Introduction

Les Baux is this rock on the southern slope of the Alpilles range which attracts thousands of people per day. The access roads have been transformed into paid park areas, also the entrance to the village and to the ruins of the castle so coveted in the Middle Ages needs a fee to be paid. It's true that the view is very good, it's true that all this is very beautiful. But isn't it better to see all this and more by going around the rock? We pass to around ten direct viewpoints on the rock of Les Baux, part of which is even above the later. The major advantage is also to avoid crowds and large paid parking lots.

The facts

8 km total distance

3 h 45 min walk time

290 m total elevation

orientation average

mark 50% of the total distance

45% forest roads

15% moderate trails

10% hard-surfaced quiet side streets

10% easy trails

5% cross country

5% hard-surfaced country road

5% hard-to-recognize trails

<5% trail through a cave

<5% stairs

<5% via ferrata

dangers exposed sections

children yes, but it's long

useful picnic stuff

required hiking boots, hiking equipment and water

GPS coordinates (WGS84) of start and end point 43.752257,4.793593

downloads

Public transport

Only in July and August: line 707 from Avignon via St. Rémy is extended to reach Les Baux-de-Provence. This is quite limited and it is useful to complain to the tourist offices in the region because it is the municipalities which normally contribute to maintaining the lines. Look for the line 707 under timetables under Zou! (only french)

When this busline is active, we get off at the Les Baux stop and continue to go down the main road for 50 metres to continue straight at the follong hair pin bend. We then begin the tour in section 3.

Access by car

We are in the Alpilles Massif, in the center of the Arles, Avignon and Salon-de-Provence triangle. Only small roads lead there. We are precisely between St.-Rémy-de-Provence to the north, Fontvieille to the southwest and Maussane to the southeast.

The southwest (D27) and southeast (D27a) access roads are the village car parks, but these are not our starting points.

Coming from the north, therefore from St.-Rémy, you go up a winding road towards the south. Just before the pass there is a very wide junction where we turn left.

Coming from the south, you climb on both sides of the rock along the parking lots to take the winding road which passes through the Val d'Enfer and climbs to the Col de Sarragan. The pass is marked by an artificial notch in the rock. Just after, we turn right onto a dead-end ridge road for motorized vehicles.

Useful parking spaces

150 metres further east of the pass are vacant spaces which serve as parking lots. The one at the right below the road even offer shade all day long. There are other similar places for another few hundred metres which can all be used as starting points for the tour. We generally find space here because we are too far from the village of Les Baux for a simple visit. The start is in any case near the pierced rock near the first parking lot.

Hints

This tour has several climbs and descents and we start from the highest point to which we must return at the end. The path is, however, varied enough that it is not boring.

The visit to the Mireille Quarry is described in section 2. We can ignore this one if we do not want to take this officially prohibited access.

There is no drinking water along the tour.

The whole region is a zone with a high risk of forest fires. In summer, but also in other seasons when it is very dry or by strong winds, access to the forest areas can be regulated. As a result, the roads may be closed to traffic and/or the trails prohibited to hikers. Current information: Map of access to forests and exposed areas in Bouches-du-Rhône (only french). The map shows the colours green, yellow, orange and red which correspond to levels of danger.

The sections

1. Pierced rock - Bringasses Oppidum - Falaise de Baumanières
2. Falaise de Baubesse - Carrière Mireille quarry - Route des Oliviers D27a
3. Route des Oliviers D27a - Trémaïé - Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne
4. Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne - Deffend - Col de Sarragan saddle - Pierced rock

Section 1: Oppidum des Bringasses - Baumanières

➙ 1,3 km ... 1 h ➚ 35 m ➘ 125 m ↝ average

<5% hard-to-recognize trails, without marks

20% forest roads, faulty marks

15% moderate trails, without marks

15% forest roads, officially blocked

10% trail through a cave, officially blocked

15% forest roads, officially blocked

25% moderate trails, without marks

We therefore leave the parking lot towards the east. You find panels with maps and and tour colors on the upper park area. These colors do not represent the color of the trail marking in the nature. We will partly follow the green route and the orange one.

The fortress was built from the 11th to the 13th century. The princes of Les Baux then controlled a large part of Provence. The castle was razed by its own inhabitants starting 1633 and following the wars of religion in which Les Baux chose the losing Protestant side.

Our first stop is the Roche Percée. You can easily climb into the lower cavity. Apart from the originality of the shape created by natural erosion, the place also offers a good first view of the Baux rock. We are here very precisely to the north of the village.

