Hilltop villages

Gourdon

The driver’s guide

The balcony of the French Riviera: a village clinging to a spur at 760 metres, dropping in one movement onto the Loup gorges and the sea. Listed among the Most Beautiful Villages of France. Two panoramic terraces, waterfalls three kilometres away, and a mule track down to the valley. The addresses I give my own passengers, each with its phone number, its website and directions.

addresses checked

1 hr

from Nice airport

7 days a week

taxi on request

Where to eat

Restaurants

⚠️ SAID PLAINLY: Gourdon has no distinguished table — no MICHELIN star, no Bib Gourmand, no label. What people come here for is a terrace 760 metres above the Loup, with the Riviera underneath. Here are the two addresses in the village that have that view, presented for what they are.

Photo No machine-readable author provided. Otto Normalverbraucher assumed (b — CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

The village terraces

Both are in the pedestrian village, a hundred metres apart. In summer, book or arrive early.

The village terraces

Les Grands Hommes

2 rue Armand Fallières, Gourdon

The house in the heart of the village, named after the illustrious figures who passed through here. The panoramic terrace looks along the coast from Nice to Cannes and, on a clear day, as far as Corsica. Provençal cooking, around €25 for the set menu. No distinction, but the best view from a table in the village.

PANORAMIC TERRACEMENU AROUND €25NO DISTINCTION

Directions +33 4 93 77 66 21 Official site

The village terraces

L'Auberge de Gourdon

Route de Caussols, Gourdon

The inn at the entrance to the village, on the road side, with plain regional cooking. It serves earlier and later than the terraces in the centre, which makes it useful when you arrive at 2.30pm after the climb. No distinction either: it is a village inn, and that is exactly right.

REGIONAL COOKINGAT THE VILLAGE ENTRANCENO DISTINCTION

Directions

🚕 I'll drive you there — and I'll come back for you when the meal is over. The village is pedestrian, its car park is tiny, and the road up is all hairpins: in summer you circle for half an hour to park.

+33 6 58 27 93 12

The village

What to see

Gourdon is three streets and a square. All of it is walked in three quarters of an hour, and all of it is free — including the thing you climb up for: the view.

Photo Alberto Fernandez Fernandez — CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

In the village

A pedestrian, cobbled village with one real climb. The car park is below the entrance.

In the village

La place Victoria et le panorama

Place Victoria, Gourdon

The esplanade at the end of the village, straight above the drop: in one look you see the whole bay from Cap d'Antibes to the Esterel, and the Loup gorges a thousand metres below. It is named after QUEEN VICTORIA, who came through Gourdon on 19 April 1891. It is the reason to come, and it is free.

THE VIEWQUEEN VICTORIA, 1891FREE

Directions Official site

Photo Wikimedia Commons — CC0

In the village

Le village perché

Rue Basse, Gourdon

A rocky spur at 760 metres, a stone village clinging to it, and the void all around. Gourdon is one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES OF FRANCE. Three cobbled lanes, a few craft workshops, and that is all — which is precisely why you come.

MOST BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES OF FRANCE760 M ABOVE SEA LEVELFREE

Directions Official site

Photo Wikimedia Commons — CC0

In the village

Le château de Gourdon

Place du Château, Gourdon

⚠️ THE CHÂTEAU IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC — its own home page says so — AND SO ARE ITS GARDENS. We say it here because many guides still offer it, and because the terrace designed by ANDRÉ LE NÔTRE remains one of the very few in the region. The building is clearly visible from outside, from the street and from the square: that is all you can do with it today.

⚠️ CLOSED TO THE PUBLICGARDENS BY LE NÔTRESEEN FROM OUTSIDE ONLY

Directions +33 4 93 09 68 02 Official site

In the village

Les confiseries et les ateliers du village

Rue Basse, Gourdon

What Gourdon makes and sells: nougat, gingerbread, jams, soap and perfume. The shops are along the village's three lanes, doors open, and you taste before you buy. It is also what keeps some four hundred inhabitants going all year.

NOUGAT AND GINGERBREADFREE ENTRYIN THE LANES

Directions Official site

Photo Wikimedia Commons — CC0

🚕 I'll drive you there. The village takes three quarters of an hour and there is nothing beyond it: it is a there-and-back trip, or a stop on the road through the Loup gorges.

+33 6 58 27 93 12

Around the village

Countryside & views

This is where Gourdon really earns its place: a mule track dropping 600 metres to the valley, a plateau scattered with dry-stone huts and Roman remains, and the Loup waterfalls three kilometres away. Every one of these outings starts in one place and ends in another.

Photo Wikimedia Commons — CC0

On foot from the village

Two walks that go a long way down or up: proper shoes and water needed.

On foot from the village

Le chemin du Paradis

Chemin du Paradis, Gourdon

The old mule track that linked Le Bar-sur-Loup to Gourdon, cut into the cliff: around 600 metres of height, two and a half hours going up, considerably less coming down. It is steep, it is spectacular, and it is the village's only historic footpath. Walkable from March to November. I DROP YOU AT THE TOP AND COLLECT YOU AT THE BOTTOM, at Le Bar-sur-Loup — that is the whole point.

600 M OF DESCENTMARCH → NOVEMBERDROP-OFF AND PICK-UP

Directions Official site

On foot from the village

Le plateau de Cavillore

Plateau de Cavillore, Gourdon

A loop above the village, up on the plateau: BORIES — the shepherds' dry-stone huts — hidden among the oaks, a Roman road, the old Saint-Vincent priory and a CLIFF FORTRESS cut into the rock. The view takes in the Prealps of Provence, the Loup gorges and the summit of the Cheiron. Free access, waymarked path.

DRY-STONE HUTS AND A ROMAN ROADA CLIFF FORTRESSFREE

Directions Official site

Down in the gorges

Three kilometres from the village on the gorge road, going down towards Pont-du-Loup.

Down in the gorges

Les cascades du Saut du Loup

Route des Gorges du Loup (D6), Gourdon

In the commune of Gourdon, at the edge of the gorge road: a built viewpoint above the GRANDE MARMITE, a basin carved by the river, and the Demoiselles and Pétrifiantes waterfalls. Open every day 10am to 7pm. ⚠️ ONE EURO TO GET IN, AND CASH ONLY: no cards, no cheques. A quarter of an hour on site, and the finest stretch of the gorges.

€1 · CASH ONLY10AM – 7PMIN THE COMMUNE OF GOURDON

Directions Official site

Down in the gorges

Le site d'escalade du Belvédère

Parking du Belvédère, Gourdon

The cliffs below the village are one of the busiest climbing sites in the Alpes-Maritimes: compact limestone, routes at every grade, and the drop into the Loup valley. The Belvédère car park is the starting point. This is not a stroll: you need equipment and you need to know how to use it.

ROCK CLIMBINGBELVÉDÈRE CAR PARKFOR EQUIPPED CLIMBERS

Directions Official site

🚕 I'll drive you there, and I'll pick you up at the bottom. The Chemin du Paradis drops all the way to Le Bar-sur-Loup: you don't climb back up the way you came down, and that is exactly where a taxi earns its keep.

+33 6 58 27 93 12