When to go to the Mercantour?
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Best time: June to September
At a glance
Why go to the Mercantour?
The Mercantour National Park, created in 1979, covers the high valleys of the Alpes-Maritimes and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, from the Ubaye and the upper Verdon to the Roya, on the Italian border. What makes it rare is the way it blends high Alpine mountains, with peaks over 3,000 metres and glacial lakes, with a Mediterranean influence you can feel in the light, the flora and the perched stone villages. The villages of the Roya and Vésubie valleys are less than two hours from Nice.
It is first and foremost a hiking destination, with trails for every level, staffed mountain huts in summer and abundant wildlife: chamois, ibex, marmots, bearded vultures, and the wolf, which returned naturally in the early 1990s. It is also a cultural destination, thanks to the rock engravings of Mont Bégo, among the most important in Europe, and the painted chapels and Baroque churches of the Roya, Vésubie and Tinée valleys.
On 2 October 2020, Storm Alex devastated the Roya, Vésubie and Tinée valleys, sweeping away roads, bridges and houses. Since then, repair work has reopened most routes; the Col de Tende road tunnel reopened in June 2025 with alternating one-way traffic and closures for works, including a full closure from the evening of 20 September to the morning of 30 October 2026. Coming to these valleys also means supporting villages that need tourism to get back on their feet.
Map of the Mercantour: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Vallée des Merveilles
- Musée des Merveilles, Tende
- Saorge
- Saint-Martin-Vésubie
- Lac d'Allos
- Cime de la Bonette
How much does a trip to the Mercantour cost?
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €45-70 per day | camping or a mountain hut on half board, picnics, hiking, free entry to the Musée des Merveilles and the Vallée des Merveilles. |
| Comfort | €90-140 per day | inn or valley hotel on half board, the Alpha park, the Saorge friary, a guided tour of the engravings, car hire. |
| Premium | €200 and up per day | boutique hotel in a resort, a private high-mountain guide, a guided wildlife-watching outing, fine dining. The Mercantour remains an inexpensive destination. |
Cards are accepted in the villages, but mountain huts and some summer dairies take cash only; cash machines are rare in the upper valleys.
Is the Mercantour safe?
The Mercantour is real mountain country. Storms often break in the late afternoon in summer: set off early, be back down by about 15.00, and leave the ridges at the first rumble of thunder. In the park's core zone, dogs are banned even on a lead, bivouacking is tightly regulated and picking plants is forbidden. Patous, the dogs that guard the flocks, are numerous: walk around the flock, do not run and do not pet them. Autumn Mediterranean storm episodes can cause sudden floods, as with Storm Alex in 2020: heed warnings and road closures. Several trails have been diverted or remain fragile since the storm, so ask at the park offices. In winter, snow tyres or chains are essential on high roads, and many passes are closed.
What to see and do in the Mercantour
- Vallée des Merveilles
- Musée des Merveilles in Tende
- Saorge
- Saint-Martin-Vésubie
- Alpha wolf park
- Lac d'Allos
- Cime de la Bonette
- Gorges du Cians
Vallée des Merveilles
The Mont Bégo archaeological zone spreads across both sides of the summit, in the municipality of Tende, in the core of the national park. It includes several areas of engravings, the two main ones being the Vallée des Merveilles to the west and the Vallée de Fontanalbe to the east, over some 14 square kilometres surveyed by archaeologists, above 2,000 metres. The pecked engravings, mostly dated between the late Neolithic and the Bronze Age, depict cattle, yoked teams, weapons and geometric figures; others, incised, range from Roman times to the shepherds and soldiers of recent centuries. Studied from 1897 by the Englishman Clarence Bicknell, then systematically recorded by Henry de Lumley's team from 1967, they make this site one of the largest collections of rock art in Europe. Listed as a historic monument in 1989, the site is subject to strict rules: waymarked trails are compulsory, walking on the rocks is forbidden, and metal-tipped poles and bivouacking outside the authorised areas are banned. The most common access is from Castérino: 3h from the Lac des Mesches to the Refuge des Merveilles, and 2h15 from Castérino to the Lacs Jumeaux for Fontanalbe.