We continue for another 50 metres on this small road, in the next bend and we climb a path on the hill to the left of the road.

Various maps mark an orientation table on the highest point, but it has been destroyed for a long time. We still go up there for two reasons. On the one hand it will be the highest point of the tour. On the other hand, we really have a good overview over a large part of the Alpilles Massif.

From here we can also see the Val d'Enfer and the still active quarry of Sarragan.

This high point marks a long descent. We continue roughly in the direction of the climb. It is initially quick to brings us back down to the road. We cross the road and take the forest track opposite and to the right of the stones placed as a barrier against cars.

This track is slightly downhill, it passes under the crest road and it crosses the wooded ramifications of the upper Val d'Enfer. It's a leisurely stroll and a liaison stage. In the darkest part, we cross the Val d'Enfer at the bottom of which another forest track crosses.

We keep to the right at the two forks that follow. The road is flat and then goes up a little.

Also stay right at the next intersection. In a few moments we are at the Baumanières antennas.

Pass these technical installations and also the bases of old antennas and an old technical room. We advance along the ridge on large rock slabs until we have a good view on Les Baux.

This viewpoint also offers good views of the Val d'Enfer to the right, the olive grove plains and the south-eastern slopes of the Alpilles.

We then retrace our steps and reach the junction where we left the main track. We head again on the right. The track passes over a fairly flat plateau and the forest gets less dense. 200 metres further follows another junction. We turn right again here.

About twenty metres further, we leave this forest track to the left. There are several parallel paths but above all rocks and low walls visible further on. We move in this direction to search for worked walls and stones. This is the Oppidum des Bringnasses. The easiest access is to the right following the outline of the red arrow in the photo.

The term oppidum is perhaps misplaced, it is either an advanced post of Les Baux, or a competing medieval position. The work of flattening, collecting water and rock tombs is impressive. You can imagine an entire castle on the large flat central square.

However, it is also a panoramic site on Les Baux, of course. We are now considerably closer.

We can clearly see here the advanced position of the rock in the plain.

We return by the same path to the main track and continue on the right. In a few minutes, we are on the edge of the Falaise de Baumanières. We are even closer to Les Baux, but we now also see the ugly side with the huge parking lots.

The red arrow in the photo shows that we must follow these parking lots for a few metres. This happens in section 3.

Section 2: Carrière de Mireille

➙ 2,8 km ... 1 h 10 min ➚ 80 m ➘ 95 m ↝ average

10% hard-surfaced quiet side streets, with marks

10% moderate trails, without marks

45% forest roads, faulty marks

10% cross country, without marks

15% forest roads, faulty marks

10% hard-to-recognize trails, without marks

5% forest roads, faulty marks

<5% hard-to-recognize trails, without marks

It is not possible to go directly down from the rock towards the rest of the tour. So we retrace our steps. We pass the access to the oppidum, it goes up a little. In the following left turn, we spot a stunted cypress on the right. It marks our fairly direct descent path.

In principle, you walk for 4 minutes towards the south-east and the next 5 minutes towards the east. We thus go around the rocks in order to take the only easy passage. The path is not always obvious between boxwood and scattered rocks. There is no signage. However, the GPX track provided at the top of the page is very precise.

A minute after the cypress, we are tempted to turn left. You can advance on a rock with a good view, but it's a dead end.

Less than two minutes later, the thing repeats itself, it is better to stay downhill without turning left.

One further minute later, the path turns slightly to the left with an even steeper descent. Three minutes later, you pass through rocks, but you must not deviate from the direction and continue to descend.

We then come to a narrow forest track called Chemin de la Cabane. Here we turn right, the path also turns right and continues uphill. It is not often used, the vegetation is gradually taking over.

We come across a prohibition sign with a very clear message. We are here on the path towards a quarry abandoned in the 1910s. The site is in no way secure and erosion continues the former work of men. Large rocks have broken away to partly block the openings to the west, however, we are approaching the quarry from the east side. It is up to each and every person to decide whether to move forward here or not. The quarry is very similar to those open to the public in Val d'Enfer, but it is home to other gems: political graffiti from the 1930s.

There are two main openings to the east and the collapsed slope to the west. Entry is through the first two artificial openings. Rectangular blocks were cut out and these cuts can be seen on all the walls and ceiling.

We see graffiti everywhere. They span from World War I to the present. It is a true book of political and social history which mainly covers the first half of the 20th century. There are schematic portraits with helmets from the German Empire, but also full portraits of politicians from the Bourbon Restoration.

