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Mercantour National Park, France, Guided Hiking Lakes Adventure

Mercantour Hiking
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Mercantour National Park, France, Guided Hiking Lakes Adventure
Mercantour National Park, France, Guided Hiking Lakes Adventure

Join UIMLA certified guide Fabrice on a full day of exciting hiking in the beautiful Mercantour National Park in France, and admire the gorgeous Vesubie valley.

Not specified

Alps

1+ Days

Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct

Fit

Intermediate


Description

There are 10 national parks throughout France. And on these day trips, I would like to take you hiking through one of them, the Mercantour national park.

The Mercantour national park is located only an hour and a half drive from the French Riviera. The Riviera is home to some amazing places including Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo.

With an area of over 100 square kilometers, there is an abundance of beautiful natural scenery and landscapes to see within the enormous park, including the Vesubie valley, which is where we’ll be hiking through. The Vesubie valley is full of gorgeous lakes, including the Trecolpas lake. This sparkling body of water is absolutely stunning and well worth the visit.

Along with the lakes, you will also get to see several magnificent peaks, meadows, and forests. There is also a lot of wildlife that you may get to spot as well, including chamois!

I also offer the option to visit the Wolf park after the hike as well, which will take an additional one and a half hours.

We will be trekking at a comfortable pace. Hence giving you every opportunity to see as much of the park’s beauty as possible. However, because we will be hiking throughout the day, you should be in good physical condition.

If you would like to see and explore some of the natural beauty of France, you can’t do much better than the Mercantour national park. To join me, all you have to do is send me a request. I look forward to hearing from you.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

Price details

There is the option to have a picnic lunch as well for an additional 10 Euros per person.

Note: on the 11/07/2020 open group date, we will go to Grand Capelet.


Details

Accommodation

There are several comfortable accommodation options in Saint Martin Vesubie that I would be happy to recommend to you. The city of Nice, as well as the French Riviera are within driving distance, and also have many comfortable accommodation options as well.

More info

Participants should bring good hiking shoes, warm clothing, sun screen, and sun glasses.

Meeting point

Saint Martin Vesubie, Road M2565

Frequently Asked Questions

What equipment should I take with me?

Can you organize transportation from Nice, Villefrance, Monaco or Antibes to the starting point of the hike and back?

What is the timing of the day? For how long are we going to hike?

Do I need to bring food with me?

Where is the meeting point?

Do you organize other hiking tours in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes departments?

About the guide

I am a hiking guide (International Mountain Leader) who has been working all over France (including Provence and the Alps), Italy and Portugal since 2001. I speak fluent English due to my frequent trips to Taos Ski Valley (in New Mexico, USA where my family runs a great hotel and ski school), and my hiking trips in the American Southwest.

I live mainly in Nice (French Riviera), but I also move all over the Alps working in different alpine valleys. I often visit Martinique (French Caribbean island), where I enjoy rainforest and tropical hikes.

When I´m not guiding, I also work as a photographer, and like to climb, ski, play tennis, or kitesurf in my spare time. Additionally, I really enjoy botany and history.

I can guide you for a half day or for as many days as you like. I´ll take you to discover my favourite French Riviera alpine region, and the wild and large Mercantour National Park (counting 8 different valleys) near Nice, Monte Carlo and Cannes.

In my region we can enjoy the Mediterranean landscape at sea level. As we move into higher altitudes, we will discover alpine lakes, larch or pine forests, orchids and alpine flowers, open meadows, spectacular medieval perched villages and old baroque chapels and churches, with great historic value.

We can also discover the hiking hotspots in Provence such as Calanques National Park, Verdon gorges, Sainte Victoire and the Var region, with Saint Tropez a particular highlight.

I also love to hike in Italy in the very famous world heritage Cinque Terre (the amazing national park of the "Five Lands"), or in Liguria near San Remo.

And finally, I always enjoy taking my guests to the northern Alps: to Chamonix and Mont Blanc´s amazingly large panoramas or to the great Vanoise National Park, the largest in the heart of French Alps.

Languages

French | English

Certificates

UIMLA


What people are saying about this trip

Elias Enenbach

5.00

July, 2023

Had a wonderful hike with Fabrice as our hiking guide. Highly recommend! If you are from the East Coast of the U.S., recommend going one skill level down from what you think is the right fit for you, since the elevation/altitude of the Alps makes the hike harder than you are likely used to (less oxygen in the air). I did the "moderate plus" thinking it would be easy for me--it was a serious workout! :)

Amanda Phelan

5.00

July, 2023

The traveller did not leave a comment.

Kirk Martin7

4.00

November, 2022

Fabrice goes out of his way to make your experience as interesting and meaningful as possible. It is clear that he puts a lot of energy and time into these experiences, and genuinely cares that his guests have a good time. I ended up adding another hike with Fabrice because it was such a good experience. He provides a lot of insight I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Highly recommended.

Danielle Kiernan

5.00

August, 2022

Amazing hike with Fabrice and I learned so much from him! He’s very knowledgeable. As a solo traveler I’m grateful for explore share and Fabrice for taking me hiking, as I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to go alone.

Daniel Laufer

5.00

October, 2021

This was our second hike with Fabric who is a great guide. He was born and raised in the area and is completely knowledgeable about the nature and history of the coastal cities and the park. The day that we hiked, was cloudy and cool at the higher elevations so he selected alternate routes that provided us with spectacular views of the mountain valleys that make up the park as well as a tour of Sospel a fascinating village that was part of the salt trade. The scenery is definitely worth the hike and Fabrice is a great guide and a pleasure to be with.

Line Christel Lysholdt

5.00

July, 2021

The traveller did not leave a comment.

Corinne Ottavj

5.00

August, 2020

Fabrice nous a proposé une très belle randonnée. Il nous a permis d'observer la flore et de voir de nombreux chamois, des marmottes. Le niveau de marche était parfaitement adapté au groupe. Très belle journée !

Pascal Van Brabant

5.00

August, 2020

I had an amazing day, guide was very good and helpfull. I was some wildlife and the nature was breathtaking... thx a lot

Nicolas Rehbinder

5.00

June, 2019

Superbe randonnée au lac de Fenestre. Le guide Fabrice connaît vraiment bien son sujet, le parc du Mercantour, qu’il commente bien, et la randonnée en général. Il su très bien s’adapter à mon niveau (très moyen). Je recommande vivement !

Clinton

5.00

September, 2018

The trip was great! Fabrice was a wonderful guide and I’m contemplating further trips with him and explore share.

Leidia

5.00

August, 2018

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our hike to Mercantour National Park. Fabrice was entertaining and knowledgeable, and helpful. He arranged for our pickup from our hotel at Nice, and even drove us to a village bakery to pack a Provençal sandwich for our picnic at the top of the mountains. Fabrice shared with us a lot of information about the place’s landscape, flora and fauna. And he also showed us how to spot the wildlife and take pictures of the animals. We learnt that he’s also an avid photographer and has extensive experience in nature photography. The highlight of our trip was reaching the crystal clear mountain lake, close to the top of the mountain range, where we also got to cross the border from France into Italy for our picnic. The only regret we have is not being able to spend more time in the park, as the hike took most of the day. We will definitely be interested in doing this again! Thanks for the arrangement! Regards Ernest and Leidia

Ayesha

5.00

August, 2018

The traveller did not leave a comment.

Bret Hash

5.00

May, 2018

Our excursion with Fabrice was one of the highlights of our trip to France. He was extremely knowledgable about the area and the local history. He even went out of his way to take us to see some local orchids that were in bloom when he learned that we love orchids! We will definitely take another trip with him the next time we find ourselves in the area.


 

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