Mountain peaks and valleys, coastlines and seabeds, with their vegetation and their hairy, feathered or scaled inhabitants. No need to necessarily go to the American West to get excited about the great outdoors and the wonders of nature.

The 11 big national parks of France have something to amaze you. If their mission is to protect large areas, they do not prohibit access to visitors.

Take advantage of it: their natural beauties are well developed, which makes them prime destinations, which are called Calanques, Mercantour, Cévennes or the Amazon rainforest of Guyana.

What is a national park?

France has 10 national parks, seven located in mainland France, three overseas. The first are on the Mediterranean coast (Port-Cros, Calanques), in the Alps (Vanoise, Écrins, Mercantour), to which are added the parks of the Cévennes and the Pyrenees. The second extend to Reunion, Guadeloupe and Guyana.

Protect nature and welcome visitors

Their vocation, fixed by a law of 2006, is to protect natural spaces whose landscapes, biodiversity and cultural heritage need to be preserved, while contributing to their development.

Visitors can carry out various leisure activities (including guided tours), eat there, find accommodation, etc. This delicate exercise is carried out by the teams of public establishments which manage them. They are placed under the supervision of the ministry responsible for the environment.

Each park is made up of a core where protection is reinforced, surrounded by areas where very close rules are followed.

National Parks of France: seaside

There are only two national parks by the sea in France, both located in the Mediterranean.

Calanques National Park (Bouches-du-Rhône)

Identity card: born in 2012 in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur). It has two hearts: terrestrial (8,500 ha) and marine (43,500 ha).

This national park has the distinction of being both terrestrial, marine and peri urban. It covers the municipalities of Marseille, Cassis and La Ciotat.

It notably includes treasures such as the Calanques massif. Made up of ridges (crossed by a road), cliffs that fall steeply into the Mediterranean Sea, creeks decorated with small beaches, it is a set of landscapes both arid and sublime, dotted with cabins built to spend good time by the locals.

The Soubeyranes cliffs, with their Cap Canaille (394 m), also overlook the sea where the islands of the Frioul archipelago that face Marseille are scattered: Pomègues, Ratonneau, If (and its famous castle), as well as the ‘Tiboulen islet.

The flora and fauna are very particular there, as well as on the Riou archipelago, a hotel appreciated by many migratory birds. As its name suggests Green Island is wooded, it is the only one in the park.

Finally, the underwater landscapes delight divers: canyons, caves, seagrass beds.

Port-Cros National Park (Var)

Identity card: born in 1963 in the Var department (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur). Its heart is terrestrial (1,700 ha) and marine (2,900 ha).

Pearl of the Côte d’Azur, this park takes the name of Port-Cros, one of the islands of Hyères, which face this seaside resort. 4 km long and 2.5 km wide, it has mountainous terrain reminiscent of the Maures massif of which it was part. Rocky coasts overlooking the Mediterranean and including cliffs, bays. If you find it like a pirate hideout, you are not delirious, it was.

A little larger, the island of Porquerolles is also part of the park. It is a small paradise which is rich in a coast divided into coves, sandy beaches with trees, a Mediterranean national botanical conservatory.

In the two islands, one also discovers churches, castles, forts.

On the Levant Island, their neighbor, it is not pirating that you come across, but naturists of which it is one of the main spots in France. On this land there is also the Arbutus tree nature reserve, an area also typically Mediterranean.

The park’s seabed is obviously great. Due to their flora and fauna, but also due to the presence of several shipwrecks.

See also, nearby sites managed by the park: the natural areas of the Giens peninsula and Cap Lardier, as well as the old salt flats of Hyères.

To do: hiking, mountain biking, swimming, boating, boat trips, exploration of the bottom in an aquascope (semi-submersible boat), snorkeling on underwater trails, diving.

National Parks of France: mountain side

France has 5 national mountain parks, the majority of which are located in the Alps. Here they are:

Cévennes National Park (Lozère, Gard, Ardèche)

Identity card: born in 1970 in the departments of Lozère, Gard and Ardèche. Its heart covers 93,500 ha. Its highest point is the summit of Finiels (1,699 m).

Distributed over three departments in the Massif Central, the Cévennes park has a strong identity, although its landscapes are varied. For climatic reasons, this territory is divided between oceanic and Mediterranean influence, and geological. There are causses, ridges, valleys, gorges, all this being divided into forests, moors, meadows, rocks, cultivated terraces.