Musée des Merveilles in Tende
Tende, which only became part of France in September 1947 after belonging to the Italian province of Cuneo, is the main town of the upper Roya, 16 kilometres from the Col de Tende tunnel. In 1996 the Alpes-Maritimes département opened the Musée des Merveilles here, to help protect and promote knowledge of the Mont Bégo site, which many visitors cannot reach on foot. The galleries cover the evolution of humans and Alpine landscapes, archaeology and how to read the prehistoric engravings, rock art around the world, the historical discovery of the region and the folk traditions of the Roya. Original rocks moved to safety, such as the Chef de Tribu, and casts let you see up close motifs you cannot approach in the mountains. Admission is free, guided tours and workshops are offered at low prices, and the museum runs events all year round. Opposite the station, it can be reached by train from Nice via Breil-sur-Roya, on a line put back into service after Storm Alex, and pairs well with a stroll through old Tende and its stone-slab roofs.
Saorge
Saorge is a perched village overlooking the gorges of the Roya, mentioned as early as the 10th century under the name Saurcio. In January 1092, a charter records the inhabitants of Saorge giving the church of Sainte-Marie, today's Madone del Poggio, to the abbey of Lérins. Long turned towards Piedmont, the village raised militias, together with Fontan and Berghe, against French troops in the Authion massif. Today its houses, several storeys high, cling to the rock in tiers, linked by cobbled lanes, stairways and covered passages, with Baroque churches and chapels. The former Franciscan friary, a showcase of Baroque architecture run by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, brings together a frescoed cloister, a terraced garden and the church of Notre-Dame-des-Miracles. The village has two separate road accesses, one from the west, the other from the east via the Route des Châtaigniers, which ends at the Madone del Poggio, linked only on foot.
Saint-Martin-Vésubie
Saint-Martin-Vésubie stands at the confluence of two Alpine torrents, the Boréon to the west and the Madone de Fenestre to the east, which together form the Vésubie. Known as Saint-Martin-Lantosque until 1889, the town owes its summer fame, from 1864, to the quality of its air and water, far from the heat of the coast: hence its nickname, the Switzerland of Nice. In the Middle Ages, the castrum was run by a relatively autonomous community of inhabitants before the Provençal conquest of the 13th century. On 2 October 2020, Storm Alex raised the Boréon, the Vésubie and the Tinée 7 to 8 metres above their usual level: the Maïssa bridge collapsed, a petrol station was swept away, and the museum lost nearly 3,000 objects from its stores, with only the section housed in the mills of 1490 spared. The village has rebuilt itself and remains the main base for hikes to the Boréon and its lake at 1,500 metres, the Col de Cerise on the Italian border, and the sanctuary of the Madone de Fenestre, at the foot of the pass of the same name at 2,474 metres.
Lac d'Allos
In the commune of Allos, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the Lac d'Allos lies at 2,230 metres in a cirque carved out by the Quaternary glaciers of the upper Verdon, bordered by ridges and moraines. Core samples have shown that the lake's sediments began to settle at the end of the Pleistocene, about 13,000 years ago. Overlooked by Mont Pelat, 3,051 metres, it is presented as the largest natural high-altitude lake in Europe: 950 metres long, 640 wide, 43 hectares today against 55 measured in 1957, and a maximum depth of 50 metres. Having no surface outlet, it drains through an underground passage that resurfaces at the Chadoulin spring, a tributary of the Verdon. It is home to a large population of trout and Arctic char, which were netted until the national park was created in 1979. Access is on foot, one hour there and back from the Plateau du Laus car park, past the hamlets and the Cluite forest; a circuit of the lake and the climb to the neighbouring lakes extend the outing for keen walkers.
Cime de la Bonette
The Bonette road is the highest paved road in France. It starts from Jausiers, in the Ubaye valley, crosses the Col de la Bonette at 2,715 metres, then makes a complete loop around the summit to top out at 2,802 metres, before descending towards Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, in the Alpes-Maritimes. From the highest point of the road, a short path leads up on foot to the summit, at 2,860 metres, with a panorama over the peaks of the Mercantour and the Ubaye. The landscape is mineral, made of dark scree and alpine meadows where marmots whistle. The road is closed in winter and opens only once the snow has been cleared; every summer it draws many cyclists, and the Tour de France has used it several times.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Four days are enough for one valley, the Vésubie or the Roya, with one big hike. Allow a week to link several valleys, the Vallée des Merveilles, Saint-Martin-Vésubie and the Lac d'Allos, as the mountain roads are long.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Mercantour guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of France
weekend (2 days)
Day 1: drive up from Nice to Saint-Martin-Vésubie, a stroll around the village, an afternoon at the Alpha wolf park at Le Boréon. Day 2: a hike around the Boréon lake or to a mountain hut, back down the Vésubie valley.
