'). By contrast, the walk finishes on the Riviera, in cosmopolitan Menton, a popular resort since the late 19th century and inspiration to many artists, who were drawn by the clarity of the light. This whole border region is an intriguing blend of French and Italian cultures. Indeed, the Upper Roya Valley – which the first part of the holiday explores – remained part of Italy long after surrounding parts were ceded to France – the Italian government persuaded Napoleon that it should remain Italian so that the king could continue to hunt there, and this remained the case until after the Second World War. In the villages through which the walk passes, you are just as likely to hear Italian spoken as French, and the local cuisine is a wonderful mix of Provençal and Italian influences, with delicious fish and seafood from the Mediterranean.
Meals: Breakfast each day, dinner on 4 nights, plus 2 picnics
Climate: Temperatures on the Côte d'Azur average around 21°C in May and October, rising to 28°C in July and August. Naturally, it is usually cooler in the mountains.
Our walks are self-guided holiday for individuals, not groups, meaning that it is entirely up to you how fast (or how slowly!) you wish to walk, how often you wish to pause, and how long you wish to stop for lunch. On some days you move on to a new location, on others you enjoy a circuit in the immediate area before returning to your hotel.
We want you to be able to walk in complete comfort on holidays where you walk between hotels, so we arrange the transportation of your luggage.
Guiding and support
We provide full route notes and maps. They are so detailed that you don’t need a guide –they are your guide. Just as a guide would tell you about the places you pass, our notes include information on any monuments, historic villages or other places of interest along the way, and if it is worth making a detour to a fantastic viewpoint, we point this out too. We even make suggestions for good picnic spots. If back up is required, your hosts are on hand to help out, or you can call our 24-hour emergency line.
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Tour Highlights
Pretty villages - Experience the transition from mountain to coastal landscapes - The mysterious Vallée des Merveilles - The Upper Roya Valley - Take a day trip to the Mercantour National Park - Welcoming and friendly hotels
Itinerary
Day 1
We suggest two possible routes for your day here. The first (12km, 4hrs) is a rewarding walk that rises steadily to the Boselia Pass and continues to the picturesque village of Tende before returning along woodland tracks and mountain paths via the Loubaira Pass. The second (8km, 3hrs) is gentler, leading along a botanical path across peaceful wooded slopes to Notre Dame des Fontaines, a beautifully sited chapel boasting some well-preserved 15th and 16th-century frescoes. If you are travelling after June 15, however, we thoroughly recommend you join an excursion into the Vallée des Merveilles (pre-book through Inntravel but pay locally - approximately 65 euros per person depending on the exact itinerary, which may vary according to weather conditions). Your host, Monsieur Dellepiane, who often acts as a guide during the day, will take you by jeep into the wild and mysterious Mercantour National Park. The valley's dramatic rock formations are astonishing, but even more intriguing are the Bronze Age rock carvings, thought to be linked to bull worship. You will be able to see a variety of these as part of the 5-hour guided walk, after which Monsieur Dellepiane will drive you back to the hotel.
Accommodation: Hotel Mirval, as above.
Day 2
From La Brigue, you follow paths and tracks through a series of attractive valleys to Fontan. You then ascend steeply (or take the road, which rises more gently) to ancient Saorge, considered one of France's most beautiful villages. Stroll through the streets and admire the vista from the viewpoint above Saorge before returning to Fontan from where you catch the scenic train to Sospel - pay locally. (13.5km, 5hrs)
Accommodation: Auberge Provençale (2*), Sospel. Set just outside Sospel, the hotel, complete with Baroque-style restaurant, enjoys lovely views over this pretty village and to the mountains beyond.
Day 3
Our suggested circular walk reveals a variety of scenery. From Sospel, you rise along a botanical path through a peaceful valley to the Italian border, from where you continue through silver olive groves to hill-top Piène Haute, a picturesque hamlet in which you will hear French and Italian spoken in equal amounts. Your route then leads over the panoramic Paula Pass into the Bassera Valley and returns to Sospel via the Perus Pass. You can shorten the route by returning by train (pay locally). (17.5km, 6hrs)
Accommodation: Auberge Provençale, as above.
Day 4
The day starts with a transfer to the start of the walk, the Baisse du Scuvion, just under Mount Razet. Before setting off, take time to admire the breathtaking views - to the north is Piène Haute, to the south is Monaco and in good weather you can also look along the gorges towards La Brigue. From the viewpoint, you descend to the Razet Pass, from where a mule track leads down through a magical valley filled with flowers and oak trees to the panoramic chapel of St Bernard, an excellent picnic spot. You continue the long descent, which is steep at times, passing the hanging village of Castellar as you approach Menton. (15km, 5.5hrs)
Accommodation: Hotel Paris-Rôme (3*), Menton. Attractive and with comfortable bedrooms, the Paris-Rôme faces the sea from its location just 500 metres from the Italian border. The courtyard, with its wicker chairs and tables, is the perfect place to unwind with a drink in the evening. Choose to dine at the hotel's excellent Michelin-star restaurant or take your pick of places to eat in the town centre, a 15-minute stroll away (pay locally in both cases).
Day 5
Your last day is free to explore Menton. A charming Riviera town set against a backdrop of mountains, Menton boasts several museums and art galleries, as well as some pleasant parks and gardens. We recommend that you stroll across the border to see the exotic plants in the botanical gardens in Mortola, a 40-minute walk. Alternatively, make the most of the famously sunny climate and simply laze on the beach.