We can spend a lot of time exploring this micro region where the landscapes conceal great and small natural or architectural treasures, such as these hamlets or old farms that appear at the bend of a forest path or on the horizon of a cause.

Do not miss some essentials such as the Aigoual and Lozère mountains, or the chaos of Nîmes-le-Vieux, which is a set of rocks sculpted by erosion, whose shapes are most strange.

Other astonishing mineral and natural works are to be seen in the Païolive wood, which is also rich in many trees, including hundred-year-old oaks, or even dolmens. The Tarn and Jonte gorges are spectacular canyons surrounded by cliffs.

To do: hiking, mountain biking, climbing, via ferrata, caving, canoeing, fishing in winter: snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, sled dogs.

Vanoise National Park (Savoie)

Identity card: born in 1963 in the Savoie department. Its heart covers 53,500 ha. Its highest point is La Grande Casse (3,855 m). It is twinned with its Italian neighbor, the Parco nazionale Gran Paradiso.

Meadows, forests, moors, snow caves, glaciers. The Vanoise park, exclusively Savoyard, offers you to discover a wide variety of mountain landscapes.

On these highlands are scattered modest constructions that are part of the memory of human presence, dating back several millennia. They nest in an environment populated by very diverse animals: deer, deer, chamois, ibex, mountain hare, marmot, snow vole, fox, badger, ermine, golden eagle, eagle owl, bartavelle partridge, three-legged woodpecker.

Other traces left by Man: cave paintings dating from the Neolithic, for example on the Bessans site where one can see deer painted in red ocher. Taking a big step back in time, you will also find winter sports resorts like Tignes and Val-d’Isère in this park.

To do: hiking, climbing, via ferrata, horse riding, canoeing. In winter: downhill skiing, cross country skiing, ski touring.

Écrins National Park (Hautes-Alpes, Isère)

Identity card: born in 1973 in the Hautes-Alpes and Isère departments. Its heart covers 91,800 ha. Its highest point is La Barre des Écrins (4,102 m).

Located in the Alps, the Écrins National Park consists of seven valleys: Briançonnais, Champsaur, Embrunais, Oisans, Valbonnais, Valgaudemar, Vallouise. Each has its own character.

We admire impressive peaks, glaciers, small hidden valleys, mineral or green areas, lakes, torrents, waterfalls, fauna (chamois, ibex, marmot, golden eagle black grouse) and flora (juniper, rhododendron, marmottier, genepi, cinquefoil) very varied Among the particularly appreciated landscapes are the Pré de Madame Carle and the spectacular White glacier.

Nature is the main attraction of this park, where there are, however, pastoral huts nestled in “end of the world” type sites. Or curiosities such as the Saint-Grégoire chapel, nicknamed the Chapel of the Petetes. These are “dolls” who from the 18th century adorn art brut way this building of the hamlet Auberie near Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur.

To do: hiking, mountain biking, mountaineering, via ferrata, climbing. In winter: skiing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, cross-country skiing, sled dogs.

Mercantour National Park (Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes de Haute-Provence)

Identity card: born in 1979 in the Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence departments. Its heart covers 68,500 ha. Its highest point is La Cime du Gélas (3,143 m). It is twinned with its Italian neighbor, the Parco naturale Alpi Marittime.

The Mercantour is the largest of the Alps that most lies south of this mountain. Its proximity to the Mediterranean gives it a relatively mild climate.

It is made up of high peaks and very typical valleys: Haut-Var / Cians, Tinée, Vésubie, Roya / Bévéra, Ubaye, Haut-Verdon. Exceptional natural sites abound: Allos lake, upper Boréon valley, Daluis gorges.

The geographic layout of the park, as well as its distinct landscapes, make it one of the high places of biodiversity in Europe: ibex, chamois, mouflon, wolf, marmot, golden eagle, bearded vulture or tawny owl are present. , as well as many amphibians, reptiles, insects or fish.

In addition, half of the 4,000 plant species listed in France are found there, two hundred of them being described as rare. Here, among others, several varieties of pines, junipers, orchids.

And the man in all of that? He left forts, including the Maginot line and fortified by Vauban in Colmars-les-Alpes , but also painted chapels (15 th and 16 th centuries), or the Valley of Wonders , a place where, on the rocks of Mont Bégo, we discover four tens of thousands of prehistoric engravings in the open air.

To do: hiking, mountain biking, rafting, climbing, mountaineering, horse riding. In winter: snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing.

