Gorges du Verdon Viewpoints: The Route des Crêtes & Best Belvederes

The Gorges du Verdon is at its most jaw-dropping from above, where the limestone walls fall away up to around 700 metres to the turquoise river below. The canyon runs roughly 25 kilometres, and two clifftop roads — one on each rim — string together the belvederes (panoramic viewpoints) that make this one of Europe’s grandest river gorges. This guide walks you through the Route des Crêtes on the north rim, the Corniche Sublime on the south, and the handful of stops that are genuinely worth your time, plus how to drive them without losing a whole day to wrong turns.

The two rim roads — north and south

The viewpoints are split between two completely separate drives, one on each side of the canyon. They don’t connect across the gorge except at the two ends (Castellane to the east, Lac de Sainte-Croix to the west), so you either pick one rim or loop the whole canyon as a long day’s circuit.

• The north rim — the Route des Crêtes (D23) above La Palud-sur-Verdon. This is the famous one: a panoramic loop of belvederes that look almost straight down into the gorge, where griffon vultures ride the thermals at eye level.
• The south rim — the Corniche Sublime (D71) on the Aiguines side. A cliff-edge balcony road with longer, wider views across the canyon, ending high above Lac de Sainte-Croix.

Linked together, the two rims plus the connecting roads make a full canyon loop of well over 100 kilometres — a big but spectacular day’s driving.

The Route des Crêtes (D23) — the north rim loop

The Route des Crêtes is the single most rewarding stretch of road in the Verdon. It’s a loop of around 23–24 kilometres that climbs out of La Palud-sur-Verdon and runs along the very edge of the north rim, taking in 14 numbered belvederes before dropping back to the village.

Crucially, the most scenic central section is one-way — driven clockwise — so you must follow the signed direction (leave La Palud heading toward the D952/Point Sublime end and loop back). Trying to do it “backwards” simply isn’t allowed on the one-way stretch. Allow a relaxed 1.5 to 2 hours for the loop with photo stops; the belvederes have small lay-bys and fill quickly in July and August, so early or late in the day is far calmer.

Belvédère de la Maline

The Belvédère de la Maline is one of the most dramatic stops on the loop and doubles as the main trailhead for the canyon’s famous walk, the Sentier Blanc-Martel (the Martel trail, around 15 km one-way down on the canyon floor). Even if you’re not hiking, La Maline gives you one of the best plunging views of the river far below.

The belvederes to stop at

You don’t need to stop at all 14. The standouts are the viewpoints over the Couloir Samson and the deepest part of the canyon, plus any belvedere where vultures are circling — the Verdon is a reintroduction site for griffon vultures, and seeing them soar below your feet is the moment most people remember. Stop, look down, move on; the views are relentless.

Seasonal closure — check before you go

⚠️ The central one-way section of the Route des Crêtes is closed in winter (roughly late November to late March or April) because of snow and ice on the exposed clifftops. It reopens for spring. If you’re visiting in the shoulder months, confirm the road is open before building your day around it — when it’s shut, the north-rim panoramas are off the table.

Point Sublime — the classic Verdon view

If you only make one stop on the whole canyon, make it Point Sublime. It sits about 1 kilometre from the village of Rougon, on the road between Castellane and La Palud, and a short walk of around 15 minutes brings you to a railed overlook staring straight into the Couloir Samson — the narrow gateway where the river plunges into the Grand Canyon proper. It’s the postcard shot: vertical limestone walls, the green-turquoise Verdon threading the bottom, and the sheer scale of the place laid out in one frame. Go in the morning for the best light into the canyon.

The Corniche Sublime (D71) — the south rim

Across the canyon, the Corniche Sublime (D71) runs along the south rim from the Comps-sur-Artuby side toward Aiguines. Where the Route des Crêtes gives you vertigo-inducing plunges, the Corniche Sublime gives you wide, panoramic balcony views of the whole gorge from the opposite wall. Its headline stops include the Balcons de la Mescla, looking down on the hairpin bend where the Artuby river meets the Verdon, and the Pont de l’Artuby, a high arched bridge popular with bungee jumpers.

Col d’Illoire

The Corniche Sublime climbs to the Col d’Illoire, a pass at around 967 metres about 2 kilometres from Aiguines, at the western end of the south rim. This is the grand finale: from here the road begins its descent and the view opens out over the turquoise expanse of Lac de Sainte-Croix at the mouth of the canyon — the perfect last stop before dropping down to the lakeside for a swim or a paddle.

How to see the viewpoints in a day

The viewpoints are spectacular but logistically fiddly: two separate rim roads, a one-way loop, narrow lay-bys, a seasonal closure, and drive times of around 2 hours just to reach the gorge from Nice or Marseille and roughly 1h30 from Aix-en-Provence. A sensible self-drive plan is to base around La Palud-sur-Verdon or Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, do the Route des Crêtes loop and Point Sublime in the morning, then drop to Lac de Sainte-Croix for the afternoon.

If you’d rather not drive the hairpins yourself — or you’re coming as a day trip from the coast — a guided Verdon Gorge day trip loops the best belvederes, the lake and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie in one well-judged circuit, with the driving, timing and parking handled for you. For full flexibility — more time at the viewpoints you care about, fewer at the ones you don’t — a private or small-group tour lets you set the pace and the stops. Either way, see our notes on the best time to visit, how to get to the gorge and the turquoise Lac de Sainte-Croix at the canyon’s mouth.

If your dates fall in early summer, the Valensole lavender plateau is barely half an hour away and combines beautifully with the canyon viewpoints — the fields peak roughly late June to mid-July. We don’t cover the lavender in depth here; for that, see the dedicated guide to the Valensole lavender fields on our sister site.