The secret of the Côte d'Azur is that however grossly vulgar the conglomeration of the coast, Provence is still just behind – old, sparsely populated, village-oriented and dependent on the land for produce, not real estate. Between Marseille and Menton, the most bewitching hinterland is the Massif des Maures, stretching from Hyères to Fréjus. The highest point of these hills stops short of 800m, but the quick succession of ridges, the sudden drops and views and then closure again, and the curling, looping roads, are pervasively mountainous. Where the lie of the land gives a wide bowl of sunlit slopes, vines are grown. Elsewhere the hills are thickly forested, with Aleppo and umbrella pines, holly, cork oaks and sweet chestnut trees. Amidst the brush lope the last of the Hermann's tortoises which once could be found along the whole of the northern Mediterranean coast – the few which escape predators and collectors can live to almost 100 years.Much of the Massif is inaccessible even to walkers. However, the GR9 footpath follows the highest and most northerly ridge from Pignans on the N97 past Notre-Dame-des-Anges, La Sauvette, La Garde-Freinet and down to the head of the Golfe de St-Tropez. If you're cycling, the D14 that runs for 42km through the middle, parallel to the coast, from Pierrefeu-du-Var, north of Hyères, to Cogolin near St-Tropez, is manageable and stunning, climbing from 150m to 411m above sea level.
Pages in section ‘Massif des Maures’: Collobrières, La Garde-Freinet, Grimaud, Cogolin.
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