The most impressive series are commented portraits of presidents of the French Republic from the 1930s. Here we plunge back into a bygone time, but where politics were apparently discussed with passion.

It is not always easy to untangle these superimposed graffiti. Alongside the political messages are also marks from the quarry operators and job search notes (chieusse means quarry worker).

Of course there is also simple graffiti. They also range from the 1910s to the present. People complain about the school, people praise or denigrate women in the region, and people complain about various grievances. Poverty is also discussed in text graffiti. There are also dreams drawn: on the upper part of some walls are drawings of racing cars from the 1920s.

Generally speaking, walls are to be read from top to bottom, but this is not generalized. We spend about twenty minutes in this cathedral of 20th century history which is worth a real history lesson.

After this captivating visit, we return the same path to pass the prohibition sign again.

When the Chemin de la Cabane turns left, we spot a path on the right. The trail initially leads east, but very quickly turns right towards the south, then towards the south-east. The descent is almost as steep as the one down from the plateau.

The terrain is bare and we pass over eroded rocks which prohibit any form of vegetation.

We finally go down into a valley to arrive at an olive grove. We take right here to follow the latter at the edge of the field or a little higher up in the forest.

We then arrive on the Route des Oliviers transformed into a long paid parking lot. We turn right.

Section 3: Trémaïé - Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne

➙ 1,7 km ... 40 min ➚ 45 m ➘ 65 m ↝ easy

20% hard-surfaced country road, faulty marks

30% forest roads, few marks

10% cross country, without marks

20% easy trails, few marks

<5% stairs, few marks

15% hard-surfaced quiet side streets, without marks

So we take this road uphill for 350 metres until the road bends.

Halfway of the road and the parking lot, it is possible to climb along a small path behind the guardrail. Les Baux does really nothing for pedestrians, not even for those who pay for parking here.

When the road turns sharply to the right, we exit to the left onto a wide track.

Those who came by bus go down the road and turn right to start the tour here.

On the right, at the very beginning of the track, there is a sign indicating troglodyte dwellings. Nothing is explained here, they are probably shepherds' shelters.

We continue along this track in full sun. It passes directly under the rock of Les Baux, we clearly recognize the natural defenses of the site, but also the ruins of the castle which are located mainly on this side.

In a few minutes, we arrive at a small chapel which would not be worth mentioning if it was not attached to a rock with a bas-relief from the Roman period. It is even said that the chapel was built to prevent the rock from overturning further.

The chapel has a widened square. The cut rocks are obviously a reuse from another source.

It is unknown if this rock fell off the plateau or if it was ever here. The three characters represented have long been interpreted as being three women and associated with the Three Marys (Trémaïé): Mary of Bethany, Mary Salome and Mary mother of James who are said to left by boat from Palestine to arrive in Provence. Several sites compete for the landing place and the place of withdrawal. Sainte-Baume is another of these places.

In reality, the relief represents two women and a man. A heavily eroded text lies below, but it does not aid in the identification of those depicted. The woman in the center is clearly highlighted, she may be a personified deity or a person recommended to a deity.

Beyond the chapel is a rock in the shape of a bench which can be used for a break. However, it is the section most exposed to the sun, it is difficult to find shade here.

A little further on is an eroded taffoni rock. Higher up, the entire cliff shows this type of erosion by air humidity.

We continue our sunny path under the southern tip of the Rocher des Baux. Here you can deviate to the left to approach the edge of another cliff.

From the edge of the rock slab, you have a better view of the rock above.

Looking east, we see the large antenna on the Plateau de Caume and Les Orpies, the later is a small massif south of the Alpilles.

We return to the ring trail and continue to go around the rock. We then arrive towards the north and in a slightly more shaded area. Before returning to a road, we pass a statue of the Black Madonna and a natural gap on this side of the rock. This was undoubtedly a difficult point to defend in the Middle Ages. Nowadays are maintained brambles there to prevent people from going up without paying.

The trail takes us on a cobbled path which leads up to the village. However, we turn left to go down towards another road transformed into a longitudinal parking lot. Here also to the left and downhill, but we take the first right. This is the Chemin des Jardins, reserved for local residents. It doesn't seem to lead anywhere, but later goes down left to a crossroads.

We first turn right to go up towards a sort of abandoned park.

Here is the Pavillon de la Reine Jeanne in the Renaissance style. The elegant corner pavillion was built by Jeanne de Quiqueran, wife of Honoré des Martins, Baron des Baux from 1568 to 1581. It served as a setting for the garden called Jardin du Comte or Verger du Roi. Frédéric Mistral, master of Provençal language and literature, had a copy made for his tomb in Maillane.

