The most beautiful trail races in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur?

Why Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur is a trail-running paradise

In PACA, trail running means racing in a singlet in summer and under the snow in March 🍃. Nowhere else do you go so quickly from the seaside to a snow-covered summit ❄️. Mont Ventoux lifts its white cap to nearly 1,910 m in altitude 📈. Lower down, the Calanques National Park plunges white limestone into a blue sea, while the Mercantour National Park unfurls its wild 3,000 m granite peaks. Here, elevation gain comes naturally—like rosemary 🌿.

Mont Ventoux: Wikimedia Commons

The most beautiful trails in Provence, between sea and lavender

Set your sights on the first Sunday in February: Marseille laces up for the Trail des Calanques, in the Bouches-du-Rhône 🌊. Start from Luminy, with three formats from 19 km (1,000 m D+) to 56 km and its 3,000 m of D+, all the way to the cove of En-Vau. Next, head to Aiguines, gateway to the Gorges du Verdon in the Var, where the Var Verdon Canyon Challenge celebrates its thirtieth year: its Trail des Balcons du Verdon runs 40 km with 2,000 m of D+ above Europe’s largest canyon 🇪🇺, and an 8 km discovery race welcomes beginners. Further west, around Forcalquier, the Trail de Haute Provence aka THP unfolds in the heart of the lavender fields over the Ascension Day weekend. Thirteen formats are offered, from 10 km to the THP160 and its 166 km, one of the South’s longest ultras ☀️. Further north, in Vaucluse, the Trail du Ventoux climbs straight toward the bald summit where cyclist Tom Simpson passed away in 1967 🚴‍♂️.

Verdon: Flickr

The ultra-trails of the Southern Alps: Mercantour, Serre-Ponçon

The high peaks bring out the heavy artillery 🏔️. In the Alpes-Maritimes, the Ultra Trail Côte d'Azur Mercantour links Monaco to the village of Saint-Martin-Vésubie: 120 km, 7,300 m of D+ and a passage over the legendary Col de Turini—enough to wake the queen of ultra-trail, American Courtney Dauwalter 🇺🇸. In Embrun, in the Hautes-Alpes, the Grand Trail de Serre-Ponçon loops around Europe’s largest artificial lake via the ridgelines: its flagship race means business with 152 km and 9,700 m of D+ 📌.

Lake Serre-Ponçon: Flickr

Cross-border trail: from the Mercantour to Italy

The Mercantour shares its ridgeline with Italy’s Maritime Alps Park 🇮🇹, its transalpine twin. The Marguareis Ultra Tour takes advantage of this to loop its 53 km around the Marguareis massif, straddling the valleys of the Pesio, the Tanaro and the Roya, coming close to La Brigue on the French side 🇫🇷. No need to aim straight away for 152 km: world champion Blandine L'Hirondel and Catalan master Kilian Jornet also started somewhere 🇪🇸.

Maybe the next one will be you! There’s always a good reason to run in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 🌅.