We are committed to the principles of responsible tourism and the protection of the environment. Many of our walking routes are bringing fair trade and employment to small local communities, as well as helping preserve historic routes and traditional lifestyles. We encourage the use of local public transport, from cog railways to donkeys, and highlight local sources of produce, craft and culture.
At our offices, we prioritise energysaving principles and recycling in our daily work. We support charities working in a variety of tourism-related fields, and offset all business air travel with contributions to Climate Care – our customers are also invited to use Climate Care’s guidance on offsetting their carbon footprint when travelling by air.
This holiday offers the option of traveling to your destination via rail.
Our Trusted Partner's Responsible and Sustainable Travel Policy
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM
We recognise that we have social, cultural and environmental responsibilities to the people that live in the regions our holidays visit. We wish to respect and preserve both their environment and their way of life.
We are a member of AITO (the Association of Independent Tour Operators), which has always been at the forefront of the promotion of responsible tourism in Britain. It is now a condition of membership that firms sign up to its responsible tourism guidelines:
- Protect the environment - its flora, fauna and landscapes - Respect local cultures - traditions, religions and built heritage - Benefit local communities - both economically and socially - Conserve natural resources - from office to destination - Minimise pollution - noise, waste and congestion
To recognise those companies which have taken these guidelines further and implemented their own comprehensive responsible tourism policy, AITO has established a 2- and 3-star responsible tourism award system. Inntravel is one of only a handful of members to have been awarded 3-star status. Protecting the regions our holidays visit
Our holidays are, by their very nature, 'responsible':
- Many of our holidays take place in remote, rural parts of Europe where depopulation has been a feature for decades. We help to bring employment and regeneration to these areas. Furthermore, the walking routes featured in our Walking and More programme help to keep open traditional drovers' roads and other paths. - We benefit the local economy of the regions we offer holidays to because, almost without exception, the hotels and taxi companies with which we work are local, family-run businesses. The fact that our holidays are for individuals rather than groups means that we can offer hotels and guesthouses with as few as two or three rooms. - Luggage transfers on walking and cycling holidays are combined wherever possible - if several Inntravel customers are moving on to the same hotel, their suitcases will be transported together, or, where a luggage transfer is operated by a taxi firm, they often transport the suitcases at the same time as carrying passengers. - Travel between the destination airport and the hotel is always by rail whenever possible, with taxis used only for the journey between the station and the hotel. We also offer options by Eurostar for those holidays that can easily be reached by rail from London, and encourage customers to offset the carbon emissions produced by their holiday flight. - We help to increase our customers' understanding of the region they are visiting by providing information on the region's culture, history, traditions and gastronomy in our documentation. - A large number of our chosen hotels already feature local produce in their menus, and some also have an environmental policy relating to laundry, lighting and energy conservation etc. We encourage those who have not yet taken such steps to adopt an environmental policy. - Similarly, we include information about responsible tourism in our customer documentation, thus helping to spread the message. The information includes tips on how customers can help while on holiday, from turning down the heating in the bedroom to restricting souvenir purchases to locally produced goods.
THE NATIONAL TRUST As well as helping to protect the regions we offer holidays to, Inntravel also works with The National Trust to offer a programme of walking, cycling and self-catering holidays for National Trust members and supporters. Inntravel makes a financial contribution for each booking made through these programmes so as to help fund the work of The National Trust here in the UK, preserving our own countryside and heritage.
OUR OFFICE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
We cannot ask hoteliers to act responsibly if we do not do so ourselves in our office.
- Our offices, sympathetically converted from a disused farm building specifically for Inntravel, are very well insulated and use energy-saving lighting. - We will soon be switching electricity suppliers so that we get our electricity from a company which generates a considerable proportion of its power from renewable energy sources. - We use paper from sustainably-managed forests, and the envelopes for mailing our brochures are made from recycled polythene and are themselves fully recyclable. - We recycle all paper used within the office, as well as the glass, plastic, steel and cardboard packaging from the food staff bring in for their lunches - the cardboard is used for horse bedding. We give all printer cartridges to a charity which refills them. - We buy Fair Trade tea and coffee for the staff kitchen. - Although the secluded location of our office unfortunately means it is not served by public transport, many staff car share. - We offset all our business air travel emissions with a financial contribution to Climate Care. - Each year we donate part of our profits to a number of charitable organisations, namely Plantlife, which works to preserve the natural habitat of endangered species in Eastern Europe, VSO and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, which helps to fund the management of nature reserves in the county.
About our Trusted Partner
Whether you love walking, cycling, skiing, horse riding or touring, our award-winning holidays for individuals are all about taking the time to get to know a region. Inspirational scenery, welcoming hotels of character, and delicious regional cuisine are key ingredients of all holidays, and you explore entirely at your own pace – our holiday notes are so detailed that you don’t need a guide – safe in the knowledge that our friendly, expert staff have looked after every detail of your holiday.
Brigue valley : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Brigue valley
Towards Sospel : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Towards Sospel
La Brigue : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
La Brigue
Sospel bridge : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Sospel bridge
Menton : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Menton
Saorge : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Saorge
Sospel town : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Sospel town
Hotel La Brigue : Alps to the Mediterranean at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
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