Pyrenees national park (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Hautes-Pyrénées)

Identity card: born in 1967 in the departments of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées. Its heart covers 45,700 ha. Its highest point is Le Vignemale (3,298 m).

This park extends in a part of Béarn and Bigorre, on grounds where the only humans present are the visitors, shepherds or herdsmen and professionals who maintain the forests. Its landscapes are made up of majestic sites: high steep peaks such as the Midi d’Ossau peak, lakes or cirques, like that of Gavarnie, which is located near the Brèche de Roland.

Unsurprisingly, its natural reserves shine with the richness and diversity of the animal and plant species that live there: bear, deer, isard, hawk, capercaillie, golden eagle, vulture, beech, fir, birch, ferruginous rhododendron, mountain ash, lily , iris, high altitude algae.

At the heart of this relatively narrow park in places is added a membership area which includes six beautiful valleys: Aspe, Ossau, Azun, Cauterets, Luz and Aure. There are notably paths that lead to Compostela via the Somport pass, dolmens or ancient stone circles, or the Artouste Train line, which allows you to be amazed in summer.

National Parks of France: overseas

Overseas, national parks are found in Guadeloupe, Guyana and Reunion. Review.

Guadeloupe National Park

Identity card: born in 1989 in the department of Guadeloupe. He has two hearts: terrestrial (18,800 ha) and marine (3,230 ha). Its highest point is La Soufrière (1,467 m).

Most of the terrestrial heart of the park is located on the volcanic Basse-Terre. It boils in the depths of its basements, as evidenced by the summit of La Soufrière, still active, as well as a number of hot springs.

Its landscapes are made up of mountain ranges and tropical forests punctuated by ponds and ponds, rivers and waterfalls, the most famous being those of Carbet – the highest tomb of 115 m.

On the coast, there are mangroves, which face the marine heart of the park, the Grand Cul-de-Sac reserve. Protected by a coral reef, it borders the western flank of Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, and includes several islets.

The original fauna has suffered from human presence, but there are still many local species – we regularly discover them – which coexist with others, established here by Man, voluntarily or not. Here are some of the pell-mell, on land or at sea: racoon raccoon, bat, mongoose, agouti, iguana, turtle, cassava, cassava, brown pelican, woodpecker, hummingbird, long sawyer (an imposing beetle), manatee.

As for the abundant flora, there are in particular hundreds of species of trees, orchids and ferns.

Guyana Amazonian Park

Identity card: born in 2007 in the department of Guyana. Its heart covers 2,028,126 ha. Its highest point is the Bellevue de l’Inini (851 m).

Alongside the Brazilian Paran nacional Montanhas do Tumucumaque, the park’s territory is located south of Guyana. It extends into the Amazon rainforest, bordered by the Maroni and Oyapock rivers, crossed by many rivers and punctuated by some reliefs or localities like Maripasoula.

The fauna and flora that we meet there are phenomenal. There are several thousand plant species, sometimes giant. Incredible: in some places, a hectare can have more than 150 species of trees, in other words, 10 times more than in Europe.

Jaguar, primates, tapir, caiman, boa, beetles, butterflies. The types of animals are also bloated, whether mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish or invertebrates. Note that many species are rare and that there is still to be discovered.

Human populations are also diverse. Alongside some metropolitan, Creole or black chestnut (descendants of escaped slaves), there are Native American communities called Wayana, Wayãpi or Téko-Emérillons.

In short, it is a world really apart that the European approaches here with amazed eyes.

Reunion National Park

Identity card: born in 2007 in the department of La Réunion. Its heart covers 105,447 ha. Its highest point is the Piton des Neiges (3,071 m).

The heart of the park is also that of Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean. Corresponding to almost half of the latter’s territory, it includes peaks, circuses and ramparts which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

We come to admire these stars that are the volcanoes Piton de la Fournaise (active) and Piton des Neiges (inactive), surrounded by the cirques of Salazie, Mafate and Cilaos, equally spectacular sites. In the park there are still other reliefs, such as gorges or ramparts in the form of ramparts.

This composite set shelters varied ecosystems: forests of various natures, tropical in particular, moors, lunar landscapes, agricultural sectors.

Among the animals that we can cross, there are a lot of birds like the virgin, the cardinal, the tuit-tuit, the bird with glasses, the raptor papangue, as well as other species including the green lizard or remarkable butterflies.

All this little world evolves within an often very colorful flora, formed by trees, flowering shrubs or ferns called red wood, takamaka, white wig, tamarind, fanjans, foulsapate, ambaville.