Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors
Less than 30 kilometres from Grenoble's city centre, the Vercors plateau is one of France's most dramatic natural parks — a vast limestone massif of deep gorges, ancient forests and open meadows where golden eagles circle and chamois pick their way across the cliffs. It is startlingly wild for somewhere reachable in 40 minutes by car.
The Gorges de la Bourne
The D531 road through the Gorges de la Bourne is one of the most theatrical drives in the French pre-Alps: sheer 300-metre limestone walls close in on both sides as the turquoise Bourne river churns below. Stop at the village of Pont-en-Royans, where colourful medieval houses literally hang over the gorge on wooden stilts — one of the more surreal streetscapes in the region.
The gorge road leads up to the plateau village of Villard-de-Lans, a proper mountain community with good hiking trailheads, a weekly market and the best Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage cheese you'll find outside Grenoble's halles.
Hiking & Wildlife
The GR91 long-distance trail crosses the Vercors plateau from north to south and can be walked in day-sections from Villard-de-Lans or Corrençon-en-Vercors — the latter sits at 1,110 metres and offers immediate access to open alpine meadows full of wild orchids in June. The Réserve Naturelle des Hauts-Plateaux du Vercors, the largest nature reserve in the French Alps, protects the highest section and is strictly pedestrian-only.
Birdwatchers should note the Vercors is one of the best sites in France for lammergeier (bearded vulture), reintroduced here in 2012 and now breeding successfully. Early morning walks along the plateau rim near Font d'Urle give the best sightings.
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