4-5 days
Day 1: Nice, then Tende via the Roya valley, stopping at Saorge to visit the friary. Day 2: the Musée des Merveilles in the morning, up to Castérino, overnight there. Day 3: the Vallée des Merveilles on foot to the hut, a guided tour of the engravings. Day 4: the walk down, then the drive to Saint-Martin-Vésubie over the Col de Turini. Day 5: the Alpha park and a hike at Le Boréon.
one week
Days 1 to 5: as above. Day 6: the Gorges du Cians, Beuil and Valberg, then the Tinée valley to Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. Day 7: the Bonette road if it is open, down into the Ubaye, then over the Col d'Allos, open in summer, to the Lac d'Allos.
Getting there and getting around
The quickest way in is to fly to Nice and hire a car: allow 1h30 by road to Saint-Martin-Vésubie or Tende. The TGV from Paris to Nice takes about 5h40. The regional train links Nice to Tende via Breil-sur-Roya, a spectacular line put back into service after Storm Alex.
Once there, a car is essential to get from one valley to another: the roads climb in hairpins, and you often have to drop back towards the coast to switch valleys. Département coaches serve the main villages, with limited timetables.
The Col de Tende road tunnel into Italy reopened on 28 June 2025 with alternating one-way traffic and restricted hours; it is closed for works from 20 September (23.00) to 30 October 2026 (06.00). Check the state of the roads and passes before setting off, especially in spring and autumn.
Where to stay in the Mercantour?
Budget: the inns and small family hotels of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, Saint-Dalmas-de-Tende and Castérino stay around €70-100 a night. The park's mountain huts, staffed in summer, offer half board in dormitories, to be booked ahead, and several campsites sit beside the torrents.
Comfort: three-star hotels in the resorts, such as Auron, Valberg or Isola 2000, and a few charming chalets in the valleys charge €110-170 a night. Gîtes and B&Bs in the perched villages offer a warm alternative.
Our pick: a night in a mountain hut beside a high-altitude lake, in the Vallée des Merveilles or at Fontanalbe, to see the engravings in the low light of evening and morning, once the day hikers have gone.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in the Mercantour?
The cooking of the hills behind Nice is rustic and generous: ravioli filled with daube, Swiss chard pie, gnocchi, soupe au pistou, polenta, herb tart and cow's or sheep's cheeses from the high pastures. The cooking of the Roya keeps a Piedmontese touch.
The summer dairies and sheepfolds of the high pastures, notably at Le Boréon and in the valleys, sell tommes and brousse cheese in summer. Mountain honey, bilberry jams and artisan charcuterie can be found in village grocery shops and at markets.
In restaurants, a mountain set menu costs €20-30. As for drinks, génépi and herbal liqueurs round off the meal, and Bellet wine, produced in the hills above Nice, is a reminder that the coast is close.
Entry requirements
Schengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about the Mercantour
Can you see the Vallée des Merveilles engravings without a guide?
Yes, from the waymarked trails, as long as you follow the rules. Guided tours, at prices capped by the Park, leave from the Refuge des Merveilles and from the Lacs Jumeaux for Fontanalbe, and let you see the most remarkable rocks with explanations.
Is the Roya valley accessible after Storm Alex?
Yes. The roads and the Nice-Breil-Tende railway line have been put back into service; the road tunnel to Italy reopened in June 2025 with alternating one-way traffic and closures for works, including a full closure from the evening of 20 September to the morning of 30 October 2026.
When should you go to the Mercantour?
From late June to September for high-altitude hiking, when the trails are clear of snow. July and August bring storms at the end of the day; September is more settled and quieter. In winter, the resorts of Auron, Isola 2000 and Valberg welcome skiers.
Can you bring your dog?
Not in the core zone of the national park, even on a lead. Dogs are allowed in the villages and outside the core zone, where they must be kept on a lead near flocks.
How many days should you allow?
Four days for one valley and a big hike, a week to take in the Roya, Vésubie, Tinée and the Lac d'Allos in succession.
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