Europe's largest canyon and its impossibly turquoise river, a Plus Beau Village of faïence pottery, and a lake you can swim in for free — the longest trip in this series, and the one that needs real vacation days, not a weekend.
The Gorges du Verdon is Europe's largest canyon: up to 700m deep, cut by a river so mineral-charged with glacial flour that it runs an almost unreal turquoise. At its western mouth sits the Lac de Sainte-Croix, a huge artificial lake in the same impossible colour, free to swim in, with pedalos and canoes for rent right on the water. A few kilometres up the hill is Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, officially one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, wedged into a cliff notch and famous since the 17th century for its hand-painted faïence pottery.
The catch: Paris to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie is roughly 830 km and about 8h12 of driving door to door via the A6/A7 corridor (ViaMichelin routing) — call it ~845 km from Meudon-la-Forêt specifically. On a 2026 Model Y Premium at 97% SOH with a realistic ~330–370 km per charge, that's 2 Supercharger stops each way (rarely a third), roughly 8.5–9.5 hours of driving including charging pauses. This is not a Friday-evening-to-Sunday trip — treat it as a genuine long weekend built around a public holiday (Thu evening departure, Tue return) or 3–4 actual vacation days on top of the weekend. Base yourself near the lake/gorge rather than trying to see it as a fly-by; day-trip out from there.
Standard A6/A7 "Autoroute du Soleil" run south, then cut off toward Aix-en-Provence and up through Manosque to Moustiers. Two solid, verified Supercharger stops on the way down:
Leave straight after work/dinner. Drive to the Mâcon or Beaune Nord Supercharger, top up, then push on another hour or so and sleep in the car at a quiet aire de repos or free aire before continuing fresh in the morning — breaks the long drive into two manageable days instead of one brutal one.
Second leg down the A7, charge fully at Aix (Beaumanoir, 250kW), then the final ~90–100 km up through Manosque to the lake. Arrive by late afternoon — first swim in the Lac de Sainte-Croix's turquoise water on arrival, it's free and glacially cold even in summer.
Morning: swim, then rent a pedalo or canoe right on the lake. Real prices found: pedalos run €15–23/hour depending on operator and season (day rate around €85 in summer); canoes at Location Chabassole Plage are €20/hour or €35 for 2 hours for a 2–3 person boat — a good cheap way to paddle right up to where the gorge narrows into the lake.
Afternoon: drive the short hop up to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, officially classified among the Plus Beaux Villages de France, built into a cleft in the cliff with a star suspended on a chain above the village (a local legend from the Crusades). This is the day's one splurge: a faïence workshop visit or the Musée de la Faïence, and a proper Provençal restaurant meal — the village has been producing hand-painted faïence pottery since the 17th century, and it's the kind of place worth sitting down for lunch rather than just photographing.
Drive the Route des Crêtes, a 24 km panoramic clifftop road (the D23) starting near La Palud-sur-Verdon, with 14 marked belvederes looking straight down into the gorge — some viewpoints sit over 700m above the river, among the highest cliff faces in the canyon. Allow 1.5–3 hours with regular stops; it's one of the best short scenic drives in France and needs no hiking to be spectacular. Bring the bike for a short ride at one of the flatter viewpoint pull-offs if you want to stretch your legs without committing to the full loop by bike (it's also a genuine road-cycling route for stronger riders).
For a fit hiker with a full day to spare: the Sentier Blanc-Martel is the Verdon's famous gorge-floor trail, a demanding ~15 km one-way route (5–8 hours) between the Chalet de la Maline (La Palud-sur-Verdon) and Point Sublime (Rougon) — it drops into the canyon itself, through tunnels (bring a headlamp) and along the riverbank. It requires a car shuttle or hitching back to your start point, so it only makes sense if you've got the full day and can arrange the logistics. If that's too much for this trip, spend the morning back at the lake, then start the drive north in the afternoon to break up the return.
Mirror the outbound route. If you're tired, split it the same way as the outbound leg — sleep near Mâcon/Beaune on the last night and finish the final ~390 km fresh the next morning.
Bike loaded inside per the Car Camping & Bike Guide — no roof or hitch rack, so no range penalty on a trip where every kilometre of range matters. The Route des Crêtes and the quieter D-roads around Aiguines and the Lac de Sainte-Croix are genuinely good road-cycling terrain if you want an active morning; the gorge itself is not really bikeable (narrow tunnels, no shoulder, heavy tourist traffic in summer), so treat cycling here as a lake/cliff-road activity, not a gorge-floor one.
Self-cook most meals as usual — camping stove, market produce. Provençal specialties worth budgeting for: lavender honey and herbes de Provence from local markets or producers around Moustiers and Riez, and a bottle of local rosé (Côtes de Provence, produced right through this region) to go with the one splurge dinner in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. Treat the sit-down Provençal meal in Moustiers as the trip's one comfort meal, same pattern as the rest of the series.
| Category | Cost |
|---|---|
| Tolls (A6/A7, round trip) | ≈ €70–90 |
| Charging (4 Supercharger stops round trip) | ≈ €50–70 |
| Lodging (free bivouac most nights, paid campsite fallback 1–2 nights ~€17–20) | €0–40 |
| Pedalo or canoe rental on Lac de Sainte-Croix | ≈ €20–35 |
| Moustiers-Sainte-Marie splurge meal | ≈ €25–35 |
| Faïence souvenir / lavender honey / herbes de Provence / rosé | ≈ €15–25 |
| Food (self-cooked, ~5–6 days) | ≈ €45–60 |
| Total | €230–330 |