It is sad that this monument is so neglected, like the park, without any development.

Section 4: Deffend - Sarragan

➙ 2,2 km ... 1 h ➚ 130 m ➘ 5 m ↝ average

5% hard-surfaced quiet side streets, without marks

15% easy trails, few marks

10% moderate trails, without marks

<5% via ferrata, without marks

5% easy trails, without marks

10% moderate trails, without marks

5% easy trails, without marks

5% hard-to-recognize trails, without marks

35% forest roads, without marks

10% hard-surfaced quiet side streets, few marks

We retrace our steps and reach the crossroads to turn right onto Chemin du Deffend. There we find another site hidden from tourists in Les Baux: the old wash house. It's the building a little further down on the left. Water ist no longer wasted here since no one comes here, the site is not indicated anywhere. This valley is green, you can see huge trees in the gardens.

The washhouse is the lowest point of the tour. The entire last section is about getting back up to the starting point. This is the most natural section of the tour. There is also a short via ferrata. We of course also pass other viewpoints on Les Baux.

We leave the washhouse and climb towards the west. Turn left at the first intersection, then keep right all the time and go uphill. The road quickly turns into a track and even faster into a simple path.

However, it is an old path leading both to the Deffend and to the meadows of Mas d'Auge. We recognize old calades.

This climb allows views of the west face of the village of Les Baux and its nestled church. These are views that few people know about.

Higher up there are longitudinal marks that look like wear and tear from frequent use, but it appears to be more a form of natural erosion.

This passage, however, serves as a guide for us. Shortly after, you must turn right and stay on the ridge line.

There is no point looking for a viewpoint on the left, the scrubland is too dense to pass through.

There are no markings, but the route is obvious. Higher up, we approach a rocky ledge that is far too high to be easily stepped over. We recognize an artificial cut and even steps. However, the entire lower part is missing.

Today, we pass there by climbing on a few iron steps. It's not very difficult, but quite vertical on a few metres.

We are on a plateau after this somewhat aerial passage. At the next intersection on the right.

Not even 100 metres further to the right again.

The yellow arrow indicates that we will have to come out of this cul-de-sac afterwards, but the detour is worth it for the view!

We follow the rocky bar for another ideal viewpoint over Les Baux, this time from the west. Here we mainly see the village built after the demolition of the castle.

From here we can also see the elevations at the start of the tour as well as the antennas and the Oppidum des Bringasses.

It is not possible to continue along this rocky strip, too many brambles prevent the passage. We must retrace our steps and turn right at the last intersection.

We stay on the main path without changing direction significantly. Three minutes later, we pass dry stone walls, but we also see carefully carved bases. This is another historic site without explanation. It seems to have been used as a stable for some time.

We return to the main path to continue heading north. A path comes from the left, but we continue straight ahead.

At the rocks in the photo and 80 metres after the intersection there is a faint passage between the bushes on the right. This path leads to the Grotte des Fées which we were unable to inspect in 2023 due to lack of headlamps necessary for the exploration, the cave is around sixty metres long. We will try to take a look at it during our next visit.

The road passes the rock maze and continues towards the north. We pass to the left of the still active Sarragan quarry, signs and fences prohibit descending to the right. The road is partly cut into the rock, but the walking is difficult at the end of the tour.

The track takes us directly to the Col de Sarragan saddle. We must pass the section cut into the rock and take the first road on the left to return to the starting point. There are also paths in the forest on both sides of the road, but this passage is short and there is not much traffic here.

Sources and additional information

It is better to use a good topographic hiking map: this tour is on the IGN map "St-Martin-de-Crau, Les Baux-de-Provence & Les Alpilles", scale 1:25000, 3043OT.

If you don't want to bother with a paper map, you can also use mapping apps on your cell phone. On the one hand, it is the Géoportail app from the official map service IGN. However, it requires access to the data network and this is sometimes difficult in canyons or remote locations.

Alternatively, you can use apps that store data directly on the device. They're generally not free, but they don't cost much. We mainly use OSMAnd, here it is possible to add contour lines, relief shading, markings and others. To store this data on your phone you need a lot of space.

Of course, one needs access to satellites for the GPS signal with any app. In some canyons this is not the case. Therefore, do not rely on the position shown, but read the map on your phone as you would read it on paper. Most apps are available for Android and iPhone. The applications usually allow us to record the route travelled and also view the GPS files offered for each of our hikes.

This page has been seen 453 times since 20 March 2024.